Head nodding

[GAL8]

Hi all

My 18 month old DD has in the last few days started nodding her head frantically at times. There doesn't seem to be a pattern. She can be reading, watching TV or in the bath. The nodding itself isn't huge ups & downs of her head whilst she's doing it, it's the speed of it. She doesn't appear to be away with the fairies or anything, or in a trance. She did go through a period sometime ago of head shaking, but this is very much nodding. I can't find anything on line except links to autism. Anyone with any similar experience? I know you could say she's just understanding 'yes' & 'no' but this just seems very unprompted when it happens. Thank you.

You need to look into infantile spasms and make sure it doesn't look like that as that would be a medical emergency.
It doesn't sound like that exactly but worth risking out.

*ruling out.

Wow. @paradyning I have three dc and would never have spotted this. Thank you for sharing the video.

My nephew who has diagnosed Tourette’s syndrome had an episode of head nodding. It was very alarming to watch and is apparently known as the wood pecker tic. However, your DD sounds very, very young and tics often start at around 6/7yrs of age, usually preceded by things like excessive blinking and other repetitive behaviours which you have not mentioned (though you mentioned head shaking). I’m just mentioning all this so that you are aware, but it might not be anything to do with your DD at all, hopefully it isn’t. Also note, that in the event it is TS, these tics wax and wane and many do go away permanently.

Thanks for the vid @paradyning , luckily nothing like that in terms of jerkiness. @EasyPants I wouldn't say this is alarming, she's only done it once today, & like I say it doesn't last long. Maybe it's just something new that she likes the sensation of.. who knows. I will be keeping an eye on it & trying to film it though. Thanks for your replies.

Good to rule it out Gal

Not wanting to alarm you... but just to say you should take this kind of thing seriously and get to the bottom of it.

My son had head shaking episodes from a year old. Started as a twitching thing. Then we went to a neurologist & had various tests including EEG and it stopped. Then it came back as a gentle head shake which over time got worse.

Long story short - he had a brain tumour, diagnosed at 3.
Please see the headsmart card & do see a dr if this persists Headsmart

Gosh @DailyCandy how scary for you all. Did he have any other symptoms?

This is purely head nodding but I absolutely take your point & will keep a close eye. My DD is under the care of a neurologist paediatrician for something else & has had EEGs when she was born.

He had a very mild nystagmus according to his ophthalmologist (whom I trust but I never saw it). They was all. It was only after he was diagnosed that he developed headaches.

Do keep a close eye - it’s good that you already have a neurologist contact should you need it.
I know there are head shakes for lots of different reasons - in fact the doctors were very reluctant to acknowledge this was a symptom of his tumour but i know it was (and doctors in the US where he was sent for treatment raised their eyebrows when I told them the doctors in the UK said it was unrelated).

Best of luck with your little one, hopefully theres a harmless explanation & it just goes away.

If you are already under neuro then definitely contact them tomorrow and let them know about this.

Always worth considering everything but just for balance both mine went through a phase of odd head movements, almost like they were seeing how far they could go, it was very repetitive and I was also worried. No idea if the movement they did compared to yours but they are 10+8 now and grew out of it fine

@DailyCandy how is he doing now? Bless you for having to go all the way to The US. Was his head shaking quite subtle, or was it exaggerated, was it happening several times a day?

@paradyning she did a similar thing back in April, I recorded it, they weren't concerned & it did stop after a few weeks. It's only happening ince a day at the mo, over the last few days, literally lasts a few seconds, so not concerning me completely yet but I will keep an eye.

Thank you @ChickensMightFly - obviously I'm hoping it's nothing but we had a very traumatic start to parenthood so I do pick up on everything. A good & bad trait I guess.

A natural response and actually there are loads of things that only with hindsight you know are nothing to worry about but at the time could go either way. It's part of being a parent to look out for problems and intervene if necessary, so you're doing a great job, just hope it isn't too tough on you.
I'm going through one at the minute with my ds, I might ask for group wisdom on if I get more worried. 😊

@ChickensMightFly you should - it's good to talk. You don't have to take in everyone's opinion/thoughts but a problem shared & all that.

I don't know what you mean about traumatic start. But just to say children with hie/preemies have greater risk of developing infantile spasms. X

Infantile spasms mostly affect babies under the age of 1. They’re very rare in older children.
Head bobbing can also be a sign of cardiac problems. (My DD had both, by the way, and is a hale and hearty six-year-old now.)
If your DD is already under a neurologist, could you give them a call?