Hitting the bed?

[Fastestmilkcartinthewest]

8mo DD wakes up a lot in the night and sometimes when I'm just soothing her back to sleep, she wipes her arms up and down across the bed in front of her as she's lying on her side (sort of scrabbling at the sheet) or thumps her arms on the bed. Does anyone know what this is - is it ok? Is it distress?

It's not unusual to smash and flail around when tired and trying to go to sleep.

Mine did that a lot when she was learning to crawl and does it a bit now (but a lot more gently) because she likes the way it sounds/feels, I think.