Shakes head while dropping off to sleep, is this normal?

[sushipaws]

I have a wonderful DD who is 5 months old today.

We have been terrible about a sleeping routine and have just gone with the flow until now. She has been waking through the night and I have to rock her on my knee until she drops off. The plan is to get her to fall asleep in her cot so when she wakes during the night, she can fall back to sleep without needing me to rock her.

So we started this yesterday and have been sitting next to her and rubbing her hand while she drops off. It has been working but she has started to shake her head from side to side as she drops off, she also bangs her hand on the mattress. I just assumed she was trying to keep herself awake, but the head shaking is quite violent and it worries me.

My DH thinks it's because I rock her on my knee to heavily and I have caused her to need her head to be moving as she falls asleep.

I admit that I do rock my knee quite fast sometimes as it's what she seems to like, I've done it in front of my HV and she didn't say anything.

I'm wondering if anyone else has had this issue? I'm really worried that my rocking to sleep has caused this problem.

my dd did this and still does shake her head and bang it occasionally, and she was never rocked to sleep. could you try rocking les and less over a few nights until she is soothed just by a cuddle? my dd used to have to be stroked on her back to soothe her and i did it less and less over a couple of weeks until she would be soothed just by a hand on her back and eventually put herself back to sleep - she is a bit older but it might help.

Thanks Olivo,

I don't want to rock her on my knee anymore just in case, but at 4.30am after an hour of crying I might just do it a little bit and try to phase it out as you suggest.

Thanks for letting me know your dd did this, makes me feel better and less worried (am overly paranoid anyway).

Cheers

My DD does exactly the same, it does look quite worrying but I've come to the conclusion that it must just be very soothing. I too used to rock her quite vigorusly as she is very physical and comforted much more by movement than sound, cuddles etc. She's very active during the day, quite different to my other children, so I just think it's a temperament thing, you know like some adults are kinesthetic learners rather than visula or whatever? Maybe it's just the start of that?

Thanks IMP,

My dd is just like that, she likes physical comfort rather than sound.

Phew, also glad that other babies like to be rocked quite vigorusly.

Cheers