Swinging head from side to side...?

Question

My son is 9 weeks old. When he is sleeping, on his back, he will "wake up" and fuss, grunt, kick, throw arms and swing his head from side to side. The swinging is quite, I don't know, violent really. He basically will swing his head completely to the side so that his cheek will touch the bed and then swing it to the other side. Back and forth back and forth. Does any one else have a child who does this? Is it a frustration thing? Is he mad or cranky? Just tired maybe? Is it some kind of self-soothing?

Answer 1

What you describe may be helped with Cranio/Sacral physical therapy.

I recently saw an article on mybreastfeeding.com where Sylvia Boyd, who is a lactation consultant, was at a meeting with a group of new moms, and one baby was very fussy. Everyone was trying to console the child, but to no avail.

Sylvia made her way over to the baby, and placed him in his infant car seat, rolled a washcloth (or towel) up, and placed it under his neck, and rolled another one up and placed it under his knees. This relieved pressure, and the baby immediately calmed down. He needed some treatments to get things in alignment so that he could relax.

If my child were acting as you describe, I would roll up a hand-towel and place it under my baby's knees when he is laying on his back, and I would also make a small roll to place under his neck. This would change the angle of the head and back. I would make sure the roll under his head wasn't too big - just enough to change the angle of his head just a little. I know that when I am lying on my back, having a massage, I am so much more comfortable with a pillow under my knees and a roll under my neck.

Here's a testimony to how Cranio/Sacral therapy helped our child.

One of my 5 children was a very fussy baby. He had to sleep in his swing, even at night, and constantly needed to be held or jostled. The only time he was somewhat content was when he was watching his older sister. When he was 12 months old, I noticed him sitting against the wall, and bumping his head, lightly, against the wall. I read something in one of my health books, that talked about babies bumping their heads against a wall, or liking to swing a lot, and it suggested I find an Osteopath who specialized in Cranio/Sacral therapy.

I called an alternative medicine office and they gave me the name of an Osteopath that specialized in CranioSacral therapy in infants. We took our child for a treatment, which was very gentle - I couldn't even tell she was doing anything for my baby...until my baby totally relaxed and nearly fell asleep. After the 2nd treatment, my baby was a totally different child. He was relaxed and happy.

What we learned was that our son had a slight head-ache from the time he was born. The rocking in the swing and constant movement made the head-ache tolerable. When he watched his sister, he was distracted enough not to notice it. Once the pressure in his head was relieved, the head-ache was gone, and he became a happy baby.

Our pediatrician did not believe that anything was physically wrong with our son. I knew that something wasn't right, and searched until I found an answer. I have since learned of a lactation consultant that knows CranioSacral therapy, and has worked with fussy babies to relieve them. This is the place I would start - searching for someone that knows CranioSacral therapy - our entire family of 7 has benefited from CranioSacral therapy. (Our Osteopath told us that CranioSacral therapy is as prevalent in the United Kingdom as Chiropractors are in the United States.)

I truly think that the actions your child is exhibiting when he is laying on his back is an indication that this position is uncomfortable for him, and he's trying to relieve pressure in his head, by throwing his head from side to side.

Answer 2

My 3.5 month old still does this when he is trying to wake up. He sleeps very deeply and sometimes I think gas or dreams or temperature or something causing discomfort stirs him. He has calmed the flailing arms a lot as he has gotten older, but now rubs his eyes and nose very hard when waking. Swaddling helped when he was young -- (try sewing together several small receiving blankets and then swaddling as I found my son could always squirm out of the little single ones). He still shakes his head back and forth when waking up. If I pick him up quickly (and usually when he wakes up like that I know he really isn't rested enough to be awake) I can hold him tightly and get him back to sleep with rocking, patting, and/or humming. Good luck.

Answer 3

of course, theoretically, in case you're doing this complicated sufficient to reason bleeding on or interior the concepts (e.g. bruising the concepts, or contusions), then you incredibly ought to reason injury to the concepts, yet oftentimes this might choose a large number of rigidity (falling down from status and hitting your head, vehicle twist of destiny, and so on). A head injury that knocks you subconscious is sufficient rigidity to in all likelihood reason such injury. And shaking your head could make you dizzy by using "shaking" up the midsection ear (the area that helps including your stability and coordination), such as spinning around in a chair very right away. this could not be something everlasting.

Answer 4

The girl i nanny has been doing that since she was 12 weeks.... i think its his way of trying to show you he is awake but needs to know you are there b4 he goes back to sleep... thinkof what you do when you are woken from a deep sleep

Answer 5

i used to kick my foot up n down on my bed. its a matter of energy n i just kicked my foot to sleep.

good luck

Answer 6

just pick him up rock him back to sleep and tell him that everything will be ok