Could there be a medical reason for this?

[chlobo]

When DD sleeps she thrashes and flops around in her sleep *a lot*. She was recently sick and I started to sleep with on the guest bed for comfort. She would up and flop all over the queen sized bed at various time. I thought it was because sick. Well she's better now but I'm still sleeping with her and she is still flopping around.

Could there be a medical reason for this?

[Rachels]

Abigail does that when she's having a reflux flare-up or another kind of tummy problem. Food sensitivities cause that kind of restless sleeping, too.

-Rachel
Mom to Abigail Rose
5/18/02
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Maya Angelou
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[lmariana]

It's probably nothing to worry about, probably just reflux or the like, but I'd mention it to the ped to be on the safe side.

My husband (who can act like a baby) was a super restless sleeper his whole life, and it took finding the right doctor to diagnose his condition and start treating it, after struggling with poor sleep for 32 years. He has temporal lobe epilepsy, which doesn't cause seizures, just other symptoms which in his case were so mild, it wasn't ever caught. Now he sleeps like a log and wouldn't wake up for an earthquake. :)

It never hurts to ask and feel like an over-cautious parent (or spouse). :)

Mariana
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[chlobo]

Mariana,

What were his other symptoms?

I'll definitely ask the ped. One night she actually flopped off the bed(luckily onto a well padded floor).

[lmariana]

Some of his other symptoms were really poor short-term memory, forgetting that he had already done/said something, zoning out into space for a couple minutes, sleep walking, sleep talking, and sometimes even night terrors. All those things are technically considered seizures, but not the "grand mal" seizures you envision. Nothing you could really pin-point in a baby though.

Damage to the temporal lobe of the brain can be caused by a head injury or birth trauma, and it can trigger other behavioral "quirks" like inexplicably short tempers, a generalized sense of confusion, and other symptoms that can be erroneously diagnosed as depression or generalized anxiety disorder. That's actually were we started with his treatment and after nothing responded we finally found an amazing doctor who started looking at other potential causes and started treating another part of the brain. Bingo!

Anyhow, in my husband's case, we're guessing it was probably birth trauma. He was stuck in his mom's pelvis and they put her under general anesthesia and used forceps to get him out...so no one was there and no one really knows what happened at the birth.

We're assuming birth trauma because his sleep walking/talking and night terrors were first noted by his parents at four years old.

Anyhow, it's not common at all, and definitely a greater extreme than what is probably going on with your restless sleeper. Have you read about "restless leg syndrome"? I don't remember much about it, but I did read about it a while back. It can be fairly common with younger children and some adults. Seinfeld called it "the jimmy legs". :)

Mariana
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[chlobo]

Wow Mariana,

That must have been very difficult to deal with before the diagnosis. Poor DH to have to put up with that all his life. I hope things are better for him now.

My father in law had high blood pressure for many decades and it didn't respond to treatment. His primary care doc died and he got a new one. The new doc determined his high bloodpressure was due to a faulty adrenal gland. Now he's not on any medication. Too bad he didn't find out years ago.

[peasprout]

Wow, you mean there could actually be a medical reason for this? My DD does this all the time! She sleeps on a mattress on the floor and she still manages to end up sideways on the floor. And she gets nightmares a lot. One time she was yelling in her sleep, "no daddy, MY ice cream!". I think she may have even sleepwalked once. She called me from the living room in the middle of the night and came running to me when I got up to look for her. I just assumed all this was normal, that some kids have more nightmares than others. Please let us know what your ped says,...I'm really curious too now!
Thanks!
JP

[lmariana]

Yeah, in all honesty, it really sucked on so many levels. Finding the right doctor and getting on the right cocktail of drugs and vitamins though makes all the difference in the world! They're still fine tuning everything, but for the very first time in his life, he says he feels "good". :)

That's so scary about your father in law! I can't imagine going through all those years of treatment unnecessarily. Finding the right doctor is so awesome!

It's hearing stories like this that always make me second-guess the simple diagnoses, especially if the patient isn't responding to the treatment. Granted, these types of cases are probably 1:1000, but it really can happen to anyone. That's why I never feel bad being the over-cautious parent!

Mariana
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Mom to Gabe, 8/03
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[Saartje]

FWIW, my sister and her elder son both did this as children. I think my sister's grown out of it (not sure if my nephew has yet, but he's barely a teenager); as far as we know there was no medical cause for it. It was just referred to in my family (quoting one of my elder siblings when they were young) as, "Boy, Mom, she sleeps rough." Lots of thrashing and flopping around in the bed.

Just in case you needed any reassurance that it doesn't necessarily mean there's an underlying medical problem that needs to be found. :)

[R2sweetboys]

If it's something you're concerned about, it can't hurt to ask the ped. If you're merely curious, maybe just wait it out and see if it seems to affect her negatively.(overly grumpy,tired during the day,etc.)

Chances are, it's not a medical issue. Lots of people are "active" sleepers, including myself and my two boys. I've always marveled at friends' babies who stay in that same position for the entire night. My boys have always been all over the crib/bed. One positive is that we didn't have to worry about the "flat head"(sorry,don't know the term) problem that said friends have. It's definitely not easy to sleep with them though! :)

~Leslie

SAHM to...
Ryan 8/14/00
Matthew 2/14/03