head shaking ...... is this normal?

[sa]

i am asking this for my friend.

her DS is 5 month old. whenever he is trying to sleep, he will shake his head from side to side for over 5 mins, then drop off to sleep. my friend and her mum is very worried that will do some harm to his brain. now they are trying to introduce paci for him in the hope that he will drop this habit.

i am just worried that he will become addicited to paci.

any idea and suggestion will be appreciated
TIA

[seaflower]

Hi, my DD does this, and my nephew too :lol: It seems it calms them down, never thought it may be dangerous. I don't think it is, but I'm curious what will the others say.

[sa]

how does your DD do it? e.g. mildly? fast or slow?

my friend said her DS does that really violently, like he is only trying to make himself dizzy instead of sleepy ! haha.

[seaflower]

Hi SA, sometimes she does it very fast 5-6 times. She has eczema and I used to think she is itchy, but since my SIL pointed out my nephew is doing the same I realised she is just calming herself down. I know what your friend means about making themselves dizzy, I wondered the same :lol:

Sometimes she does it quite slow, with few seconds between turns. Hope I am making sense here. But just reassure your friend that other babies do it too! She usually does it just the last few minutes before she dropps off to sleep...

[corrina01]

My DD does this also, sometimes quite quick, othertimes quite slow.  Its like she has an itch on her head and as she is swaddled thats the only way she can scratch herself when she does it quick.  It is normal, they are trying to get comfy I think.

[teezee]

i too have wondered about my dd and her head shaking.  when i notice her doing it i try to stop her, thinking she was shaking so hard she might cause some kind of damage to herself!  maybe i should just let her "shake it off" and see what happens after a few minutes.
tawnya

[sa]

thank you all for your reassurance.

i see all of your lo is around or under 5 months. does your lo roll over yet? now i remember my DS did the same when he was under 5 month, but he did that gently that i didn't really take notice.

i think DS dropped this habit after he learnt to roll over and he became hook on his blanket.

[j89vision]

Very interesting about the roll over bit.  My baby is 5 mos as well, and just started doing this head shake thing.  My hubby and I thought she was trying to scratch her as well,but then I noticed it was happening right before she got overtired.  I use it now as one of my signs to move quickly to get her down.  She is not rolling over yet.

[deenz]

my dd1 also did/does this (now 21m).  But not so much anymore. sometimes fast then usually slowing down as she got into a deeper sleep.

[corrina01]

My DD is not rolling over yet.

[teezee]

my dd is almost 6 months and has been rolling over from her back since about 4 months, and from her belly since about 5 months...but i also think it may have to do with a bit of overtiredness  :shock: