Since my little girl was a baby she started shaking if I woke her up from a deep sleep. She shakes all over for about 5-10 seconds and then she is fine. When it first started happening I freaked out and talked to her pediatrician about it. She didn't seemed concerned at all and it actually got better. Now with school starting up again, I'm having to wake her up and she had another shaking spell yesterday. It lasts for 10 seconds and then she is fine. I'm a worry wart and then I read on here that a little girl did this too and the mom ignored it and then it got worse and her daughter ended having a brain tumor. I don't want to ignore this, but everyone I talk too tells me this is normal??? She never shakes during the day, only when she is woken from a deep sleep. I was just wondering if anyone else has experienced this with their children.
Thanks
I will talk to her doctor about it on Monday. Thank you for the responses, to clarify some other things. It's usually just when I wake her up from naps, not usually in the morning. The reason I wake her is because I don't want her to go more than 2 hours or bedtime becomes hard. Also school is not for her, it's for her two older sisters who are in 2nd grade and Kindergarden. Their school starts early.
As for my anxiety, I'm working on it but it is a tough road. I do realize I have a problem and I'm really trying to make it better. I thank you again for your responses.
One of mine does this and always has. He's 10.
I would say it's a warning sign of a problem if she had never done it before and suddenly started, or if it gets worse over time.
I would do several things:
1) Video your child for 3 days or more so you have a video record of exactly what the shaking looks like and how long it lasts. Show this to the pediatrician. That way, it will be completely objective and it will be much better info for the doctor than your verbal description. If you are not comfortable with that doctor, get a second opinion.
2) Put your child to bed earlier so she wakes up with the natural light and at the end of a natural sleep cycle, instead of you having to arouse her out of a sound sleep.
3) Get into a really good series of parenting classes and an children's first aid class, so that you can learn a lot about what is a real emergency (and what to do about it or prevent it), and what things are very normal and not signs of catastrophic rarities like brain tumors. Learn about sleep patterns and what happens when you interrupt REM sleep or a dream.
4) Get some counseling for yourself to deal with the health anxiety that has taken over your life, before it is passed on to your child such that she goes through her entire life panicking over normal health situations and is unable to evaluate them. Please don't pass this on to your child.
ETA: Based on your comment that this only occurs after a nap, I'm wondering if you should phase her out of it. She's 3, so maybe she's kind of getting ready to give it up, or at least is at a point where she can do without it. And I say that having had a kid who napped for 3 straight hours well past the age of 4. So if she's really not ready, fine. However, we didn't have problems getting our son to sleep at night, and you do. So it's becoming a problem for you. You could consider getting her just good and tired so she'll sleep at night, and give her more nighttime sleep given that you have to get going in the morning. She'll be cranky for a month or so but maybe that's better for you overall.
As a general rule it's not good to look up too much medical stuff on the internet especially if what you find makes you anxious or upset.
But - I did find something that you might want to ask your pediatrician about.
Record some of these waking shakes your child is having so you can show the doctor what is going on and ask about benign rolandic epilepsy - it's fairly common.
Nearly all children with it will outgrow it during puberty.
https://www.epilepsy.org.uk/info/syndromes/benign-rolandi...
Ask your ped again. Let her know it happened again, and see what she says.
"I read on here that a little girl did this too and the mom ignored it and then it got worse and her daughter ended having a brain tumor." If you can find that, print it out and show it to your ped. If you can't find it, explain it to her so that she knows what your fears are.
If after all that your ped still says don't worry about it, don't worry about it.
People do strange things when they are woken from a deep sleep. Some people jump, some people are prepared to hit someone (old boyfriend who was in the Army warned me that he was like that). It's a very disorientating time.
The most important thing you can do is try to get her to bed earlier. If you are waking her out of a deep sleep in order to get her ready for school, she is clearly not getting enough sleep. She needs to go to bed earlier.
my husband cannot be woken gently, period. no matter how tenderly one touches him, he wakes with a huge start.
it sounds like it's just something she does.
if the pediatrician isn't worried, and it only lasts for a few seconds, i don't think i'd make the leap to 'brain tumor.'
i think i would do 2 things. 1) videotape the incident and show the pediatrician so she can see what you're talking about. i'm pretty sure she'll still say 'no biggie' but maybe it will help to reassure you. 2) consider that the issue could possibly be yours. if your doctor has been reassuring you for 4 years, and 'everyone you talk to' says it's normal, but you know of one person somewhere on the internet who encountered a brain tumor, you're struggling with some degree of anxiety. you don't want to put that on your daughter.
just something to think about.
khairete
S.
Yet ANOTHER health anxiety question? Are you seeking treatment yet, for yourself, or are you still in denial?
If your daughter reacts like this then STOP WAKING HER UP. Let the child sleep. She doesn't need school at three years old, give her a few more years to grow, and PLEASE get some counseling for your anxiety before it ruins your life and possibly your child's life and health as well.
I always heard you weren't supposed to wake a sleeping baby. Maybe this is why. Good luck.
Sounds like she really needs this sleep. Can you try letting her sleep until she naturally wakes and put her to bed a little later at night? Or start her nap earlier so she can go to bed earlier? Sometimes my adrenaline races through my body too, if I am awakened from a deep sleep. I'm guessing yours does, too. Sounds pretty normal to me. Just let the poor little thing sleep.
I think it's pretty normal. A lot of kids do this. If you ever work child care and have to wake the kids up you'll see that this isn't all that abnormal.
I think it's their central nervous system jarring awake. You could try an alarm that has the option for an easy wake up...my cell has it. It starts off quietly and gets louder over a few minutes.
The best advice I can give if you're worried about a brain tumor is to feed her a plant or vegan diet. She will thank you later, anyway, because it's cruelty free. A lot of people are moving towards that anyway. I can give you a link to a website www.pcrm.org I would also watch her sleep patterns. If she's not sleeping well, she might be going to bed to early or watching things on tv that bother her. You can use your judgement on that. If everything seems fine, that way, maybe she's not getting enough sleep. Here's a link to the amount of sleep we need for our age. https://sleepfoundation.org/how-sleep-works/how-much-slee... You could also try waking her slower by rubbing her arm or something, so she doesn't get startled. Good luck.
