Today was Reece's long awaited neurologist appointment! I was mostly anxious to get in there and get a plan to figuring out what is going on with her, but also a little apprehensive about what tests we might face.
After some bubbles while she got her blood pressure taken (thank you nurse!) we met with the neurologist. She was super nice, and very grateful that we had brought in video of Reece tensing. Almost immediately she was telling us that they see that all the time and that it was completely normal. She said that for Reece, it's some sort of self-stimulating/self-soothing behavior. She said that for some children, it's looking at the sun, or watching a fan. For Reece, it is tensing her legs like that - and apparently lots of other children do it the same way as Reece, as well. We clarified with her that even though she looks extremely uncomfortable and kind of holds her breath, that it was normal. She likened it to an adult needing some time to take some deep breaths and let some steam off or however you might need to un-wind.
She also said it was something that Reece will eventually outgrow. Seems hard to believe since she is doing it more than she used to! I asked her if there was a general timeline on when we could expect her to stop doing it, and she didn't really have one. Her advice was to ignore it and that would probably help her stop doing it sooner.
Another thing she mentioned was that often, children will get angry if you try to make them stop doing their behavior. Which is what we've been doing with Reece because we always have thought that something was wrong! And she is so right - Reece doesn't like it when we try to make her stop. The neurologist also said that often, children will do things like this when they are less engaged - which again, is exactly like Reece. If she is busy playing or something, then she doesn't really do it. But when she gets tired, or is alone in her crib, etc. then she is more apt to do it.
So it was a good appointment in the sense that there doesn't seem to be anything to worry about! That is definitely a relief! On the other hand, I'm not looking forward to watching her continue to do it. Whether she wants to or not, it's not fun to watch!
10 comments:
She is one little perfect little ms................
Glad everything is ok! :)
Glad that the tensing is normal. Sad that you have to continue watching her do it. It's really interesting what different ways kids soothe themselves. I guess you could count stuff like nail-biting etc. as that too, it soothes, but it's not a good habit. I used to do something like that (nailbiting), and my mom hated it. I would get mad at her for trying to stop me too, and I actually think it made me do it longer, cause then I would want to do it more to not feel guilty about defying my mom. Weird kid psychology. Sorry probably TMI.
I'm so glad that there is nothing wrong! That is sad that you still have to watch it, but at least you know that she is not hurting.
Phew. So nice to know everything is just fine. And also must be nice and reassuring to hear that they see this in other kids quite frequently. Glad you can breath easy!
That has got to feel good to know that everything is ok. Glad she is fine...she is so stinkin cute!!!
Such a behavioral thing: reinforcing her when she does it by giving her attention. Crazy. You're not doing anything wrong, that's not what I'm trying to say. So glad that nothing is wrong! :)
Glad to hear that !!! I wish Addy did it for the same reason :(, but at least we know why !
I am glad nothing is wrong, but that is still hard to deal with. Hopefully she will grow out of it soon for mommy's sake :)
That is great news Summer! I'm way behind on my blog reading, so forgive me for the late response. The good news is that she's adorable no matter what pose she's striking!!
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