Patient's question:
The baby is ten months old. One night while feeding, they had rapid breathing accompanied by body twitching. Each twitch lasted only a few seconds and occurred roughly every half a minute, totaling about three or four times. In the following days, occasional twitches occurred during moments of tension, excitement, or distress. There was one instance where...Doctor's answer:
There may be startle reflexes, tremors, and this is more common during light sleep than during deep sleep. When suddenly touched or exposed to a loud noise, newborns are easily startled, which can lead to tremors in their limbs and jaw, and they may easily start crying. These unconscious, uncoordinated movements are controlled by subcortical centers of the brain and their recurrence during the neonatal period is not pathological. However, if they occur frequently, it should be noted as a sign of increased nervous system excitability and attention should be paid to distinguishing it from neonatal convulsions or seizure-like movements.At this time, it is important to carefully observe how easily the newborn is irritable, how difficult it is to soothe them after crying, and quickly open their blanket to observe their natural posture and spontaneous movements. Normal full-term infants have limbs with a certain degree of tone, dominated by flexors, so their limbs remain in a flexed state, and spontaneous movements are often extended and slow. Sudden changes in muscle tone, persistent extensor rigidity, repetitive rapid twitching in a specific part of the limbs, episodic severe pain, mild convulsions, tremors or deviations of the eyes in a horizontal or lateral position, repetitive twitching of the eyelids, or blinking, all have pathological significance and should be promptly referred for neurology consultation.