Facial twitches in infant

[Anonymous]

Since at least 2 weeks old, our now 13 week old has been having facial twitches. They involve winking, nose scrunching, eyebrow raising, and an elvis lip. They can occur one time or we've counted up to 10 in a row. I'd estimate the "spells" happen 50 times a day (happy, sad, tired, eating, playing - across the board). Has anyone had experience with this? I figured it was her facial muscles developing, but our pediatrician said it was not normal and sent us to a neurologist. We did a 24-hour EEG at Children's hospital last week and are awaiting the results. One concern the doctors had was seizures, especially with my family history of epilepsy, but I really don't think it is and am thinking the EEG went alright since I haven't heard yet (I am waiting for a call back). The doctors seem to agree that it is something, but haven't figured out what yet. The next step will be an MRI and bloodwork, but the neurologist told me I could come back to see her in a couple of months if the EEG was normal. I'm just wondering if it's really ok to wait that long if they all seem to think it is "something". They say she is too young to develop tics and said it wouldn't be Tourrette's, which was my first thought. We're at a loss (including the doctors) and I'm not finding any information about a baby this young having these twitches.

[Anonymous]

If Children's has not called you yet, you should call them. Sadly it does not mean that the EEG is clean, although it may. I have no idea what it could be if its not seizures, but I do know that seizures in an infant do not always look like the full blown seizure of the movies. My five week old had what I now know were seizures for two weeks before we realized it was something serious and took her to the pediatrician. I really hope its not seizures but good for you for going ahead and getting the EEG. They are not fun and its scary.

[Anonymous]

Thanks, I appreciate you taking the time to write. I'm going to try to call again tomorrow.

I have been looking up all sorts of seizures and know they don't resemble infantile seizures, but I thought if anything, they sounded like the familial type. She doesn't seem at all affected by them, as she continues whatever she's doing and seems "with it". The doctor also said she's ahead developmentally, which she doubted would be the case if she was seizing that often. Of course I can be wrong with my gut feeling that it's not seizures, but I'm trying to find out what else could be causing them if it's not.

I'm sorry to hear that your child is having seizures. I'm glad you got help, as well!

[IansRecovery]

Just a thought....consider the trauma of birth here. Is it possible that there may be nerve compression in the spine follow birth? I have a "gal" that does massage-like spinal manipulations and we've spoken in-depth on these issues. Perhaps ask a chiropractor if the twitches you are describing is telling of a particular disc that may be a bit out of alignment and compressing the nerve.

[Anonymous]

I'm the original responder and I agree with the other responder -- maybe you should consider seeing an osteopath.

My dd DID have infantile spasms and they evolved from just small movements into the full blown bend at the waist. But twitches are not infantile spasms. My DD also "didn't look like a seizure" baby which I guess is good. Hers turned to be a benign brain tumor which was removed successfully.

[Anonymous]

OP here. Very interesting - thanks for the info. I'll look into the osteopath (after I finish looking up what one is). =)

When I went in to be induced, they hooked me up to the monitor and found she was in distress before even starting meds. Her heart rate was dropping too much and they did an emergency c-section. The bloodcord donation person said they couldn't use mine because something about the placenta being bad (I was so out of it, don't remember). I did tell the neurologist, wondering if that could have something to do with it. I've also been wondering about a tumor, which is why I hate to wait 2 months for an MRI. Maybe I need to be more pushy to bump up the appointment.

PP, I'm glad your DD had a successful surgery!

[Anonymous]

OK. I hope this doesn't sound rude, but for God's sake don't take your infant to an osteopath or, even worse, a chiropractor!

There are significant dangers to chiropractic -- just look at reports about strokes following neck adjustment. And there's absolutely nothing to make you think that this would help what's happening.

This is an infant. It may take them a while ti figure out what's wrong and you may have to push the doctors and advocate for your child. But don't put this critical issue into the hands of pseudoscience and quackery.

[Anonymous]

Why do you have to wait two months for the MRI?

My nine year old had to have a brain MRI at Children's and we didn't have to wait that long. Maybe a couple of weeks.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Why do you have to wait two months for the MRI?

My nine year old had to have a brain MRI at Children's and we didn't have to wait that long. Maybe a couple of weeks.

When we were at the neurologist, she did her exam (which seemed very thorough) and watched my videos of what usually happens. She wanted to rule out seizures right away, but didn't seem to think they were the cause. She said if the EEG came back normal she'd want to see us back in a couple of months and then do an MRI and bloodwork. We left feeling happy that our child wasn't just diagnosed with something terrible, but still wanting to know what it was. It was a case where it wasn't until we were home that we realized we should've asked why she didn't want to do an MRI and bloodwork earlier. Now that I've done some research, I plan to ask why we shouldn't schedule those things sooner, which I'll do when she returns my call or I get ahold of her.

[Anonymous]

OP, let us know when you hear about the EEG results.