My Toddler Shakes when Woken Up

[gmaggs]

My two year old shakes (looks like a seizure) when he is woken up. He also seems to be out of it during this while shaking--he doesn't seem to resond to me or is able to focus during this time. When the saking is winding down he seems to be able to resond or pick things up or smile at me. The shaking lasts about 15 seconds.

He has had one short episode, about three weeks, of what I have self-diagnosed as parasomnia (a.k.a night terrors). He has done the shaking upon waking "thing" on and off since he was born and the pediatrician seems to think nothing of it but I am worried.

Has anyone ever heard of this?

[Fractal_chaos]

I myself have night terrors every once in a while.
Me myself never reacted this way however. Night terrors are a hallucination/illusion (its very hard to draw a line between these) and it is just as real for me (us) as my pillow, by desk, basically anything else in the room. What happens is that your brain releases a chemical while your asleep, to keep you from "acting" out your dreams, so you will lie still. When this is done, it produces dreams. This procedure sometimes fail, and if that happens and you wake up out of fear, the chemical that is released when we are dreaming, is still our brain and we see the dream when we are awake (usually a giant spider for me). I get paralysed out of fear when this happens and can not move, so I cant relate to the shaking unfortunately. However I always recognize voices. It helps talking a person through these episodes, becuase they can hear everything.

[Metz5family]

My 8 year old son wakes shivering about one a month.   He is not always having a bad dream.   Just now he woke, sitting up.  I asked him if he was ok and he said, "swimming is going to be so much fun."  He wasn't scared but couldnt quit shivering. He finally quit after a couple of minutes and laid back down to go to sleep.  It was difficult to get him to realize that he was in bed and should be sleeping. I think he was living his dream sitting up in bed.  When in my 30's I used to find myself sitting up in bed filing my paperwork.  I was not shivering but thought I was at work.  I don't understand the shivering.

[Vale1983]

omg my son is doing the same thing and it only happens at night he shakes and he is able to listen to me but as soon has a give him tynenol he calm down and falls back to sleep ... The doctor doenst know whats wrong im so sad and worried i dont know what wrong with him

[Adeyuk7]

Hi, did you get any answers? My boy is 4 and has had this for around 2.5 years he used to wake up screaming and shouting,"noo!, shaking like a siezure, if i picked him up he gets worse and clings tightly to me then relax's then againg a couple of times.

The last several months he just starts jolting about slightly shaking, opens his eyes, then starts shaking like a siezure in a daze, he looks at me,  closes them and shakes, kicking his legs, punching out his arms. Occasionally he answers me asif he's awake but he does seem half asleep.

[DonnaLawson]

My just turned 2yo did this after waking up this morning. When he got up in his cot for me to pick him up he shook for about 5 seconds. He did it once before a couple of weeks ago, but I thought I was imagining it because it lasted less than 2 seconds. Circumstances were:
* He had just been woken at 7.30 by his brother turning on TV in the lounge, so likely didn't finish his sleep cycle
* The a/c meant it was quite warm in the house last night, prob too warm as his room seems to get more heat
* He had woken at 5.30am crying and askig for an apple, and he never asks for food in the night, he had had a fairly normal dinner the night before. I have him a drink of water and a cheese stick and changed very wet nappy and he went back to sleep, crying out once after 10 mins.
* When I went in to him at 7.30 he kept complaining "wee, wee" and pointing at his crotch. He isn't toilet trained but he knows where it comes from and it was like he was telling me something hurt.
* He is now up and perfectly fine...

[AngelCooper]

My 2 year old has started the same thing recently. I've only just noticed it the past 2 weeks. He wakes up screaming and/or crying and when I go in there he's a little out of it like he's half asleep but is completely aware that I am there. He reaches out to me and snuggles into me when I hold him but he is shakes a bit like he's cold. I can see his body tense up then relax, then tense and relax. But he's alert and responsive. It also lasts only about 30-60 seconds then he calms down and relaxes. I lay with him for a few minutes and then leave the room and he falls back to sleep. One night last week he was looking up at the ceiling fan as if watching something and then suddenly turned his head into my chest, began crying out and wrapped his arms around my waist as if something lashed out at him. But there was nothing there. Sometimes he will point to a part of the room as if he sees something but there is nothing there so I am not sure if he is imagining things and the trembles are because he's scared or what. But he will always go back to sleep after I have calmed him which usually takes only a few minutes.

[Sarah52500]

My soon to be two year old does this as well. He will wake up as if from a nightmare and I'll try and comfort him, but he will look at a part of the room or at something and start crying again like whatever he sees scares him. I don't get it and I feel so bad for him. I just pretty much have to try and calm him and cuddle him until he stops. He'll lay back down and seem to stir again and start the whole thing over. He does shake while this is going on usually as well. :( I feel a little better I can relate so well to your situation. But I wish I knew what he was seeing or if he's still somewhat in a dreamlike state?? Hope it gets better for our babies!

[mindyof5]

hi my 5 year old son has been doing that since he was a newborn and every test keeps coming back fine' I was wondering have you found anything out that could be useful on my end' I am worried about him' it happens at night and after naps'

[calybreeze]

I have 22 month old grandson who also wakes with the shivers.  He is a bit out of it, but not completely.  But it seems to be getting more frequent.  Also sometimes this is accompanies by a fever spike and/or vomiting.
Pediatrician has referred us to a neurologist.  He is most concerned about the vomiting.

[Soosoo88]

Hi, wanted to follow up with you on this. Any updates will be appreciated. My 8yr old going through similar thing.

[DrNoopurMD]

Hi,

Thanks for writing in.
The symptoms as of now do not seem to be serious. Tics or some muscle twitches are seen in toddlers when falling asleep or waking up or crying. Normally they go away on their own. However this may also be indicative of mild seizure activity. You can discuss the possibility of safe and painless EEG done with your child’s pediatrician.
Take care!

[j_s_w]

I get something similar... when in a warm room (doesnt happen in a cold room) the shakes / trembling when first waking up if i'm disturbed from sleep... which lasts 10-20 seconds... sometimes a little more... but then settles down.... and goes away... I am able to respond during that time and am conscious... i'm just very trembly - sometimes the trembly feeling takes a couple minutes to go away....

I never mentioned it to a Doctor... or discussed with anyone else... I didn't realise it wasn't normal... it's been happening to me for the past couple of years... Only if the room is warm though...

[jessmom2]

my 3 year old does the same thing and i am also looking for answers.. and have gotten no where... my pediatrition ran an eeg to check for seizures but none where present. So if u ever learn anything please let me know.

[ayanna0311]

my 4 year old also will wake up in the middle of night and shakes...like he has low blood sugar... it does look like a very mild seizure but he is awake and aware of being awake...definitly not a night terror and can focus and talk to me with no problems...i will give him a few sips of O.J. as im not sure exactly what is causing this.and it lasts for aout 15-30 sec. and he will lay back down and go back to sleep......this has happened also in episodes since he was very small...he has had blood tests/urine tests that all came back fine and his i was asked by peditrician about night terrors..this is not the case and i was concerned it was possibly child diabetes or low blood sugar but this blood tests came back fine....i'm still looking for other answers as i do not want to just let this go..