Baby's New Habit

[FoxLee2]

My grandson is 10� months old and for the last week or so he has this habit of making his body go stiff. It's like he clenches his fists, grits his teeth and stiffens his body and squeezes. It's not to do with 'filling his nappy' or being angry or frustrated. If you tell him no, he just does it again and again. Sometimes he does it so hard, his face goes bright red and you feel he's going to burst a blood vessel. So now I just ignore it and distract him with something but I just wanted to know if this was a common baby thing (I don't remember my sons doing it) and what it meant.

[Picky]

Hi Fox

Baby Picky does this too - we call it squeezy face! My friends son does it as well, I don't know why they do it, or what they're doing it for, but baby P seems to have come to no harm from it! Infact, my Mum thinks it's the funniest thing she's ever seen! So, although I can't tell you why, I can tell you that other babies do it too! Hope that makes you feel better!
Px

[FoxLee2]

Thanks for your reply. I wasn't really worried - it does seem to be a playing thing - but sometimes he does it so hard that his head starts shaking. Then once he starts, he'll do it over and over. I guess it's one of those phases that will pass in time.

[mumof3angels]

Hi my youngest used to do the same thing at around the same age. Like you said Fox the more I told him to stop the more he'd do it and he'd giggle after it as well. I remember fis face used to go a beetroot colour and his body would shake slightly as he'd grit his teeth and stiffen his body. I think it only lasted a couple of months before he got bored of it.

[FoxLee2]

Thanks for the reassurance - it's good to know that Thomas is not alone in this peculiar habit. You just wonder where the heck it comes from.

mumof3angels - did some other habit take its place?

[mumof3angels]

Apart from getting the terrible 2's early (tantrums etc, actually I'm still waiting for that to stop at the age of 5 lol) no, I can't remember anything else 'strange' that took it's place. I just remember that he could look hilarious sometimes when he did it and that neither of my other 2 kids did it. I actually thought he was having a fit the first couple of times he did it and I wonder if the attention he got when he first did it made him just keep doing it until he realised it was being ignored eventually.

[FoxLee2]

i think Thomas's parents laughed the first couple of times he did it so maybe that's why it continues.The other day I bumped into his mum in the high st. and having made a fuss of him, was talking to her and while sitting in the pram,he began 'stiffening'. So maybe it is an attention seeking thing although god knows he gets enough attention without having to work for it.

[annie0000]

My neice did something similar - it was when she got really excited about something - she is 8 now and still does a tiny version of it, her hand and arms stiffen and shake when she gets "overwhelmed"!!!

[kira000]

I used to do it as a wee one, and even until i was 5 or 6, and my parents used to have a name for it.. Himming, cos of the sound i used to make when i did it..

I can still do it if i try, but i dont like the shaky thing that happens to my neck when i do it!

[ladybird49]

My niece used to do this as a baby , she still does it sometimes when she gets excited over things ,
we called it " diki darin " shes 32 now ...lol- and her baby whos 9 months old has started to do it now , dont worry ...