Twitching in the leg

As in any part of the body, the muscles in the leg can also twitch. These twitches can occur sporadically or repeatedly in babies. A muscle twitch in the leg can come from the muscles themselves, be caused by an incorrectly controlled nerve or be centrally controlled by the brain. Some babies tend to have slight muscle twitches under stress. If there are regular twitches in one leg, a pediatrician should be consulted to rule out nerve disorders.

Twitching in the face

The face contains many different muscles that are necessary for facial expression, chewing, seeing and much more. Like all muscles, these muscles can be falsely stimulated and therefore twitch. Also the so-called brain nerves, which are responsible for the control in the face, can send wrong signals or be wrongly applied. In some babies, a twitching of the eyelids can be observed, especially during dream sleep. In the case of individual twitches, no further diagnosis is necessary.

Febrile convulsion

Some babies and toddlers tend to have so-called febrile convulsions. Febrile convulsions are among the most common emergencies in infancy and childhood. Babies react very quickly to infectious diseases with higher body temperatures.

About five percent of all children suffer at least one febrile convulsion during childhood. A febrile convulsion is an epileptic seizure accompanied by loss of consciousness and whole-body convulsions. In most cases, a febrile convulsion lasts only a few minutes.

A simple febrile seizure has a very good prognosis, but a prolonged seizure can result in an oxygen deficiency. If a febrile seizure occurs for the first time, the pediatrician or neurologist should carry out some tests to ensure that it is not the first manifestation of epilepsy. As a preventive measure, the body temperature of babies with a tendency to cramps should be checked regularly and fever should be reduced with medication.

Diagnosis

The diagnosis of infantile twitching can be made by close observation. On the basis of this, parents can already assess whether, for example, it is the harmless Moro reflex, which is pronounced up to the 4th month of life, and whether there is no need to worry or a medical examination is necessary. However, if the baby twitches at regular intervals over a longer period of time, this should be clarified by a doctor to be on the safe side.

There are certain forms of epileptic diseases that can occur at a young age and must therefore be excluded. The diagnosis of such epilepsy is made clinically. First of all, the doctor takes an exact medical history.

This includes questions about how often the twitching occurs, how long the twitching lasts, whether it occurs regularly or irregularly, which parts of the body twitch, whether the whole body is involved or only part of it, and whether other symptoms such as wetting, crying or absence occur before, during or after the twitching. In this case, it can be helpful to record the baby’s twitching with a camera so that the doctor can get an idea of the twitching. To verify a possible epilepsy, it is necessary to make an EEG (= electroencephalography), a special neurological examination.