Question
My baby is ten months old. One night, while breastfeeding, she experienced shortness of breath accompanied by body spasms. Each spasm lasted only about a second and occurred approximately every half-minute, totaling three to four times. In the following days, there were occasional spasms during tension, excitement, or sadness, and once even after a fever. What could be the reason for this?
Answer
This kind of situation is relatively common in newborns and is usually referred to as the startle reflex or Moro reflex, which is an unconscious, uncoordinated movement controlled by the subcortical midbrain. The occurrence of this condition during the neonatal period is generally non-pathological. However, if it occurs frequently, it may indicate an increased excitability of the nervous system and should be distinguished from neonatal convulsions or seizures. If the baby is easily irritable, cries hard, and is difficult to soothe, and if there are abnormalities in natural posture and spontaneous movements observed after rapidly opening the blanket, medical attention should be sought promptly. Normal full-term infants show certain levels of limb tone, but sudden changes in muscle tone, persistent extensor rigidity, repetitive rapid twitching in a certain area, sudden intense pain, mild seizures, horizontal or lateral eye tremors, deviations, repeated eyelid twitching, blinking, and other movements all have pathological significance and should be referred to a neurology department promptly.