Question
My child is now 2 and a half weeks old. Every evening after the nap, around 2 to 5 AM, they will experience several episodes of whole-body tremors, sometimes accompanied by crying, which lasts for ten times or more. Last week, we had a thorough check-up and the dynamic electroencephalogram and magnetic resonance imaging tests did not show any abnormalities. What could be the cause?
Answer
Experts point out that during deep sleep, children may experience involuntary leg and foot tremors due to some brain cells being in a state of dormancy while others remain in an excited state. This phenomenon usually occurs during the early stages of sleep and disappears as they enter deeper sleep. In some cases, similar occurrences can happen without any apparent stimulus, which is known as “sleep myoclonus” in medicine. It is a normal physiological phenomenon of deep sleep. If the child does not have other symptoms and only occasionally experiences tremors during the early stages of sleep, no special treatment is usually required.