Could be seizures or brain stem damage. The involuntary smiling gives it away. Seizures occur at different part of the brain than that, not saying it couldn’t be spasms from seizures. She absolutely has a reason to have seizures. Vegetables often smile like this and people think it’s voluntary and “they’re back”. it’s just cause your brain stem is totally fucked. Honestly, I’d probably want to live after some head injuries, we can survive a lot and be relatively fine. any injuries involving the brain stem or any of that very important stuff back there is my stopping point... Kill me. You do not come back from that. I’m amazed she has lived this long. I’d pay good money to see her MRI now or at time of death
Seizures can originate anywhere in the brain, and they can look like almost anything. Not all seizures are the "tonic-clonic", generalized convulsions that most people picture when they think about seizures. There's even a type called a gelastic seizure, which makes the patient appear to laugh or smile inappropriately. I've always thought they were the cruelest type, myself. Imagine that seeing your sweet, adorable baby laugh causes a pit of dread to form in your stomach. The movements Luna makes are textbook myoclonic seizure.
Usually, brain stem damage is swiftly fatal. Your brain stem controls a lot of your body's involuntary functions, and crucially, there's not much room back there for it to swell without crushing something vital.
Yeah I might be a childfree edgelord, but I have friends and acquaintances who have kids or would like them someday and that infantile spasms shit is scary AF. I'm admittedly still trying to wrap my head around how to tell if it's spasms vs. normal movement since some of the clips in the PSA that's been posted are so subtle. With Luna it's pretty easy since we know all her movements are seizures or reflex.
Pouring one out for poor Loki who's about to be as bored and understimulated as Atlas
Generally, normal movements aren't as rhythmic or repetitive, and they usually stop if you place your hand on the baby's body. With infantile spasms, touching the baby doesn't stop the jerking. Infantile spasms also tend to cluster for several minutes, and the baby often appears upset or fussy afterward.
I agree, though, some of those videos are VERY subtle. In mice, the early stages of status epilepticus, before the seizure progresses to a generalized convulsion, are characterized by "freezing" behavior and sometimes twitching whiskers. It's subtle, but once you see it a few times, it's unmistakable and you can easily pick out the mice that are going to proceed to SE. I get the feeling that the same is true for parents who have the foresight to record their baby's infantile spasms. If you spend enough time around babies, you learn what is "normal" behavior for them individually. Even if an abnormal movements is subtle, it sticks out, especially since we eagerly watch babies to see them meet milestones.
Fortunately, though, infantile spasms are uncommon, and West syndrome is rare. Only one in a few thousand infants will develop IS, so it's likely that all of the babies you know will be okay.
As a general rule, though, if something a baby is doing doesn't seem "right", get video if you can and seek medical advice. Even if it's not your child, your intervention could be critical. Although most infants with IS will eventually be diagnosed with another form of epilepsy, it's critical to identify the seizures to minimize the damage they cause.
