RLS in babies?

[JooJooBean]

Hi everyone, I don't even know if this is the right place to come to but wondered if anyone has a child that was diagnosed with RLS as a baby? My 10 month old is constantly restless and so difficult to get to sleep and stay asleep once he is. He won't sit still to play and has been cruising around the everywhere since he was 9 months old. He hates to be still and won't be fed/rocked etc.to sleep, finally falls asleep pretty much out of exhaustion. He will be on the brink of sleep and then start kicking or 'bouncing' his legs and act frustrated and it then keeps him awake, despite him being extremely tired. I have mild RLS which seems to flair up if I'm stressed (I also suffer insomnia) and had RLS throughout both my pregnancies and wonder if it is even a thing in children is young? I am at the end of my tether and Drs etc just think he's a baby that doesn't need as much sleep etc but my gut is telling me it's more than that! He is very happy otherwise! Thanks for reading! X

[Madlegs1]

Yes-- babies do get restless.

But it is most likely a response to something in his environment.

Look at triggers, toothpaste (SLS) food colourings, drinks with sweeteners, shampoos and so on. Medications- especially antihistamines.

If he is being breastfed, look similarly at mothers intakes. It can take a few days for stuff to get through to the breast milk.

I am off this board, but will respond for children.

[Pam34 in reply to Madlegs1]

Oh no - I used to rely on your advice. Though looking back I think I know what’s happened.

Such a shame, I really used to look forward to whatever you had to say as did lots of others. Please don’t be put off contributing 😢

[Kaarina Administrator]

Hi JooJooBean

Here are a couple of old threads from the forum, some of which may be of help to you.

healthunlocked.com/rlsuk/po...

healthunlocked.com/rlsuk/po...

[JooJooBean]

Thank you for the replies! I have a health visitor coming on Tuesday so will discuss these possibilities with her and go from there! He won't take food yet and is only breastfed. I had considered some kind of intolerance but has no other symptoms and is definitely worse when falling asleep so isn't on the go? Also reading one of the threads I had really bad growing pains as a child and adolescent and wonder now if it was actually RLS?!

[Kaarina Administrator in reply to JooJooBean]

Wishing you all the best with your health visitor appointment. I hope your little one soon settles better at night. If you have time, in your busy days, do let us know how it is going for you and your little boy.

[Graham3196 in reply to JooJooBean]

I have no idea if babies can experience RLS but if they can I would have to suggest you check for allergies and intolerances just like an adult. It costs nothing but if the baby is living off mother's milk you need to watch your own health. From what I have heard your body will suck up anything it needs to make good milk and will deprive mother of nutrition if it needs to make healthy milk. It may be possible to test the theory by feeding the baby a special blend of low allergen formula for perhaps a week and see if he is able to relax. I understand if you have an objection to this product in which case I suppose its up to you to avoid anything that might be upsetting him. My best suggestion is to put you on the FODMAP diet and also avoid caffeine, lactose, gluten and alcohol. I don't expect alcohol and caffeine are a going to be a change but the other two might be a bit restrictive. I would suggest that medical supervision of your health is important but a short trial should be enough. Madlegs1 suggest a couple of days for anything to leave your milk so then allow a week for it to get out of his system and see what happens. (Total say 10 days) If its good then you will probably want to keep at it but make sure your doctor is tracking your health. How competent is your doctor? If there is no improvement in his rest and your both still healthy then keep the experiment going for a few weeks. It took me 12 weeks to get a real benefit from the FODMAP diet.

Is he too young to get a blood test to make sure his Ferritin level is high. A blood expert should be able to advise you on the maximum that is healthy for a 9 month old. I presume that they take routine blood samples to make sure all is OK?? You would really need to talk to a super expert pediatrician to decide if you feed him iron supplements or if you feed you iron supplements. Perhaps a super expert pediatrician who you really trust will recommend an iron infusion. The pediatrician would have to be super trusted and supported with a second opinion I think.

An interesting (perhaps) story on growing pains. A pediatrician who was good enough to get a book published told us that our daughter's growing pains were caused by an imbalance in maturity between the muscles and the bones. The bones were slower to develop than the muscles so the muscles were able to tear little pieces out of the bone and the little pieces migrated back into the muscle where they hurt! He had X-rays that purported to show the bone chips inside the muscle. The story sounded good and I wasn't competent to interpret the X-ray picture in any other way. No treatment other than growing up as quickly as possible. Daughter was 6 weeks premature which might have been related.

Good Luck

Graham

[BoldMove]

My first son behaved similarly. I didn't have RLS back then, but have always been very physically active. I ran, danced, rode horses till the dr said "stop" - in case the horse threw me. I swam into the 8th month and doc said "no more" tall after baby's born. That boy was awful (wonderful now, though). He slept 6 hours at night and took 2 45 minute naps in the day, and was in constant motion. I later leaned Dan was recreating the conditions in the womb. I had trained him to move constantly.

Learning about womb conditions, I was afraid to move in my 2nd pregnancy. Consequently, 2nd son was sooooo lazy. I had to put out bowls of food to get him to crawl, and coax him with food in all physical stages of development.

All to say, if you were extremely physical in this pregnancy, that could be your key. If not, what I shared is irrelevant.

[Parminter]

Check the baby's ferritin levels. (Ferritin is the iron storage molecule).If you were very low on iron during pregnancy, it is quite possible that the baby's levels were so low that they triggered RLS. Just test the ferritin levels, it gives some indication of iron status in the brain.

[DicCarlson]

Iron deficiency is quite common in infants and children, usually babies born prematurely, and babies on a cow's milk diet prior to age 1. I remember being treated for iron deficiency anemia at about age 8 or 9 - my chief complaint was "growing pains" - probably RLS. It never appeared again 'till my 60s. Here's a good article on iron in infants and children. mayoclinic.org/healthy-life...