Hi,
My 9 month old daughter keeps shaking her head back and forth (like she's saying no). She does this several times a day and also hits herself in the cheek. She started doing this about a week ago. I thought she probably had an earache and took her to her dr. today, but he said her ears looked fine. Any ideas what else might cause her to do this?
Thanks in advance~
hilery

Not to worry. My daughters (twins) started doing the EXACT same thing, one at 8 months, and the other in the last few weeks, (just turned 10 months). My Dr. said its just a sign that they are recognizing their bodies, and the movements. And it feels neat when they shake their heads! My girls have also started copying us now, so when we shake our heads they shake theirs also. My Pediatricain said theres nothing to worry about!

Enjoy your wonderful baby!

Hi... my friends 9 month old little girl is doing the same thing too. She was told that it's just discovering how she can make her body movements, like the other poster said. The funny thing is, she does it constantl when she's sleepy, trying to keep herself awake. It's actually really cute.

Thanks so much for the replys! It's good to know she's not the only baby that does this.
Thanks again,
hilery

thank goodness i found this as my 5 month old boy does the same thing. he does it to every new person he can find and laughs and laughs. it totally freaked me out at first, and i think it freaks the strangers out too! but i am glad to see other babies do it also.

Any follow up on the kids in this post? My grandaughter has been doing this for awhile(see posting about 11 month old with head shakes).It IS cute....but sort of freaky too.

my son stopped shortly after that, but believe me, he does STRANGE things all the time. he started walking at 9 months and loves to walk backwards as well as little circles while looking the other direction. he makes this piggy noise while looking thru his legs (you know, legs on the ground, head on the ground as well, kinda folded in half) he will just start laughing for no reason and crack himself up for several mins at a time. he is so dang cool!

DS started shaking his head no around the same age -- usually when they were trying to feed him at day care. He still won't shake his head yes -- just laughs when we correct him. He also smacks himself in the head if he gets frustrated and sometimes when he's trying to stay awake -- then he giggles.

The one thing he's always done that's really starting to annoy me is he used to pull or hold onto my hair -- I figured it was a comfort thing 'cuz he usually held on when he was snuggling in to go to sleep. But now that he's hit the toddler years -- he does it to stay awake or when he's frustrated. Grabs on and just yanks! I'm going to go bald if he keeps this up!

my 10 month old nods, says no. I have found the hitting worrying as he hit another boy little bit older today. We dont hit him or each other so its worrying. He pulls my hair too, pinches, he smacks and pinches his self when tired and frustrated too, love april x

Weird thing is that he knows the term head butt and if he hears it -- he'll try and head butt us and laugh. Just hope he doesn't become a biter. The other night he was giving DH a belly zerbert and I said watch out he bit me in the chest the other day and CHOMP!

My daughter used to nod all the time. LOL she wouldn't understand a word I was saying, so I made a game of it

Eg: I ask her: Did you eat kitty's food? (she nods)...