I've been noticing that Michael seems to have trouble turning his head completely to the right and has a habit of looking toward his left no matter how we lay him down or sit him up. His neck seems stiff, too, when I try to move his head. He, of course, does the "Reflux Arch & Stiffen", too. He also has strange episodes similar to "startle reflexes" but more severe where he gasps for breath for a few seconds while he's trying frantically to grab onto something. Then he screams and cries pathetically until I'm able to calm him down. And he can be laying completely still (often on the changing table) when it happens. *SIGH* He also has "normal" startle reflexes, so that's why these other ones concern me.

But Sandifer's is such a frustrating thing to research. I read a bunch of stuff here (and elsewhere on the 'net), but I still feel pretty clueless. And I'm still not even sure that's what's going on with Michael, but I'm certain something isn't quite right. Dang it. As if this poor little guy needs MORE problems.

Anyone ever feel like you're going to be accused of "Munchausen by Proxy" for constantly taking your child/ren back to the doctor for new maladies?

I was at the dr at least onece a week for the first few months. One time I was there three days appart. I am a total better safe then sorry person. If it is Sandifer's then the only way to address it would be to keep threating the GERD. For Sebastian when his reflux was undercontrol the strange movements stoped.

My ped did send us for a neuro consult to rule out seizures or anyother neourolgical issues. It was a quick apt and he said to up the reflux meds first and if he was still having problems then we would do an EEG. We never had to do the EEG, I only see the twiching stuff when his reflux is acting up so all the docs agree it is Sandifer's.

So anyway, my advice would be to talk to your dr about it. Get it on tape if you can. That was the first thing the neruo doc asked me for. It would be better to have it checked out and put your mind at ease.

My ped did send us for a neuro consult to rule out seizures or anyother neourolgical issues. It was a quick apt and he said to up the reflux meds first and if he was still having problems then we would do an EEG. We never had to do the EEG, I only see the twiching stuff when his reflux is acting up so all the docs agree it is Sandifer's. .

Ditto what Katey said. Ava had the neck tilting episodes and arching whole bunch of other stuff. The moment her reflux was under control it all went away. She would still tilt her neck sometimes, but so rarely that I don't even worry. I know it's reflux. We did take her to neuro for an eval, b/c of that and she gave her a clean bill of health.
You can go and see one just to put your mind at ease, but I am convinced that once his GERD is being treated, it'll go away.

I've been noticing that Michael seems to have trouble turning his head completely to the right and has a habit of looking toward his left no matter how we lay him down or sit him up. His neck seems stiff, too, when I try to move his head.

This part of your post sounds exactly like my Noah. The ped. diagnosed him as having Torticollis and we are now in physical therapy because of it. Luckily he has a mild case. I'm not sure though with the presence of the other symptoms. My therapist did tell me she thought he had Torticollis as a result of the GERD.

Well, I'm sure we'll be seeing our doctor sometime next week because Michael's belly button is starting to look "funny" again, so we can address this then, too. :sad5:

I'm also not so sure about the correlation between his GERD treatment and whatever he's got going on. This has been going on for as long as I can remember, and his reflux seems VERY well-controlled by his meds right now, but the things I mentioned above seem to be getting worse. But I also thought I remembered reading somewhere that Sandifer's/torticollis symptoms usually REALLY start manifesting around 3 months (but I couldn't find any articles saying that when I was checking about it this time.) No wonder I'm confused...

Amy, I was also going to say It sounds a lot like torticollis. Connor was diagnosed with it at 3 months old and was in Physical therapy until 12 months. Ask your ped about it when you go.