"He constantly throws himself backwards. On the scale, he almost threw 
himself off. When sitting, she must put a pillow behind him because he 
will throw himself backwards at any moment. He constantly stiffens, arches 
back and fusses" 

I'd be wondering about a neurologic or muscle tone issue with this little 
guy. You mention you've seen many, many babies but never one that acted 
like this - I think that's an important point. Those of us who have held, 
seen, worked with hundreds and hundreds of babies often pick up a pink 
flag, maybe nothing you can put into clear words, but a general sense 
that "hey - this is different - this is out of the range of typical". 

Hypertonia (high muscle tone) is basically what you're describing, though 
sometimes babies actually have LOW muscle tone and compensate by 
stiffening themselves - we call that "mixed tone" if the trunk is low but 
the neck, arms and legs are rigid. Flinging the head back, as you 
describe, is called retrocollis. 

Is this baby meeting developmental milestones, at nine months, sitting 
independantly, standing with support, some form of floor mobility 
(rolling, scooching, crawling in some way), using both hands symetrically 
to reach for and handle an offered toy?  

Perhaps gently suggest this mom visit the pediatrician to show and discuss 
this "posturing", and/or mom could self-refer to Early Intervention for an 
assessment. Certainly there could be nothing at all problematic here, but 
your internal pink flag is waving. Sometimes babies fake us out and do 
weird and interesting things that are of no longterm consquence. This 
easily could be a 'gotta be moving, standing, on the go" active baby, but 
based on your descriptions the pedi, possibly a neurologist, and a 
pediatric physical therapist might be able to help this mom and baby.

Nancy Holtzman RN BSN IBCLC
Director of Early Parenting Programs
Isis Maternity, inc.
[log in to unmask]
www.isismaternity.com

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