Rocking Self to Sleep

No worries. Check with your doc if you have any concerns about vestibular (balance/hearing) issues. Once you are sure there are no problems there...let it go. My brother did this (we called it "rolling"back and forth) from babyhood. Dr. said not to worry.. it is a self soothing mechanism.

He is 43 and still does it today. My kids pretend to be him by sitting in a chair and rocking their head side to side... lol. He only does it when he is tired,or trying to go to sleep. And oddly enough, for the longest time, his favorite hobby (as an adult) was being on the water fishing. I personally think the wave action on the water soothes him, as he def uses fishing as a way to relax and unstress from a week of work.

No worries.

I wouldn't worry about it. If that's his only little "quirk", then leave it be.

He's self-soothing and it can be really hard to relax after long days and kiddos don't have other "tools" at that age to sort of reflect back and relax and go to sleep. You may notice he does it more after a stressful (good or bad) day, which a sleepover would have been.

If you make a big deal out of it, it could make him really self-conscious about it. If it works for him, let it go.

I used to rub my leg against my sheet as a kid to relax....it's funny, I thought of it the other day and remembered how good it felt and made me sleepy. I actually tried it to see if it would help me calm down and sleep. It didn't, but now in my crazy world, I wish it would! :)

If you want to talk about it, I would choose a time where you guys are doing some parallel activity and he can talk about it without feeling like you are confronting him at all. Just talk about how when you go to bed you think through your day and sometimes you can't sleep right away and what you do to fall alseep. Maybe he will bring it up. Maybe not.

Did he hear his friend say that....I'm sure he's a bit embarrassed by it anyways.

No worries mama!

you should do nothing. that's his little habit and it's not a strange one. some ppl just have something they have to do or do unconsciously to go to sleep, like sucking a thumb,rubbing their ear, humming to themselves, etc. so if his friend was bothered by it .......oh well? i don't think your son is doing anything wrong or out of the ordinary. good luck.

Oh man how I wish I had someone to rock ME to sleep every night ;-) It's just his way of falling asleep and is just fine.

I am a TOTALLY normal person and still rock myself to sleep.. It's super comfortable and tires me out.. There is NOTHING wrong with it~ My guy cousin does as well.... I mostly rock my legs back and forth and actually my husband finds it quite soothing (weirdly enough)... I wouldn't worry at all!!!!

That is darling! I do see why you would be worried about other kids teasing him though. I'd leave him alone for the most part and not say anything, but you might try getting him to be a reader. If he reads he may get so tired he won't need the rocking.

By the way, thank you for your service!

My mother-in-law used to babysit a girl who would sit on the sofa and rock back and forth hitting her head against the back of the sofa. When I first saw her doing that, I thought she was autistic. Ma said, "No, she is just tired and is rocking herself to sleep. Watch and she'll be asleep in a bit." Sure enough, Ma was right. That girl has grown into a very emotionally stable young lady. That made me realize that Ma, who had very little formal education and never read any "baby books," was a very intelligent lady and one who I could turn to with questions when I had children. It might be a good idea, however, to help your son with how to reply to any child who teases him about his rocking. He has no reason to be embarrassed about it and to think it strange. He might cheerfully say, "It is relaxing; it feels good; I enjoy doing it right before I go to sleep. Why don't you try it?" Who knows, when he is in college and the other guys are drinking to relax, he won't need to as he knows a healthier way:)