This week my son (3) has started blinking a lot. It's not all the time but more times a day than I like to see. He has really bad allergies and a sensitivity to bright sunlight but this blinking thing is new. I wanted to watch it and see for a few days but today he started whining a bit and I asked what was wrong and he put my hand on his head. I'm calling the doctor on Monday but today I am freaking out. He is speech delayed so it's hard to get out of him what's wrong. We live in Texas and it's been 110 outside so he has watched more TV this week (I was thinking eye strain?) but he is doing this even when not watching TV. Anyone have this happen to them?
Could it be childhood tics? My son has had several tics off and on for years. The ped says this is totally normal in young children and will go away with time. Please update us on what the doctor says.
You need to call your doctor. There are a lot of reasons each one more scary than the next. It may be nothing. Why worry with our attempts to diagnose.
Yes my son had eye blinking and staring episodes, and was diagnosed with epilepsy
I wouldn't be freaking out, however, you may want to give the Dr. a call just for reassurance.
If he has allergies, his eyes may be bothering him and blinking is a natural way of soothing and removing the irritants.
I would call your pedi's after hours line just to be safe. My ds had something else with his eyes, out of the blue. One lid started drooping more than the other. I called the after hours nurse just to be safe and was sent immediately to an urgent care clinic for a check. We were then sent off to the ER because of a lot of scary possibilities. We spent most of the night there and were ultimately put through a cat scan to rule anything out.
It turned out to be nothing. He was fine, thank God. But the alternatives were life changingly terrifying. I'm sure your baby is fine. But just call this evening to make sure.
My brother had this at 5 years and got tested (yes, he had a brain scanner put on) cause I guess there are a ton of terrible things it can be related to. If it makes you feel better. His ended up being nothing. He is now 33 and healthy!
I found this post interesting because my son (almost 4 yrs. old) has been blinking a lot over the past 3-4 weeks. I even mentioned this concern to my husband. We live in TX and he does have minor allergies from time to time. I wondered about this but he hasn't complained of any headaches. Just the occasional sneezing attacks where I give him Benadryl for a day or two and then he seems okay. But the blinking has been noticeable everyday for the past few weeks so I'm going to give his doctor a call & check into this.
My 3 year old son started doing this too, turns out he was trying to clear his vision and needed glasses. We got him glasses and it stopped. Hope this helps.
Has he ever had strep? It can cause something called PANDAS (Pediatric Autoimmune Neuropsychiatric Disorder Associated with Streptoccocus). It's when the body creates too many antibodies to the strep bacteria, and it attaches the basal ganglia of the brain - the part that causes movement disorders. My daughter got this at age 5 - started with eye blinking, then moved on to facial tics, then arm and leg movement. Am happy to give you more information if you want to send me a private message. Definitely go to the doctor and even if he's not been officially diagnosed with strep, if he's had an ear infection or anything like that within the last 6-12 months, it can be an indicator.
