I have a six year old son, that my husband and I have both noticed started blinking all of the time. I don't know if it's something that's new, or something that we've just overlooked. His teacher has never mentioned it, either. We've asked him if his hair gets in his way, or if he gets headaches or if his eyes hurt. he said his eyes sometimes burn. I have very sensitive eyes, and his eyes are the same color, a light green.
Has anyone else had an experience like this?
I want to thank everyone that replied, and took into mind everthing everyone had to say. i took my son to the doctor, who checked his eyes, which were fine. he was congested, and my physician said it must just be allergies. that answer just isn't the one that i'm looking for. my closeset friend actually told me that her son did the same thing, at about the same age, and it was during a stressful time in her marriage. almost as if it were a tic, that now, at 14, he has outgrown. my husband was recently laid off from his job, causing financial stress in our family. he is now working out of town during the week. i think a combination of stress, which we are making a point of not showing as much, and my husband having to leave during the week could be causing him to have this facial tic. i'm self diagnosing him, i realize, but if it continues, i'm going to take him to another doctor. my sister in law also told me how her son had an odd way of putting his head back, as if acknowledging someone, to create an actual picture,continuously, whenever my brother in law would return to iraq or afghanistan. i believe my little man is just under stress himself, and my husband and i are working on creating a more stress free environment for him. if anyone else has had this happen to them, which was stress related; i would love to hear back from them.
thank you again for everything.
I am sorry to have to suggest this but it could be start of Terret's (sp?) syndrome. This is how it started with my nephew. I hope I am off-base. Good Luck.
It could be from being nervous. Did he just start school? Has he been doing this since he started? Or is there any other changes that would have made him nervous?
My son started doing the same thing when he was two, and I panicked thinking he had eye problems. Turns out he had summer allergies to pollen.See if you can keep a log of when he blinks the most, and maybe try to have him avoid potential allergins.Good Luck!
I have had the same kind of thing, my son was 3 and blinking alot, so the doctor suggested we have him seen by the eye doctor, I took him, and they said it was seasonal allergies, so they gave me eye drops for it and he was fine, I also took my daughter at the same time, she was complaining her one eye hurt, turned out she needed glasses for near things. Here I thought my son was going to be the one needing glasses but turned out it was my daughter. I would suggest having him seen by an eye doctor, to make sure it is nothing serious.
Hi K.,
Although it may be nothing, you need to take him to a pediatrician to be sure. My friend's daughter (age 8) recently was found to have epilepsy and the only outward physical sign was her frequent blinking. A neurologist can make the determination for you and ensure your son gets the best care.
Best wishes from our family to yours,
L.
My son started doing the same thing when he was about 7 yrs old. I constantly asked him what was wrong and why he was doing this. His pediatrician suggested that my son was enjoying all of the attention this new behavior was receiving. He believed that if I ignored the blinking, my son would eventually stop. He was right. My son stopped in a few weeks.
i dont want to be an alarmist but it sounds like it could be a tic - it can't hurt to follow up with your pediatrician - ask the doctor to rule out PANDAS - which is a neurological condition caused by a strep infection- this is strep season and if you are just noticing the tic its possible that its caused by a strep infection - tics are neurological problems so you may need to see a pediatric neurologist to get a proper diagnosis.
good luck!
A wee bit late, and you seem to have found a solution. But I wanted to suggest looking at new chemicals that may have been brought into the house. A new household cleaner, new carpet, new sofa, new curtains, new mattress? sometimes people have a reaction to the ingredients of any of these items. If ithe blinking is only occurring in your home, maybe it's worth investigating.
Anyway, hopefully the habit goes away when the stress is alleviated. Good luck!
could be dry eyes from allergies. get your duct work cleaned throughout your house and you'll see a big difference. also he may be trying to focus...take him to an eye dr. for a test...
hugs, L.
my daugter is 4 1/2 and out of the blue started blinking and holding one eye closed this went on for about a month we took her to a peatric eye dr not the guy in the mall a real dr. and she had a full exam and lots of test all was fine and the dr said she sees this a lot at these age. and to watch it she stoped two weeks later I stop mentioning it to her and it must have been a nurviouse tick.
take him to the eye doctor and have his vision tested. if his vision is fine he may suffer from dry eyes. there is medicine for that. I work at lenscrafters so that is why i would check his eyes to rule out these are two of the things it may not be. If it is his vision and he needs glasses then an anti reflective lens may had reduce the glare from the bright lights in the classroom. Keep this in mind for yourself also. wear polarized lenses outside as you are probably sensitive to sunlight and so is your son most likely.
my son did this back in pre-school when he was 3. we took him to the eye doctor, nothing. he also said his eyes were burning.we thought it might be allergies, nothing. it went on for a few years. he is ten now and it has not happened for quite some time. in fact, i can't even tell you honestly the last time i saw him actually do that. he has some anxiety issues that have worked themselves out now that he's older. it might just be that what you're going through. could just be nerves. just keep an eye on it. check with your pedi at his next appointment. good luck
Its probably just a fun new habit that gets him attention. However, it may be dry eyes & he might need drops. I would take him to an eye doctor to check it out. If his eyes are really dry he could eventually scratch his cornea (which would not be good).
My son is 8. I have green eyes that are very sensitive and all my children do also. My son blinks constantly. It is just a habit he has gotten into. At least for my son, it is just a habit. I have had his eyes checked by our family eye doctor. (My husband and I both wear glasses). He wouldn't do it at school..only at home. After about a year of this, we finally broke him of the habit..just by CONSTANTLY reminding him to stop blinking. I hope that this is what it is with your son!
my friend just went thru this..it was allergies after medicated went away..now it is just occasionally
My daughter has experienced problems with allergies affecting her eyes. One of the issues she has experienced is burning of her eyes. Your son may be blinking in an attempt to eliminate the allergen from his eye. He may not even realize that he is doing this or that his eyes are bothering him that much. I would recommend seeing your optometrist or opthamologist for an evaluation. They can help pinpoint the issue and provide eyedrops to soothe his eyes.
My son is now 7 and started doing that at 5. I read a great deal about it and I believe it is considered a tic. Many, many children that age get them and sometimes go on to have other little ones like clearing the throat or gulping. They usually just outgrow the whole thing. It is rarely something to worry about. we brought our son to the Doctor to be evaluated and he told us the same thing. The worst thing to do is to bring it up to your child constantly or put any pressure on him to stop. I was very concerned in the beginning also. He did stop the excessive blinking, but occasionally has had other small tics like the ones I mentioned above. He will go through long periods of time where nothing is going on, too. I think it would be a good idea to talk to your pediatrician for reassurance. Take care.
