The baby rolls his eyes when falling asleep and twitches

My dear readers, I am glad to welcome you again to my blog, and I hasten to quickly tell you about such a slightly strange feature in the baby’s behavior as the movement of the pupils upward during sleep. It looks like a newborn baby is rolling his eyes . This phenomenon frightens many young parents (and no wonder), but in most cases it does not pose a threat to the health of the baby. How to understand the reasons for this feature? I will hasten to reassure you, usually a newborn baby rolls his eyes due to physiological nuances or before waking up, so in the absence of other strange symptoms there is absolutely nothing to worry about. But so that you are completely calm, today I will tell you how to distinguish normality from pathology. Interesting? Then read on...

When to worry

Concern should begin with frequent eye rolling from the age of one year. In this case, there should be no irritants in the form of a computer or TV. If rolling occurs in the absence of such stimuli, this indicates health problems.

Let's look at them in detail:

• The eye may twitch due to nervous tension. There are reasons of a psychological nature. The result of internal experiences is a nervous tic. And it is expressed in the form of twitching and rolling of the eyes. That is, in this case, there is a reason of a psycho-emotional nature.
• This effect can be caused by diseases of the ENT group. However, they will not be directly related to ocular function. Pain and general discomfort can be expressed in rolling the eyes. This is the child's reaction to the stimulus. Accordingly, it is necessary to influence the disease and treat it.
• Often, twitching of the pupil is a sign of epilepsy. This occurs before a seizure. Therefore, with frequent eye rolling, it is necessary to undergo an examination to identify epileptic pathology.
• Intracranial pressure can lead to the effect in question. In childhood, it can be congenital or acquired as a result of injury. This is a dangerous condition that sometimes leads to the development of vascular pathologies and glaucoma.

The child rolls his eyes - what does it look like?

Parents often turn to the pediatrician with a complaint - the infant rolls his eyes and opens them in his sleep. A newborn baby’s eyelids indeed often open during rest, with the pupil moving upward and only the whites remaining visible. The eyes can be only slightly open, or they can open completely.

Sometimes an older child rolls his eyes upward before falling asleep or while awake. You cannot ignore such behavior or scold him for self-indulgence. Perhaps something is bothering the baby. Try to monitor the child’s condition - there may be other warning signs.

Reasons why children under one year old roll their eyes

At this age, the eye muscles are just beginning to form. They are necessary for focusing the gaze on objects. The child needs time to get comfortable and learn to control his eyes. This is why infants and newborns often experience eye rolling.

Children from one month to one year

It is during this period that the child becomes accustomed to a new space and conditions. He learns to coordinate his movements to get the desired result. This applies to motor skills and eye function. Consequently, the formation of the eye muscles will be accompanied by their rolling. Return to contents

Symptoms for which you need to consult a specialist

Parents need to take their child to the doctor if there are accompanying signs:

• sleep disturbances, frequent crying, anxiety;
• the child moves his eyes not only upward, eye movements are uncoordinated and unnatural;
• hyperactivity, excitability;
• the head often throws back (more details in the article: why can a newborn throw his head back?);
• delayed mental, mental and physical development;
• jaw trembling;
• strabismus;
• very fast and asymmetrical head growth;
• vomiting, nausea, excessive regurgitation in infants (see also: causes of excessive regurgitation in newborns);
• the baby does not eat well and cannot breastfeed normally;
• motor coordination is impaired, the child bumps into furniture when walking;
• increase in body temperature.

If a child under one year of age has a very high temperature, convulsions, or loss of consciousness, you need to call an ambulance. Possible disruption of brain function due to severe intoxication during illness or an attack of intracranial hypertension.

Causes in children over one year of age

If after one year the rolling continues, this is a cause for concern. It is necessary to undergo a medical examination in order to timely identify the disease that is causing the child to roll his eyes. First of all, you should pay attention to diseases of the ENT group and examine intracranial pressure.

ENT diseases

These can be any diseases of this group. They are not directly related to ocular function. However, they are accompanied by pain, difficulty breathing, and general malaise.

As a result, the child begins to roll his eyes involuntarily. This is a reaction to unpleasant sensations. Therefore, it is necessary to treat ARVI.

Increased intracranial pressure

This is a dangerous condition that can lead to chronic vascular diseases and glaucoma. If eye rolling is not associated with fatigue or acute respiratory viral infection, you should definitely get an MRI to check intracranial pressure.

If this is confirmed, then the cause of eye rolling is high blood pressure. Accordingly, it is necessary to take medications to reduce it and undergo regular treatment in clinics.

Return to contents

Nervous tic

Its etiology is not fully understood. This is due to its psycho-emotional nature. After all, any strong experiences can lead to a tic. For example, about appearance, relationships with classmates, and so on. All reasons depend on the particular child’s perception of the world around him.

Therefore, there is no need to scold or control every eye movement. We will have to deal with the underlying causes of the condition and act on them. However, as a rule, the rolling goes away on its own. After all, in childhood it is difficult to concentrate on the same experience for a long time. Therefore, the tick goes away and the rolling stops.

Epilepsy

Rolling your eyes may indicate an epileptic seizure, which will soon occur. Epilepsy is a severe congenital disease.

It is associated with damage to the nervous system and manifests itself in periodic seizures. A person with this diagnosis must take strong medications throughout his life to increase the interval between seizures and reduce their intensity.

Epileptic seizure

It is a complex condition when a person cannot control himself. If there is epilepsy and the child begins to roll his eyes, this indicates an imminent seizure. Accordingly, you need to put the child on the bed and take measures to limit his movements. Because they are uncontrollable and he can cause serious injury to himself. Return to contents

rolls his eyes

I have two children and I encountered this problem 2 times, how many nerves were spent, my husband and I probably turned gray when all this happened before our eyes, the child turns blue, goes limp and does not breathe for several seconds, or even minutes... I’ll say it’s very scary to you.

In general, I want to share how to solve this problem, I don’t know if it will help you, be sure to consult a neurologist! It helped me with both kids.

I read somewhere that this goes away on its own, you just need to blow on your face and wash it with cold water, but when this happens 10 times a day, it’s scary to look at it! After all, children even up to 3-4 years old sometimes have troubles and fall unconscious in kindergarten... and then how can you send your child to kindergarten?!

In general, GLYCINE helped us, seriously, 1/2 tablet, 2 times a day for 2-4 weeks. (be sure to consult a neurologist or pediatrician!)

I’ll describe my story, my son was born, and as soon as he started teething at 6 months, the child became capricious and rolled up... at 11 months we went to a neurologist, prescribed glycine, the rolling stopped... I didn’t connect it with glycine then, I thought, well, he’s outgrown it and that’s it Great! But that was not the case, our daughter was born and from the age of 7 months, as soon as her teeth began to appear, she began to roll, and even more terribly and more often than her son, she turned one year old... then a year and three... and she rolled more and more often and more violently, not passed... and then we went to a neurologist and she prescribed us GLYCINE again, and then it dawned on me... that my son was also prescribed it at 11 months, but he started to decline until he was a year old... In general, they started giving it to my daughter, after 3-5 days she stopped rolling , can you imagine, not even once!!! but it was stable every day, 5-10 times a day!

I'm not a doctor, but I'll try to explain in broken language, I read somewhere that the child begins to roll, because... The emotional and mental development of a child is ahead of the development of the nervous system, and as far as I know, Glycine saturates nerve cells with oxygen.

In general, I gave it to my son for a couple of weeks and after that he never went down, I only give my daughter another 1.5 weeks, we’ll see what happens when I stop giving it, they prescribed us for a month, but she hasn’t gone down even once for a week!

I’m not a doctor and everything is individual for everyone, always ask and double-check with specialists (maybe you need to be examined before this, because the reason may be something serious, for example, instability of the cervical vertebrae or something else), we were examined and there is no reason did not have! And I decided to write the article from the bottom of my heart, maybe it will help someone, we went through so much when the child was declining, it’s scary to remember!

Parental actions (treatment)

Treatment depends on the cause. For example, if tired, isolate the child from the computer and give him soothing drops. For example, Vizin or Tyfon are good options. For ENT diseases, take medications, do warming and other physiotherapeutic procedures.

A necessary element will be an MRI and a study for epilepsy. And the main task of parents is to consult a doctor immediately after identifying these symptoms.

Useful video

During the period of falling asleep, a newborn may move his eyes upward, which does not always signal the development of pathologies of the nervous system. Consultation with a pediatrician is necessary if the child is over 3 months old and has additional signs of illness. A common cause of decreased tone of the extraocular muscles is injury during pregnancy or labor. Hereditary predisposition plays an important role in the development of diseases of the nervous system in a child.

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Alexandrova O.M.

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How to help a child?

If a child’s eyes not only roll back, but he loses consciousness and turns blue, it is necessary to provide him with urgent assistance while waiting for an ambulance. Place your baby on his side and hold his tongue to prevent choking and vomiting. When the child’s life is not in danger, it is better to wait for a consultation with a competent doctor and then follow his recommendations.

Diagnosis of cause and treatment

Diagnosis is the business of doctors.
The role of parents is to describe the symptoms in as much detail and as accurately as possible. Prepare for a visit to the clinic or hospital: write down the symptoms you observe so as not to forget anything, check whether the baby rolls his eyes in his sleep or while awake, and whether his pupils go up or down. If the treatment prescribed by the doctor causes you doubts, show your child to another specialist. This must also be done if the prescribed dosage contradicts the instructions. Once you are sure that the diagnosis and treatment are correct, follow the recommendations. At the same time, you need to remember that a routine, walks and a calm mother are important for the child.

Special massage

If the cause of eye rolling is problems with muscle tone or a nervous tic, a massage is indicated. The doctor may also prescribe it as an additional therapy for a more serious diagnosis. A child should be massaged by a specialist with medical knowledge.

Physiotherapy and gymnastics for the eyes

The exercises consist of purposeful movement of the eyeballs. The child is shown an interesting toy and moved in different directions. By following her with his eyes, the baby learns to focus his vision. A musical mobile suspended above the crib is suitable for such training.

Why does a child, when falling asleep, roll his eyes up or move them to the side?

When parents notice any unusual behavior or worrisome symptoms in their child, they should tell their pediatrician.
Don’t be afraid to look stupid; sometimes harmless signs hide a serious illness. However, in some cases, what worries and frightens adults is a variant of the norm. A question that often worries inexperienced parents is why does the child roll his eyes? What should be done when such a violation is noticed? Which doctor should I contact if my baby looks up, rolls his eyes in his sleep or falls asleep?

How to distinguish normality from pathology?

Sometimes it is not clear whether the symptom is really serious or whether the pathology is contrived by parents who are worried about the baby. In this situation, it is important to find a pediatrician you trust. Ask him about everything - in young children, any change in behavior or deviation from the norm deserves attention. Don’t be afraid to play it safe, because it’s absolutely normal to worry about your child. It is mandatory to consult a doctor if you notice several symptoms at once: severe crying, restlessness, vomiting, tremors, squint, the child does not fall asleep for a long time.

Therapeutic measures

This disorder is treated by a pediatric neurologist and an ophthalmologist after a full examination of the baby. Usually, children are not prescribed medications; eye exercises, massage, visiting the pool and physiotherapy are preferred. Of course, if serious disorders are detected, treatment tactics will be more complex.

Under no circumstances should you self-medicate, especially with folk remedies. This condition can indicate many diseases, so nothing can be done without examination and consultation with a specialist.

Causes of the phenomenon

Baby with rolled eyes

If this happens after a month, attention should be paid to this fact, since at this age children already know how to control the muscles of their eyes.

Important! If this happens after a year, it may be caused by the child playing.

While falling asleep

If a newborn rolls his eyes when he falls asleep, this is completely natural. Even adults sleep with raised pupils. This is how the brain tunes in to sleep.

When he sleeps

In children under one month old, the muscles of the eyelids are not fully developed, so they can open spontaneously. Experienced parents already know that children can sleep with their eyes open. This shouldn't be scary.

You should be concerned about the situation when at 3 months the baby continues to roll his eyes. Here you need to consult a neurologist.

Other possible options

9 times out of 10, rolling your eyes is not a cause for alarm. The baby may try to focus his gaze on an object that is not within his vision. Newborn babies do not yet know how to hold their heads up, so they can turn their eyes to look around.

In 1 percent of cases, the sign indicates a malfunction in the functioning of the body:

When is it necessary to see a doctor urgently?

There are situations when you need to see a doctor immediately. If your doctor does not see you at this moment, call an ambulance - in children, diseases sometimes develop several times faster than in adults, so help must be prompt. As a rule, if a serious illness is suspected, children are hospitalized. So, while waiting for the ambulance, prepare documents, clothes, bottles and other items necessary in the hospital.

Associated symptoms with eye rolling, when emergency assistance is required: high temperature that is not reduced by Paracetamol or Ibuprofen, prolonged tearful crying, loss of consciousness, convulsions.