6 Year Old Boy with Rolling Eyes up and over and Excessive Blinking

My 7 year old has been doing the same. It comes and goes, and at first I was very concerned. It seems that it is just OCD for him and I try not to draw attention to it. If it continues, I will take him to the chiropractor and see if chiropractic therapy works to correct the issue.

I was told that boys at this age tend to do OCD type things and they generally outgrow it. Again, I don't bring a lot of attention to the issue. The reason I know it's not an actual eye issue is because when he got a cut on his face he went from eye rolling to stretching out his lips (reopening the sore over and over) because he said he had to do it. Once the sore healed (after a month) he resorted back to eye rolling.

My son, now 11, did the exact same thing. He just went through a few phases where he got these strange habits and that was definitely one of them. I think it started out because his eyes were dry with the winter and then it just became a habit. Another one was when he got chapped lips and the sides started cracking. He would open his mouth really wide and that became a habit. Another one had to do with breathing. I can't even remember what it was now. I don't know if I can call them nervous habits because he is really a happy little guy but, his personality type is definitely sensitive, smart and wanting to please.

I asked a psychiatrist about it and he wasn't alarmed at all. He said to just ignore it and it will go away and it always did. I will admit, they were hard to ignore. I didn't want his friends making fun of him, but that was what actually got him out of the lip habit and reminded him to use the lip stuff I was constantly buying for him.

My brother's son went through similar phases and habits. His dr. said it is common in boys and tends to go away with puberty, and his did.

If you are worried, by all means, talk to someone. But the situations sound so similar. Try using the natural tears saline eye drops and see if this helps make him more comfortable. Otherwise, just let nature take it's course and ignore the habit. It is really very harmless.

Please feel free to pm me if you would like.

I just had my 7 year old son to the ped less the two months ago for the same reason. It was incessant. He was blinking/eye rolling every second ( I was documenting for the physician because I was in disbelief).

The doctor examined him and looked at family history and what was going on in our lives. It was a stressful time in our family, and he was not getting adequate sleep. He also said this is common in boys this age and that most cases just go away.

He recommended reducing stress and returning to a better sleep pattern. If it did not reduce or go away in a few weeks, we should follow up up with pediatric ophthalmologist. He did stress for us to not draw attention to it.

Once my son got good regular sleep it went away. But I am still going to the ophthalmologist to make sure any way.

My son did that for about 2 months when he was 6 or 7. Took him to the eye doctor, everything was fine, there is some sort of developmental thing with kids eyes at this age. So it might be nothing and go away on its own...

I've been dealing with this for about 5 years now. We first noticed it with my son when he was 4, and he is now 9. It was a transitory motor tic that the doctor said usually goes away by the time the kids (mostly boys) hit puberty. However, my son developed a vocal tic this year right before the start of school (a grunting laugh), and I WISH we could go back to the days of just the motor tic. We finally made the decision to see a ped neurologist who said once a vocal tic develops that the only difference between tics and Tourettes is he has to have the vocal and motor tics for a year (so I fully believe we will have a Tourettes diagnosis by the end of the summer).

That being said, one of the things I did different from the usual advice was I really TALKED to my son about his tic. I got him comfortable enough that when kids at school would ask him why he blinked so much (or whatever he was doing at the time), he would just matter-of-fact reply "It's a tic; I can't help it". I don't mention it too much now other than at night if we are reading and it's really bad I'll ask him if it is bothering him at school.

Lack of sleep and stress can make it worse. I see it worse on the weekends, probably both because he ends up staying up later than he should and he is comfortable enough at home to let the tics fly rather than trying to hold them in.

Good luck!

Why assume it's a tic? I would get him to an eye doctor immediately--don't wait or the symptoms might clear up while the underlying issue is still there, and you need him to be checked while the symptoms are still present. What he is experiencing could be allergies that are affecting his eyes; or problems with his tear ducts; or other issues. I'm not sure why your thoughts jumped immediately to Tourette's, unless he has other symptoms or you're very familiar with it from having someone in your family who has it already.

Worry less about what other people say and more about getting him an appointment tomorrow. Any good eye doctor is going to work in a kid his age with a problem as fast as they can.

Go with the simplest thing first -- have his eyes checked. (Pediatricians only do the most basic eye exams. I'd go right to an eye doctor for this.)

I do know of a little boy (now 7) who did this. It started small around age 4.5 (rubbing neck to shoulder) and then more things (the blinking) then wide eye and open mouth. I an not an expert, but I totally thought it was tourettes (his mom kind of did too). The summer camp he was at called and told the mom to take him to a neurologist (he was in public school 2 years and they never said a thing). I am not sure if she took him to the specialist. She did say he stopped doing the tics. I see him regularly and sure enough I do not notice it.

Not sure if this is related, but the parents were starting a divorce and once they were living in separate homes the tics stopped. I do not know a lot about tics, but that it was an interesting.

edit: it is true (as Leigh said) that the regular doctor check up only do basic checks. My son's eyes pass all test along with the other things. I felt something was wrong (not with his eyes), but his balance and coordination. Anyway I got a occupational therapist referral. It turns out his eye muscles are weak and this is related to his hand/eye coordination. He has had a very difficult time with certain sports (baseball).

I'd cover all your bases, starting with a pediatric opthamologist. I do think that an OT would be a good starting point too.

If indeed this is a Tourette's issue, I hope that you can get help for him. I would really be worried that incessant rolling of the eyes could weaken his eye muscles as he grows. The eye doctor should be able to tell you that. That would worry me as much as kids making fun of him, to be honest.

It takes a while to get an appointment with a pediatric opthamlogist. Call today.

Is he taking some type of medication? What is he taking?

Hello,

If the onset was sudden and followed by an infection I would look/read into pandasnetwork.org. Antiobiotics would do the trick. My son at 6 got a sudden onset of tics after a mycoplasma infection that was overlooked. The tics were disturbing and were getting worse. It appears it was an infection and antibiotics did the trick, so woth looking into (pandas). My son is 7 and everything is fine now. I'm leaving a lot of details out, but if you want more information and details on my son, send me a private note.

S.