7 answers

Eye Blinks

My son is 2 years old. Yesterday afternoon he was sitting with his dad, getting ready to go down for a nap. I noticed that he was doing this strange eye blinking. He would blink really fast and squint his eyes together for a second and then stop for about a minute and do it again. I thought maybe it was just him fighting sleep, but when he got up from his nap, he started doing it again. He stopped for a few hours and then as we were starting to watch a movie he started again. I called his dr and she is out of town until tuesday. The one call doctor said that it may just be allergies, but I am scared! He didn't do it all day today until he sat down with his grandma to watch tv and started again. I don't know if it's just something he has learned to do or something worse. Has anyone experienced anything like this? I just don't know what to think...

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So What Happened?™

Thanks for all the messages...it really helped to calm my nerves. I took him to the doctor today and she thinks that it is his allergies. He has dry eye and she gave us a drop to put in his eyes at night. She also told us to cut back on the Claritin from 1 tsp down to 1/2 - 3/4 tsp. It never accured to me that the claritin would dry out is eyes, even though we all know it helps to dry up the runny nose and sinuses. She said that if he wasn't better in a few weeks to bring him back, but I am sure that allergies are the culprit.

More Answers

My daughter did the exact same thing. The first time I noticed it, she was watching a movie and she starting blinking really fast. I thought that she was having trouble seeing, I started freaking out about it. My hubby kept telling me it was nothing and she was fine. (She was about 2 1/2 years then, by the way) About a week went by and I kept noticing it, especially while she was watching tv. So, I called my eye doctor and made her an appointment. He said that her sight was fine, he then told me that there could be a tiny scratch on her eye that was causing it. So, I took her to her doctor and they put this dye in her eye and held a black light over her to see if there were any scratches. There were none. So, after all of that, we then found out that it was only allergies. Her doctor said to try children's benadryl. About a year later, she had to have a prescription allergiy medicine.

I bet your little boy will be just fine. Good luck! :-)

i would get him checked immediately, take him to the nearest childrens hospital where there is specialist, waiting might not be the wise thing to do. allergies are a bad problem this year, but that might not be the answer to his problem. never hesitate when you feel something is not right, when it comes to your childs health.

It sounds to me like he is having trouble seeing the TV. If hes squinting and blinking while trying to watch the TV hes probably having trouble seeing it.

My son (now 9) did the same thing around that age. We took him to the eye doctor, had a bunch of tests done, and were eventually told there was nothing wrong with him. He would blink alot and his eyes seemed to be just the slightest bit crossed. I, too, attributed it to him being tired or eyestrain from the TV. But the doctor said he was fine. It took awhile, but he grew out of it.

Still, you know your child better than anyone. If you feel he is in distress, or if the problem seems to be getting worse, by all means get him checked out by a doctor. Sometimes a call to the pediatrician can put your mind at ease as they can tell if you need to be seen right away. Give them a call in the morning just to be safe. :-)

Best of luck to you!

Hi, my son did the same thing when he was about 4 or 5 - he is 17 now. We had him checked out by every type of doctor you can imagine. Seems the only thing wrong was the combination of his allergy medicine along with the antihistamine I was giving him. I checked out the strenth of the meds I was giving him and took him off some of it and the blinking cleared up right away. Maybe this will help.

Dont begn to worry yet until you have had him checked out. It could be something as simple as him needing glasses. My now 9 year old has worn glasses since she was almost a year old and other than her having both laZy eyes she also did some types of squinting.

Hi T.:

It could be something but he may have learned to do something new and when he does it you are probably giving him much attention about why he is doing it. Try ignoring it for a day or two and see what happens. If it does not go away then you will need to take him to the doctor.

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