4 year old ‘seeing colours’

[MaryMaryVeryContrary]

A few weeks ago, my nearly 5 year old said ‘when you do this can you see colours mummy’ and blinked quite hard and rapidly. She then pointed around the room and said ‘red, blue, green’.

I asked if she only saw them when she blinked and she said yes, I wasn’t too worried as I thought she meant that general red/bluish colour you can see behind your eyelids when you blink while looking at the window.

Since then she’s mentioned it again a couple of times, I ask whether it’s when she blinks and sometimes she says yes and sometimes she says no. At 4 it’s hard to get a straight answer or know whether she’s saying what she thinks I want to hear IYSWIM. She said this morning she can see them when she blinks and when she opens her eyes.

I’ve booked her an eye test for this weekend, but has anyone else had this? Thanks

Bump!

Bumping again…

I've had similar with my dd 6 this past week or so- I think it's just that it's the first time she has noticed that this happens and so is focusing on it now and talking about it I don't think it's a sign that anything is wrong. My dd had an eye test recently and all was fine

I haven't had this, but they will be able to tell if she has any colour issues at the eye test so that should sort it out.

Thank you that’s reassuring. I think you’re right in that shes focussing on and talking about it more now she’s ‘noticed‘ it but just wanted to check there wasn’t anything I was overlooking beyond an eye test.

Obviously this isn’t exactly tailored medical advice but this doesn’t sound like anything I’d be too worried about (doi EM doc). Keep an eye but if it doesn’t progress to anything else I think they're fine.

I used to think I saw "fairy lights" when I was little and blinked hard when lying in bed first thing in the morning. It was lots of different colours floating in small blotches round the room.
They were a little like when you've had a bright light in your eye and your eye sight goes blotchy but this was multiple small ones and more pastel shades. I would get really excited if there were lots.
Haven't had it for years though.

As an adult I've discovered I see slightly different colours out of each eye though. One eye is redder than the other. Not sure if that's normal or connected, but I've had multiple eye tests and nothing's ever been said about being abnormal.

My DS says everything goes green when he does something with his eyes. I think he's looking into the sun. He also blurs his eyes as says "there's two mummies!" which is a bit disturbing. I try to stop him doing both these things as tell him he'll hurt his eyes.

This brought back memories! I used to see all sorts of floating coloured lights as a child, especially when tired at night. I still sometimes get something similar now when I'm tired where if I'm looking at something that's lit up in a dark room, eg the tv or a lamp, my brain seems to hold on to that image for a while and projects it for a second or 2. I thought this was all normal, is it not?

I do have some minor vision problems, astigmatism etc and have recently had an op for strabismus so it may be a focusing 'thing' but I've always just thought it was due to having tired eyes.

Op, could your dd have synesthesia?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Synesthesia

Er we got fast tracked by the optician all the way to a consultant’s appointment with DD’s “purple and green flashes”. Which turned out to be the colours/retinal imprint you see after you’ve looked at a bright light.

So both a huge relief and also extremely shame-inducing.

She stopped complaining about them after that 🤔

One of my eyes sees things in more saturated/warmer colour than the other too.

I'm no doctor so I'd definitely encourage you to ask an optician or doctor anyway, but I used to love making myself see colours like how you describe your daughter does when I was little! Nothing wrong with my vision or eyes if that makes you feel better

I used to lie in bed in the dark with my eyes closed and rub my eyelids quite hard, because it made me see colours. (I may have just tried it again, for science, obviously. It still works) It sounds maybe like DD is doing something similar with hard blinking?

I just tried hard blinking and it went a bit weird - like when you walk indoors on a very bright sunny day and everything gets a blue cast to it for a minute. Or is that just me?!

Thanks all. Took her to the optician who had a good look and says she seems fine. She hasn’t mentioned it for a couple of days so will just see what happens.

My daughter said she could see red and green speckles. I get the same when it's dark... its a bit like the TV screen when it goes funny.... sometimes when they first experience something new it sounds worrying but can be explained

I remember doing this! I was about 6 and another child had (accidentally) hit me in the eye, and I was really aware of those colours you see when you blink. My mum ended up taking me to the GP and she was really cross afterwards - her being cross is what set it in my memory. Poor mum!

Same here! So bored in bed as a child

Phosphenes!

Many kids can see them, and some adults still can.

They look a bit different to different people and for some they're colours, patterns, shapes or shades, or like a pulsating light in the dark.

When I was a kid I remember seeing floating colours when I closed my eyes regularly. Doesn't happen anymore. I googled it a few years ago and saw that it's a thing and you grow out of it.

My DD (6) had this but also said things kept getting small. I also had the same thing when I was little - things would look smaller when I was tired. I googled it and it’s called Alice in Wonderland Syndrome - not sure if the colours is linked. I took her to the GP and opticians and all fine! Eyes play tricks when you are tired!

I used to close my eyes and press my eyeballs to see ‘fireworks’ when I was little, but there again I was a right div 🤣

So would I! Except it's more like a tunnel of lights and colours that you're traveling through.

Just tried it again - still works! Thanks for the memory, OP!

Loving that I'm not the only adult poking themselves in the eye for fun! 😂