Eye Rolling in a One Year Old.... Normal?????

[mackiners]

My one year old son has recently had a series of episodes where his eyes have either rolled backwards or have rolled upwards and then over to the side. These episodes only last a few seconds and don't appear to cause him any concern. At first I thought he was copying one of my facial expressions, but now I am not convinced. When the episode is happening I am a bit freaked out by it. They happen maybe a couple of times a day (but can then go for days without it happening).

Developmentally he is doing great (crawling, walking, into everything, etc). I was just wondering if any other mum out there has experienced the same thing? If so, is this something that eventually stops happening? Am really worried about this.

Any comments appreciated. Thanks!

@AT20 thank you so much for replying. We've got an appt with my sons pediatrician this Wednesday coming so I'll update after I've seen her. Ironically he has stopped doing it but I'm not convinced it's nothing. I've got videos to show her so I'm hoping she just thinks it's a 'normal tic' but it was definitely concerning because I'm not convinced he is aware he was doing it. Will update the page once I've spoken to the hospital.

@nestorasg it was hard to tell about behaviour when my son was so young when it all began but as he has got older the only thing is the hyperactivity, it’s way more than a normal toddler. Even the neurologist said his behaviour is under the ADHD umbrella even though he is only a toddler so he won’t be officially diagnosed until around age 5 I think. Otherwise no change, eats, sleeps the same as always and is progressing well otherwise. @Jadeb1986 i was also really concerned about my son as it looks so weird and involuntary but now he’s older he tells me his eyes feel funny when it happens but he’s been to the opticians about 2 weeks ago who said everything looks great and he has a healthy nerve behind the eye too. Have you noticed certain triggers when it happens? As I mentioned in an earlier comment, I’d only see it in the highchair when he was younger but now he’s older I don’t really see it when he’s eating, now it’s literally as he’s waking up, sun light / water in his eyes or sometimes when listening to a song he doesn’t know. He’s also done it once when I told him off for kicking me when I was changing him. I feel in my sons case it’s emotion related which does tie in with tics. Even though we’ve seen the neuro a lot I hate it when my son does it as it’s unnerving. I really hope he grows out of it. It does go away for months then randomly comes back for a few weeks.

My daughter did this and funnily enough my nephew. Both have grown out of it.

@Museya15 thanks for your comment, that’s reassuring x

Hi @AT20 ,
Thank you for you comments.
Hopefully at tge end everything will be fine and this will be gone. I will let you know if everything new.

Hi everyone… couldn’t help but notice all the people on this thread with similar experiences to my son’s. He’s just turned 13 months old, and for the past two days he’s been rolling his eyes up and to the right whenever he lies down, not just for sleep but lying down for any reason. It’s only for a second or two, but it happens about every 10-20 seconds. We’ve seen a doctor at the urgent care centre today and she wasn’t concerned, but I can’t shake the worry. I don’t understand why he would just randomly start this out of the blue.

I’d be keen to know how you’re all getting on. My heart sinks every time he does it, it worries me so much. But I don’t know what to do. I want him to have an EEG but the doctor didn’t think it necessary.

@AT20 sorry for the late reply, unfortunately we couldn't make out pediatrics appt because my son was rushed to hospital with suspected appendicitis...long story short it wasn't that it was Mesenteric adenitis, but it's been a very rough Christmas and now I'm floored with the flu. We've rearranged his appt for the end of January so I'll keep you updated on that. But ironically the eyerolling has stopped...UNTIL tonight! He's started doing it again from nowhere? Again it was while watching TV and he told me 'me like blinking mummy'. I ignored him doing it and I said I like to blink too. But I'm not sure what the trigger was tonight. But it completely through me. I've noticed it when he's watching tv or concentrating, but he was having the toilet before bed tonight and he done it again? And there is no tv in our bathroom 🫣. He then asked me if I liked to blink? It's odd but I agree with you that I wonder if it's linked to some emotional development? Because when I tell you his tantrums are ridiculous it would be an understatement, he's jumped tantrum to tantrum all day and I was getting really annoyed with him. I'm I agree it's really unnerving, it makes me so anxious. How has your son been the last week with it?

@Museya15 that's really reassuring to know 🙂

@Moonmoose how is your son now? I know it's so frustrating when you feel like the doctors aren't listening. Has he any sign of a cold or sickness? I read that sometimes it can start before a really bad virus and although my son had done it for over a month before this last month he's jumped sickness bug to virus back to sickness bug then to a stomach infection. I don't think the blinking was/is linked but I had read about a few people saying their children got sick not long after starting the blinking and eyerolling. I agree my heart sinks too, its so disheartening isnt it. You just want them to be healthy. What I will say is my son randomly stopped it and tonight started it again and I don't see a difference in him mentally etc because I was worried maybe it would affect him that way but I think it upsets me more than what it does bother him. I hope you know you aren't alone :)

Hi @Museya15 @Jadeb1986 @AT20 @AT20 @Babyboysdad
my daughter started doing this at 2 yrs 3 months and has been doing it randomly for the past six months.
her eyes roll upwards when she wakes up, or is very tired. Or if she looks upwards/tilts her head back sometimes… it looks really scary because I can only see pretty much the whites of her eyes and as she’s getting older she knows what’s happened and rubs them. She is totally fine either side - it’s not seizures. It’s just so odd.. like her head is a spirit level and of it goes off balance then an upward eye movement (involuntary). Is this similar to your experience and are your kids still doing it? (How long did they do it for?)
thanks people - Matt

It sounds like my son, it came from nowhere, we had his eyes tested, checked out at the gp there were no sinister signs. By the time we had our pediatrician appt it had stopped. But I can't even remember when it stopped it just did? It went on for months and months and I was obsessed with watching him incase it turned in to a fit, it never did. It's almost like he didn't even know he was doing it? Again like your daughter, I could see the whites of his eyes and I found it really stressful to watch.

My son has since my original post stopped, with no other eye movements. I hope this settles your mind a little

I should add that I had videos upon videos of him doing this and showed his pediatrician (which we see regularly about his dairy allergy) and she didn't seem concerned at all, she said children always do strange things, it stops as soon as it starts, which I didn't find that it did stop that's quickly but it has and he's absolutely fine

I'm on this forum because our one-year-and-six-month-old daughter is also experiencing this phenomenon. Causally, she tends to roll her eyes upwards, showing the whites. She doesn't lose consciousness, and while she does this gesture, she doesn't stop doing what she's doing. She's been exhibiting this behavior these days after contracting Covid-19. We're waiting for the call for an EEG. I would like to know if your stories have resolved naturally or if you're still searching for answers.

Her growth is absolutely on track. She's starting to say her first words, understands and responds to words and instructions. She's curious, cheerful, and nothing suggests deficits of any kind. Yet, overnight, we noticed this behavior that can occur up to 10 times a day.

"It would be helpful to understand if your stories are geared for the better and the concern has subsided. We are worried, but reading your stories has given us courage."

Thank you.

@Jadeb1986
Reading your post for reassurance. It's as if the child has outgrown it on their own. There are few testimonies because many parents tend to overlook and not emphasize the event. An event that then often fades away on its own without causing complications.

We hope the EEG exam is okay and that the little girl gets out of it as soon as possible. We're aware that she doesn't feel any discomfort, but seeing her like this creates worry and disturbance.
Thanks again for the testimonials.

Hi everyone. I thought I'd update you on what happened with our eye rolling situation.

So after a few weeks, he just stopped doing it. Then a few weeks later, he started again. It went on and off like this for a while, but after three ir four times of this happening, it very gradually it started to become obvious that he was in fact doing it on purpose - there were particular words and phrases that if we said them, he would react with the eye roll. (no bloody idea why these particular words and phrases though... it was two extremely random phrases, it was quite funny actually) And over time the eye roll became more pronounced and he would move his head along with it in the direction he was rolling his eyes up to, and sometimes even laugh, and so it became obvious that it was deliberate and not as involuntary as it first looked. The other thing that reassured us is that the first few times he had the episodes, it was always up to his right hand side that he rolled his eyes, but eventually we caught him doing it a few times in the other direction too.

He's now nearly two, and isn't showing any of the classic/diagnostic signs of autism but he does seem to have sensory issues. Maybe an autism diagnosis will become appropriate as he grows older, but for now it seems that he just has sensory issues. He will on rare occasion do the eye roll now, but it's quite rare. He's otherwise a happy and healthy little bean.

Hope all is well with everyone else x

This morning we went to a neuro-psychiatrist. We showed the recorded videos, and she immediately identified our daughter's syndrome as Tonic Upgaze.

The girl also had an episode in front of the doctor, who completely ruled out the episode as epilepsy.

She reassured us completely. Nevertheless, we will do an EEG. The syndrome appears out of nowhere and resolves on its own. She didn't provide a timeframe. It could take weeks, months, or even years. It's not concerning and doesn't involve any motor or cognitive deficits.

We're waiting to do the EEG but we are much calmer now. I hope this could be helpful to others as well. Warm regards.