Is it normal for a baby’s pupils not to return to normal immediately?

[poppyt1998]

Weird question but if I shine a light in my baby’s eyes his pupils get smaller and when I take the light away from his eyes the pupils stay small for a few seconds before adjusting and going back to normal

is this normal?

Depends on what you really mean by "a few seconds" and what kind of light environment you're conducting the test in. How fast do they react to the light, and is it both eyes or just one?

If you're doing this in a day lit room, both eyes react the same and the reaction to the bright light is slightly quicker than the return, and the return is literally taking ~3 seconds, then that's fine.

Why are you doing a pupil test maybe more importantly? Has he bumped his head or something?

@pzyck they both shrink at the same time, almost immediately, but when I take the light away it takes about 3 seconds for them to return to their normal size. They stay small for a second or two after I take the light away

Yeah it’s in a lit room. Lit by a near by window , no overhead lights on

he hit his head 7 days ago, I took him to hospital twice, 6 days ago he started to have a firm raised fontanelle and the hospital told me to keep an eye on him. He seems fine but his soft spot is still raised. I check his eyes everyday now

They're going to be smaller in a room that isn't particularly dark, so nothing about what you've described sounds abnormal regarding the pupil reaction.

Having an abnormal pupil reaction isn't a common head injury symptom in any case so I really would stop checking, especially if you're not medical and don't know what's normal or not.

If the head injury was a week ago and there are no red flag head injury symptoms by now (which the hospital will have asked about) then the likelihood of anything sinister manifesting now is very slim.

@pzyck yeah he seems fine. I just noticed today he can’t sit up/stand supported for as long as he could a few days ago. I don’t want to think too much into it though because it happened when he was a few months old, he suddenly didn’t hold his head as well for a week or so and then he went progressed and got stronger out of no where

You’ve posted a few times about him hitting his head now. I really think you need help with your anxiety OP. If you’re that concerned, stop posting on forums and take him to the GP.