As soon as the baby appears in the family, all the attention of the household is riveted to it. Parents worry about their baby every second and not only admire it, but also watch that nothing bad happens to the child. Not surprisingly, a mother or father begins to panic if they notice that the child rolls his eyes up for no apparent reason.
Experts disagree on this point, but there are several common causes for the appearance of such symptoms. To determine them, you need to watch the baby.
How does this happen
Quite often, a newborn baby rolls his eyes up for understandable reasons. For example, before going to bed, or he just noticed something interesting on the wall. However, there are a number of serious ailments that parents may be concerned about: muscle hypertonicity, abnormal functioning of the nervous system, intracranial pressure, or congenital malformation.
If a child rolls his eyes up, while throwing his head back, then you need to carefully study the circumstances in which symptoms appear:
- In a dream, while awake, or when the baby is crying?
- Is the child lying on his stomach, back, or turned sideways?
- At what age did the symptoms begin?
- In the process of how the child rolls his eyes up and to the side, he experiences inconvenience, cries, trembles or strains?
- Does this happen in a dream?
When not to worry
If the baby does not cry and does not experience excitement, he does not have vomiting and fever, then in some situations such unnatural, at first glance, behavior should not cause concern:
- During sleep, children sometimes throw their heads back. Most often, babies up to 4 months old behave this way. In this case, you only need to sometimes change the pose of the baby so that his neck muscles do not sag.
- Very often, parents put a huge amount of a variety of toys in the crib. Perhaps one of them was behind the baby’s head. Since he still does not know how to hold his head, the child rolls his eyes up, trying to look back. Place all the toys in front of the baby so that he can easily reach them.
- If the child only throws back his head, and this happens while he is whimpering, then this is not a terrible sign either. Most likely, this is just a slight nervous breakdown that will pass soon.
- If the baby throws its head back and rolls its eyes, then this may be an attempt to sit or roll over on its stomach.
When to worry
If the baby is already a year old and the child rolls his eyes up, then this can become a sign of certain disorders. In this situation, you should consult a specialist. Also going to the doctor is recommended if:
- In the process of rolling the eyes, the eyeballs do not go up, but down.
- The baby is constantly crying and is anxious.
- The baby turns its eyes unnaturally quite often during the day.
If a child of 6 years old rolls his eyes up, then this may be a sign of the initial stage:
- nervous exhaustion or frustration;
- epileptic seizures;
- hydrocephalic syndrome;
- retardation of development.
However, most often this can be the cause of muscle hyperonus or increased intracranial pressure. To determine more accurately, brain MRI and other tests will be required.
Muscle hypertonicity
This syndrome is considered quite normal if the baby is not yet 6 months old. Since the child’s muscles do not develop immediately, he may well throw his head back, unable to hold it with the power of the cervical spine.
If the baby is already more than six months old, then you need to try to independently determine whether the child is suffering from muscle hypertonicity. To do this, you must:
- Lay baby on belly. If he raises his head, pushing off with his shoulders and not using his hands, then the muscles are in normal tone.
- Put the child on his back and pull him by the handles. If at this moment the child rolls his eyes up, throws his head back and cannot help himself, then the muscles are also in the right stage of development.
- Take the crumbs in your hands and bring it to the floor (as if standing on its feet). If he crosses his legs and does not have a walking reflex, then this may indicate an ailment.
In this case, you need to do gymnastics with the baby and give him a massage to normalize blood circulation and stimulate the normal development of the muscle system.
Eye muscle problems
Hypertonicity of the eye muscles is also quite common. In this case, you can also help the baby with the help of special exercises. Most often, doctors recommend training the eyes as follows:
- You need to take a bright toy and hold it in front of the baby until he begins to focus on it.
- Start moving the object in different directions, slowly bringing it closer and moving it away from the baby’s face.
- Make sure that the child watches the toy with his eyes, regardless of its position.
It is also recommended that a moving carousel with small cars or any other objects be hung over the crib. So he will be able to train his visual muscles when parents have no time to do exercises with him.
Increased intracranial pressure
Most often, to determine why the baby rolls her eyes up, doctors are interested in the mother, whether she had injuries or problems during the bearing or birth of the baby. According to practice, any complications (especially in late pregnancy) can affect the health of the newborn. If there were problems, then specialists very often diagnose ICP (intracranial pressure).
To determine that the baby is suffering from this ailment, you need to pay attention to the following symptoms:
- Troubled sleep, constant moods (or, conversely, excessive calm and lethargy).
- Shiver of the lower jaw.
- Blue skin in the nasolabial area.
- Strabismus development.
- Skull asymmetry and head growth too fast.
This ailment can develop if the baby is affected by:
- oxygen starvation in the womb;
- the umbilical cord that wound around his neck during childbirth;
- other complications.
However, do not panic, because increased intracranial pressure is often diagnosed and it may be the reason that the child rolls his eyes up. Komarovsky (a pediatrician well-known throughout the country) has repeatedly said in his television programs that every second newborn has similar problems. However, this does not mean that you can relax and wait until the disease "resolves" by itself. It is necessary to consult a doctor who will prescribe a course of vitamins and other drugs to the child.
If ICP does not start to be treated promptly, this can lead to mental retardation, blindness and paralysis.
What to do if the baby begins to roll his eyes
One thing can absolutely be said for sure - in no case should you self-medicate. Even if we are talking about traditional medicine, it is very important to understand that the internal organs of the crumbs have not yet fully developed, and those drugs that are considered harmless to an adult can harm a newborn.
Only a doctor can distinguish pathology from minor deviations. Most often, specialists do not resort to aggressive treatment, limiting themselves to gymnastics and exercises, so do not worry that the baby will have to be stuffed with pills.
Symptoms in which you need to urgently see a doctor
There are a number of symptoms in which you need to immediately sign up to a neurologist:
- The child began to eat very poorly, but often spits up.
- The kid throws his head back, lying on his side.
- The baby does not move well.
- One of the limbs of the child “does not obey” him, and the second works fine.