Eye rolling and head shaking at 18 monts old

[olgas]

Hi. In the past couple of days I have noticed that my son, 18 months, rolls his eyes back and shakes his head from side to side every once in a while for no obvious reason. It usually happens while he is playing or just goofing around. He will stop and do that for a few seconds, which seems a bit strange, since his eyes are rolled back pretty far for just a play. Then he keeps on playng again.  Today he wansn't even being that "silly", was just watching TV, holding on to the table, then kind of looked around and rolled his eyes and shook his head for a second for no real reason.Developmentally he is fine. Late walker, since he still does very little independant walking. We've been working with Early Intervention on that. They evaluated him all around not that long ago, and found out that he was developmentally fine, just has a case of very flat feet. But this eye rolling thing is new and concerns me a bit. I would really appreciate any suggestions or opinions on that. Hope I'm just paranoid, since I work in early childhood care and have seen all different cases of slight abnormalities or "strange" things in a child's behavior that were ignored and then turned into serious issues. Please, let me know, what you, guys, think...

[debnkarli]

Hi I cant believe that others are having the same sypmtoms as my 7 month old grandson.  He has been rolling his eyes up and getting spacey for just a few seconds at a time especially when we feed him in his highchair and when he gets excited.  We took him to the Neurologist at Childrens in Cincinnati and they did and EEG it came back normal and they released him the next day.  He continues with these episodes a few times a day.  They say its not a seizure but have no explanation as to what it could be.  They really dont know.  I have a 1 minute video of this happening so  they could see but still have no diagnosis.  Please help any information or thoughts would be appreciated.  I wonder if this problem is becoming more common with the babies maybe indicating some sort of enviromental issure or food issue.  

[DorindaM]

MY  son just turned 2 and he slowly shakes his head side to side (not like nodding no, but like stretching your neck  side to side) and rolls his eyes  to one side or the other and knocks on stuff. At first we thought it was hilarious and cute but since then he does it a lot more often and its starting to scare me because it happens so much more frequent. Curious to see if any of the other mommys have heard anything or learned anything

[Amj62086]

Did you ever  find out why  he  was doing  that? My son  does  same

[Shellpoo3]

m y grandson is 20 months and does his head up and down in rapid sucession then reaches arms up as if stretching until he falls bc he isnt looking where he is gpoing

[calissak]

HI, You can email me directly if you wish. If you want someone to talk to. Luvskittykats at yahoo.     My son is now age 17 and was born with congenital Hydrocephalus. Meaning he developed it in the wound. Everything these moms are describing is called a Petit Mal seizure. Most all of you are describing is called a Absense Petit Mal seizure. They can very. My son was diagnosed with having absence seizures very early around 2 to 3 years old. My son is not developmentally delayed now, but was younger in his motor skills. He didn't walk until he was 23 months old. He didn't learn to ride a bike well until 10. He still fell down a lot at age 8. Cognitively he was/is extremely intellectual. Science and reading being his favorite is very good with technology apps, web design, etc. But I remember  him being very ill one time as a baby, hold him and his entire body just relaxed and he was just staring wide eyes open. He was actually already in the hospital and the doctor was sitting beside me. It completely freaked me out because my son was so ill, I thought he had just died in my arms. Then he snapped back out of it. Began crying again. That was the first one I recall. Then as he crawled, and sitting or walking... he would be yapping away talking to you or just sitting there watching tv or playing and his eyes would roll back and his head too like it was heavy and then he would roll his head back around and back up like normal and be back to normal. I thought it was a tic but his Pediatric Neurosurgeon & specialist, Dr, Paul Francel out of Children's medical Center in Oklahoma City, OK knew exactly what they were. He had seen this so many times with children. He also had operated on my son so many times. He told us he has what is called Absence seizures. which is a form of petit mal seizures. My son has never taken any medication for it. My son doesnt stare off into space. He rolls his eyes backwards, as the head follows like it is heavy (like tilting a child's head back to rinse their hair) then he brings/rolls his head back around and back to normal like nothing happened. He does not have Tourettes Syndrome, Epilepsy, or Autism. Just Hydrocephalus and Absence Petit Mal Seizures. He's a great kid! Hope this helps some moms. And yes, because my son had many problems with shunt failures, & shunt issues, he has had numerous EEG. MRI, CT's and 3D CT's etc. So, based on the viewings of his scans, Dr. Francel and other specialists working as a team of specialist, who commonly see these issues in children, diagnosed my son with having the Absence seizures. Let me tell you, as a mom with a child with a medical condition, I learned years ago, you can work yourself up and worry yourself to pieces. Your pediatrician and a SPECIALIST are not the same. doctors are not the same. SPECIALISTS are trained in specific areas. That is why they are specialists. Your doctor doesnt know squat so if you are concerned about something, request to be sent to a pediatric specialist or peadiatric neurologist/neurosurgeon. But do research and find a very good one. Ask if you are being sent to a neurologist.neurosurgeon, or a PEDIATRIC neurologist/neurosurgeon.  Big difference. An infant and child's brain is tiny compared to an adult. A pediatric Neurosurgeon is specialized in children. A regular neurosurgeon is not. Dr. Francel primarily operated on children but also some adults. So when seeking specialists, don't just settle to who your doctor suggests. Do your homework and call the Large city hospitals for references and suggestions. And if its at a teaching hospital, Like Children's Hospital is, don't listen to the interns. They will make you panic. Tell you things, and scare you to pieces. Or not listen to you when they should. So listen to your specialist only. Learn to talk to him only if your child gets admitted for surgery. and you will have to learn to stand up for your child to the interns. They think they know everything...when they dont. So, they can really upset you badly. I learned to ignore them and only talk to my son's specialists.  If you don't like the answers or run around you are getting, ask questions. Go over and beyond their heads. Or seek a different doctor or specialist. You know your child/children best. Listen to your instinct. Lastly, I'm not a doctor and not diagnosing anyone's children. Just giving you a possible place to start researching. And again, not all absence seizures just stare. You will read that if you research Abscence seizure.

[martha543]

my daughter was also born with hydrocephalus and stared this same behaviour at about 18months and still does it today and she is 40..All doctors say nothing can be done, but i don't think they know the reason  so that is just their answer..If you luck up and fine the answer, please email me with the answer..Thannks and good luck..martha.***@****

[Bubba2852]

My son who is now 30 years old, started head shaking and eye rolling when he was about 6 months old.  He has had balance problems since the head shaking and eye rolling and did not actually walk until he was about 6 years old.  He was finally diagnosed with a variant of Krabbe Leukodystrophy. We were told that he had a maximum of 18 months to live by 4 different doctors.  As stated above, he is now 30 years old and continues to shake his head and roll his eyes for no apparent reason.  Hope this helps.

[jacpet]

My 17 month old, who has already been diagnosed with external beign hydrocephalus, started the exact same thing as described by two mothers here. He has balance issues but has grown out of alot of these recently. Talking and educationally ahead and other wise on track developmentally. He is jerking his head up and to the left or right; or straight down- with eyes rolling back each time. He did this alot right after he was diagnosed with his head condition, but the Pediatric Neuro that we see dismissed these episodes (and so did my husband) and they went away for about 10 months. He has a cold/allergies and they put him on some poly-tussin and he got dizzy and fell forward onto the driveway. My mom was holding his hand but he still managed to bump his head leaving a bruise on his forehead. We were so upset and just sick over it. We called the Ped Neuro and he said that if he was not blacking out and vomiting that he was fine and he would evaluate him later the next week in the office- by appointment. I am freaking out! He has always told us to call if he is showing unusal signs or symptoms and this "seizure-like" episode is totally uncontrolled on his part and I don't know what is causing it. He has had these episodes for 4 days and only happen in the evening and last for 15 to 20 sec- and he goes back to normal and acts like it doesn't bother him. After seeing all of your post, I am not sure whether it is an allergy to food, some epilepsy, side effect of head condition and fall, or affect of some cold/medicine for allergies. The Ped Neuro got another call from my husband today describing the 3 episodes that he had last night, but he still said that he can either go to the ER or wait to see him monday. It seems like all of you have had MRI, CT, and EEG's and they all came back normal. Maybe it is something else that we all have in common, but don't realize it- like similar cold or allergy meds. Anybody come up with an answer?

[blair4385]

Please get your baby checked for epilepsy! This is a seizure disorder and this is something my Aunt has. She does the same thing. When you are having a conversation with her she will stop in the middle of a sentence and her eyes will roll back in her head for a couple of seconds and then she will start talking to you again. Its something we're all used to as just being normal in our family, but your child, if he has this, will need medicine for it!

[mk21783]

My 15 month old daughter is not walking indepedently yet. She has had several episodes of shaking her head and rolling her eyes, also she has been observed having weird eye movement where each eye moves seperate ways, she also looks downwards alot when walking behind a push toy. She too has a therapist working with her. The therapist noticed the eye thing today and recommended that i make her an appointment with a pediatrice optomologist and i did. now i just have to wait for the appointment and see what they say. She said if there's something wrong with here eye sight then that could be contributing to her not walking...maybe she just can't. Does anyone have any suggestions or know anyone with a similar situation?

[domgodd80]

My 13 month old just started this 5 days ago. Her eyes look to the left and up and she shakes her head back and forth like she's saying no. She also seems very off balance. Took her to the doctor yesterday, he said she's fine. I fear it is a neurological issue. How does he know she's fine if no tests are done. I am worried. I will wait and see if it continues. She currently does have a cold/allergies. No ear infection though. I will wait for the cold to pass and see if this continues.

[Kbull]

My son just started doing something similar to this today and we went to the Dr and they said it wasn't seizures and seemed to be tonic neck reflex or a muslce spasm.... I would be interested to hear what you found out because if it continues their next course of action is a EEG.  Curious and worried.  Thanks!

[good2bemt]

Perhaps he is having some petit mal seizures........you might want to mention this to your doctor, to see if there is a possible neurological issue