When do infants start blinking

It may be caused by, among other things, stress, fatigue or boredom. It usually affects both eyes at the same time. It affects boys twice as often as girls, with the average age of 5 years when it first appears. It is a benign condition that will resolve without treatment, usually within weeks to years, often recurring intermittently. There is no neurologic cause, and further evaluation and brain scans are not necessary.

Once an ophthalmologist has determined that a child does not have an eye problem, it is best for parents to not draw attention or discuss the excessive blinking and the symptoms may tend to diminish.

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Learn more. Almost 20 per cent of toddlers experience it, leading to hard blinking. Look for signs of missed naps and even anxiety around others, which are major triggers of tics in children. Allergies can stimulate eye problems, like red, itchy or swollen eyes. Your little toddler might blink more often to ease itchiness. You may also want to check if your child is sensitive to dust or other environmental allergies. Sometimes, hard blinking can be a signal that your child requires glasses.

Excessive blinking can also be a result of corneal injury or early signs of pink eye. If your baby has extremely dry eyes, he may blink excessively as well. This can be a major reason for frequent blinking.

Obsessive Compulsive Disorder, or OCD, is a behavioural condition that can also result in excessive blinking in an older child. More often than not, kids cannot control this and hard blinking might even be accompanied by multiple vocal or motor tics. But blinking cannot be analysed in isolation. Well, no one can tell that. At around one year, if the child is not responding by name or just staring at objects or not being self-indulgent, the symptoms would be subject to further diagnosis.

The blink rate could figure among the symptoms but may not be the only one. Read Onlooker to associative: 6 types of play important for child development. Another study published in The Journal of Nutrition found out that eye blinking rates in infants with iron-deficiency anaemia are lesser. Click here to join our channel indianexpress and stay updated with the latest headlines. In fact, babies often only blink around once or twice a minute.

Apparently, blinking is still a bit of a mystery to science, which is a mad thought given that there are billions of humans walking around on the surface of the planet blinking 21, times a day each. Blinking serves a variety of purposes :. Babies also have smaller eye openings than adults, proportionate to the overall size of their eyes.

As a result, they might just not need as much eye lubrication as adults. Have you ever wondered why your baby stares at lights , why your baby is crawling backwards or even why your baby shakes with excitement?