Though there may be nothing wrong when an infant’s eyes roll back in their head, this can also mean a serious brain or heart problem.
“Sometimes eyes will roll back when an infant is falling asleep,” says Irene Tien, MD, a board-certified emergency medicine and pediatric emergency medicine physician in MA.
“If this is associated with change in mental status (e.g., not responsive in the normal fashion, unusual behavior like sudden agitation), then this could be a sign of a seizure or even a dysrhythmia (heart electrical activity is abnormal),” explains Dr. Tien.
That means a trip to the emergency room. Anything that can suggest a problem with the brain or heart is nothing to turn your back on and hope it will magically go away.
“A seizure in a child may be related to a fever, head injury or less commonly, a seizure disorder,” says Dr. Tien
“Sometimes young infants can have tongue thrusting, bicycling movements of arms or legs as a sign of infant seizures.
“If the infant is otherwise appearing fine, there are no other associated symptoms like the ones above, and the child is having normal neurological development and growth, call your pediatrician for a formal examination,” says Dr. Tien.
Infant Often Rolls Eyes Back into Head
Dr. Tien explains, “If this is happening frequently or for more than five minutes at a time, you should take your infant to the emergency department for a more urgent evaluation.
If the infant is pale, blue, not breathing properly or has other symptoms of urgent concern to parents, call 9-1-1 for an urgent ER evaluation.”
In practice for 20+ years,
