fbpx

Newborns Eyes Roll Back—5 Warning Signs You Need To Watch Out For

Newborns Eyes Roll Back

When newborns eyes roll back, it can make parents worried that there’s something wrong with their babies. 

Newborn eye-rolling may look scary, but most of the time, these are simply normal eye movements for a little one trying to focus and see better.

It’s also a telltale sign of a sleepy baby between sleep stages. 

In some rare cases, a baby’s eye-rolling can be one of several warning signs that something more serious is at play.

This article will discuss your newborn’s eye movement, specifically eye-rolling, and what it might mean, when you should worry, and when you can expect it to stop.

Although usually just a sign of expressive infants and developmental milestones working their way to the forefront of your attention, when an eye rolls and you notice it, it can cause you anxiety.

Newborns eyes roll back

There is not one specific reason why babies roll their eyes. 

These alarming-looking eye movements are usually harmless, though. Babies roll their eyes for several reasons, and this is entirely normal.

That doesn’t make parents any less curious and determined to get to the bottom of these eye movements for their own peace of mind. New parents are more than just a loyal fan club to a new baby. They’re also amateur detectives, full-time worriers, and investigators.

The following are some of the harmless reasons this abnormal eye rolling we aren’t used to seeing in little ones may occur for your newborn baby.

Baby rolling eyes, completely normal?

1. Rapid eye movement sleep stage

People enter and exit several different sleep stages throughout a night of sleep and even during long naps. 

This is normal, but what sets little ones apart from older children and adults is that they don’t sleep through the night; therefore, they have different sleep patterns and go through the sleep cycles a bit differently.

So you may notice that some babies roll their eyes as they fall asleep, or you may even see your infant’s eye rolling back into their heads when they’ve been asleep for a while. 

It can also go hand in hand with jerky body movements as a little one hits a more profound or lighter sleep cycle.

Your baby and their eyes are fine. The rolling eyes may look a bit wonky, but when they roll their eyes, for this reason, those abnormal eye movements are, well, normal.

2. Weak eye muscles

Your baby isn’t born with fully mature or developed eyesight. Their eye muscles have to put in some work. 

This lack of muscle control can cause rolling eyes in a newborn or young infant.

Most babies’ weird eye movements slow down and then stop around three months, as they reach the normal developmental phenomenon of gaining focus and control over their eyeballs.

3. Bright light

If you notice eye-rolling in the daytime, when the baby is wide awake and not in deep sleep or even close, it’s still probably perfectly normal.

Just like babies lose focus in the early stage of vision and roll their eyes here and there, bright lights can also cause them to roll their eyes.

Rolling their eyes is less shocking when you think about all of the vision progress made by your little one in just a short amount of time. At the age of four weeks, your little one went from barely seeing anything to being able to detect colors!

So if your baby rolls their eyes for a few seconds when you enter a bright room, and they aren’t trying to fall asleep, there’s a good chance their eyes rolling is a result of the attempt to adjust to the brightness of the room, and nothing you need to seek medical care over.

When eye rolling accompanies warning signs

You should always feel comfortable talking to your healthcare provider about any issues or questions regarding your child. If you worry about looking or sounding foolish, don’t. 

Pediatricians, doctors, and emergency room staff have heard it all.

They’ll be more impressed than disappointed that you are observant and that you came to them with something that wasn’t serious.

Sometimes, however, eye-rolling can be a sign that there is something wrong that needs to be addressed by a doctor or specialist.

While these issues aren’t common, you should still look for other signs of problems, which are highlighted below.

The following issues require the intervention of a medical professional.

Newborns Eyes Roll Back

1. Low blood sugar

Hypoglycemia can cause diabetic issues and noticeable symptoms of illness in newborns. 

If your baby rolls its eyes and they are older than three months, or if you had gestational diabetes, be alert and contact your child’s doctor.

Eye rolling symptoms accompany other symptoms of hypoglycemia in babies. Blue-ish tinted skin, rapid breathing, labored or irregular breathing, grunting, vomiting or refusal to feed, floppy limp arms and legs, and shaking are all signs of infant hypoglycemia.

2. Head injuries

Rolling eyes can also be a sign of head injuries in little ones. While you’d like to think it can’t happen to you, newborns have soft spots on their heads and are very head heavy. 

Rolling eyes after a fall or a bump to the head is something that demands immediate attention.

Injuries to the head are more common in small babies than you might think, and it doesn’t make you a bad person or a terrible parent if it happens to your child. 

If your little one smacks himself in the noggin, falls over, bops her head on the floor, or knocks it into the side of the car seat, make sure to watch them closely for a few hours to be sure that all is well.

Those soft spots, or fontanelles, located on the baby’s head are places where the skull is not yet fused together. 

While it may seem very odd (even more unsettling when your baby is screaming or upset and you can see its pulse on the top of its head at the soft spot), this spot is what allowed its head to pass through the birth canal during delivery. Remember, these are also quite delicate.

3. Seizures

Seizures can result from head injuries, a health condition (West Syndrome), or even high fever (febrile seizure). 

These medical conditions involve eye-rolling and usually accompany infantile spasms, excessive irritability, irregular breathing, loss of muscle control, limb stiffening, fluttering eyelids, and wild eye-rolling.

Juvenile myoclonic spasms, or seizures in children, require medical attention, but if you witness a seizure, make sure your child does not sustain an injury during the episode by loosening tight clothing and removing any obstacles that can cause further injury.

Children with epilepsy or who have seizures regularly should be placed under frequent observation by their parents so that they are not alone during an episode. 

Also, inform potential caregivers or daycare teachers that your child has a seizure condition so that care can be taken to keep your child safe. Some children with frequent seizures are fitted with special helmets to help protect the face and head.

4. Newborn cross-eyed

This condition usually causes the affected eye to roll towards the nasal bridge. 

Due to a block somewhere between the eyeball and the brain’s visual cortex, it’s simply an issue that causes the baby to have misaligned eyes until about the age of four months and causes one eye to roll in a different direction than the other.

This condition is sometimes called a “lazy eye” and can be corrected later in life with a patch or glasses to prevent the onset of vision problems if it doesn’t resolve itself.

While it’s typically a harmless condition, it can be caused by congenital cataracts and should be checked out. This sort of cataract can often still be corrected if caught early enough, although your child may require the use of corrective lenses to see well and not be bothered by a wandering eye.

5. Circular eye movements

Marked by circular eye movements or wild and quick-paced eye movements, Nystagmus is a condition that means the muscle control and nerves around the eye are not operating correctly.

Regular eye movements vs abnormal eye-rolling

You should always contact a health visitor or healthcare provider about anything with your baby. That’s what they’re there for. They’ve seen it all, heard it all, and are there to give you peace of mind and help when needed.

However, if you simply notice that when falling asleep, playing, and trying to look at things, and when in a deep sleeping state, your newborn’s eye movement is a little odd, they’re most likely just fine.

You might Also like...

Subscribe to
receive your FREE
"58 Newborn Essentials"
Registry Guide