Tics in children

[kylene]

Hi ,

My DS is 4.5 and recently started blinking his eyes hard frequently throughout the day. Brought him to see dr who thinks it’s a tic - involuntary. Was advised to ignore and observe. However, he then started this "hmm hmm" sound couple of days ago. I googled and it seems tics are rather common in children .

Anyone has any experience ? Pls share. I’m worried cos when I google, Tourette’s syndrome came up on the search . Thanks

[cherrygal]

I understand your anxiety and no one could offer me help at all the forums I visited. My gal (younger than yours) blinked hard and excessively a year back (but there was no humming) and I also thought it was a tic. We saw the PD and an eye specialist and they both felt it was just an allergy to something. But the allergy eye drops didn’t help.


I also tried to remove all potential allergens by changing her sheets every week, clean her eyes properly, making sure her eye lashes and fringe were not irritating her eyes. The blinking still did not stop.

Then it struck me that she could be allergic to cod liver oil coz the blinking started when I introduced that. I quickly stopped it and the blinking finally went away. Turned out she was allergic to cod fish via an allergy blood test.

So while worrying, try to do a detailed check on any new drug, vitamin or food you have given your kid. Remove it and see if it helps. Also, send him to an eye doc to check his eyes coz sometimes bad eyesight can also make him blink hard (he could have trouble focusing - astigmatism / myopia etc).

If more actions are observed (eg. hand moving involuntarily etc), then ask your doc for a referral.

[kylene]

Cheerygal,

Thank you soooo much for your reply. I was beginning to think my DS is the only one experiencing this . How long did your girl’s tic last ?

[jedamum]

My p5 blinked in one eye excessively for a short period in p1 or maybe p2, can’t remember. Then again early this year. I was anxious too when the latter one involving unconscious head movement. Luckily it stopped after a month. The first one was before he was assessed to needing spectacles. The recent one we felt could be lack of sleep and he eyes too tired.over the weekends during gatherings when he started indulgence in phone gaming, his eye twitched again. So we had told him to monitor his gaming time during such occasions. We also included nap time for him as he sleep late, so as to get net of 8hours sleep in all.

[cherrygal]

Her blinking lasted a few months until I found the root of the problem. It was enough to cause me lots of worry…


I think it’s important to first take your kid to an eye doctor to rule out eyesight issues. Then try the allergy eye drops while investigating the cause.

[kylene]

I’ve already brought him to the ophthalmologist who said there’s nothing wrong with his eyes. She also said the blinking is a tic.


Hmm, looks like tics aren’t that common after all.

[cherrygal]

Did she give you allergy eye drops? Ask for them.

[cherrygal]

If you have done everything recommended and still cannot stop it, then you have no choice but to ignore it.


It took me a while to discover the cause myself. None of the doctors knew the cause.

[Elias]

hi re toureetes, can u brief me a little. I have some vocal tics and blinking that comes and go. any of you encounter on yourself? M y 6 year old hasn’t but am worried. My is more like tics… Any mummies has something similar and willing to share more. Thank you

[xueyan]

Dear mummies


I noticed that my boy is blinking slightly excessively than normal. We brought him to polyclinic to get referral to KK for a specialist. However we were told that it could be due to dry eyes and were prescribed eye drops.

May I know will motors tics resolve on its own over time?

I do notice that when I scold him, he seems to blink more and it could be due to stress.

Please advise.