If a child sleeps with his eyes ajar - what to do? Photo: Getty
Sleeping baby with half-closed eyes: from legend to reality
Народная мудрость объясняет тот факт, что the child sleeps with an open eye, like this: in ancient times, when tired parents fell asleep in their caves, exhausted from the day's chores, only children, who are always full of energy, guarded their sleep. Babies slept with their eyes slightly open in order to have time to wake up mom and dad when a stranger or predator appeared in the home. Modern ophthalmology looks at sleeping with slightly open eyelids differently, calling this phenomenon "lagophthalmos". The causes of lagophthalmos are a disorder of the innervation of the orbicularis oculi muscle, mechanical trauma to the eyelids, or anatomical features (excessive protrusion of the eyeball or a short eyelid).
Sleep with eyes open in babies
Only a doctor can diagnose lagophthalmos.specialist (ophthalmologist or neurologist)! And parents should only worry if the baby sleeps with his eyes slightly open all the time. If the eyelids are not tightly closed only during superficial sleep (a short time after falling asleep), this is not a pathology, but most likely, the nervous and physical overexcitement experienced by the baby during wakefulness is affecting. “Until one and a half years, sleeping with eyes slightly open is normal for children,” assures TV presenter, Dr. S. Agapkin, “if it does not lead to sleep disturbances. In a child after one and a half years, lagophthalmos can be episodic in nature due to daytime overexcitement.” Physiological lagophthalmos in the first 12-18 months of a baby’s life is not a pathology! Usually, due to nervous tension, lagophthalmos is accompanied by twitching, twitching of the limbs, muttering or babbling in sleep, smiling or laughing, and sometimes crying. But if parents are worried that the baby is sleeping with his eyes slightly open, it is necessary to simply make sure that the day for the baby is less emotional.
Is lagophthalmos dangerous?
Lagophthalmos usually goes away in children.without consequences. But if the pathology also manifests itself during the daytime, when the child cannot close his eyelids consciously, this may cause: - drying of the mucous membrane; - infection and perforation of the cornea; - loss of vision. The problem is eliminated surgically - blepharotherapy.See also:
