Eye Blinking

Blinking helps to hydrate and clean the surface of your eye. In drier or dustier environments, expect an increase in blinking from your kiddos. However at a certain point, excessive blinking could be a sign of more worrisome things. Constant eye blinking with red or irritated eyes can be a sign of eye allergies, conjunctivitis (eye inflammation), or scratches to the eye from sand or dirt. 

Eye blinking is also a common tic movement in children. Oftentimes these blinking episodes will be increased during stressful situations and will often involve other parts of the face, arms, legs, or neck. This type of tic often goes away over time. The more we call it out or reinforce it, the stronger that stress pathway in the brain is rewarded and the longer the tic will go on. For debilitating tics, we often have children see a psychologist to work on cognitive behavior techniques to learn better ways to let out their stresses than with concerning movements.