2.5 years boy who refuse to open eyes for hours

I have a 2.5 years old boy who has recently started staying full day with his grand parents and there were a couple of instances where he refused to open his eyes for hours - this usually happens when we wake him up from bed in the morning or afternoon when he wants to sleep more or sometimes when he cries. Once he is awake and playing around, he can respond normally (even with his eyes closed and we can feel there's movements in his eyes). Besides closing his eyes, he does not have any other unusual symptoms. Except his diet, health is ok, he can still respond normally with his eyes closed, his eyes look ok (no redness or any sort) and when he opens his eyes, he is back to normal again.

This drove us crazy over the past week and were worried too. Our PD says he does not think it's a medical issue but does not know the root cause either.

Pls. advise! Thank you.

I would get a second opinion.. That sounds scary

NOT a medical condition? ?????????? I would take your toddler to the local ER right NOW. That sounds absolutely alarming to me.

It could be a way to calm himself from too much stimulus. I'd ask the dr for a referral to a neurologist.

yes see a doc quick!!!

You might try a bit of ignoring of the behavior. Two-year-olds can be interesting that way. My son developed a "limp" about that age that was highly convincing, although not constant and he didn't really complain of pain. After doctors visits, x-rays, bone-scans, etc. and finding absolutely nothing wrong, we took the stance of simply ignoring it and it went away without the attention he was getting. We think it was something he picked up simply from watching his father walk (his dad has a physical condition that creates a limp).

A toddler who won't (or can't) open his eyes for HOURS? That needs medical attention yesterday.

It doesn't sound like your son was trying to get attention, it sounds like he was imitating behavior he saw. That's what children do. How else would they learn?

I was simply going off the OP's original statement that the toddler "refuses" to open his eyes, and also the fact that their pediatrician doesn't see this to be a medical issue. And I doubt it is a mental issue either. Perhaps they need to just let him sleep if he is sleeping rather than waking him up before he is ready to wake up. Otherwise he is behaving normally, doesn't seem to be bothered by his eyes being closed, pediatrician doesn't sound particularly worried about it . . . Toddlers can be mysteries sometimes, but we can often jump to thinking it is something seriously pathological when it could be as simple as a toddler who would have rather slept longer, who perhaps is being asked a lot to open his eyes by parents who are anxious about him doing something differently and sees it as a bit of a game . . . who knows? Give it some time. Sit back and just observe for a bit since there doesn't seem to be anything medically going on. If it's still going on and particularly if there seems to be anything else going on with it, then of course, get it checked out, but people saying go to the ER right now over this is just a bit much since there is nothing apparently medically going on according to their own pediatrician who they've already consulted about this. All the ER would do is say go see your pediatrician and let him refer you somewhere if there seems to be a serious problem. Unless there is evident pain, dizziness, vomiting, other indications of something more going on that closed eyelids, the course of action generally is to just wait and see if this persists and report back with progress or lack thereof.

Could be a reaction to trauma, of any kind.
I sure would get a second opinion tho.

I read an article about a two year old who just went quiet one day, and completely stopped responding to his mother...


Poor parents were frantic he had gone deaf and had him in and out of doctors rooms for a month if I'm not mistaken.


Turns out he was just ignoring his mother.


He probably found her quite annoying to ignore her for so long...


I agree with Lolagrace, let the child sleep, the doctor clearly isn't worried, so I don't see a reason to panic.


Maybe the poor child is protesting being awake.

What happens when you try to pry open the eyes?

Is he sensitive to light? Has he had his eyes checked. It could be something simple, but I'd get an ophthalmologist opinion just to make sure there isn't a vision issue.

Excellent idea.

I went to school with a girl who had to wear dark glasses all the time due to extreme light sensitivity.

Please please please take your child to a pediatric neurodoc -- pediatric neuropsychiatrist for choice. There are about a dozen things this could"be".... including, as mentioned above, protest at being over-stimulated, which likewise might or might not be indicative of a developmental syndrome (such as PDD or Aspergers or others). Having it checked will give you peace of mind as well as potentially very valuable clues as to what's going on with your lil guy. Best of luck! Chyia, crossing fingers