Our 2 year old has been getting dark circles under his eyes lately. I have heard that this sometimes coincides with kids with autism. He is autistic, and is on the gf/cf diet now for 7 months. I'm just wondering if anyone knows what can cause these circles. He has been sleeping well at night, and does not appear sick--except for the circles. He has been acting like he does not feel well. He did not eat dinner last night. I wonder if it is a vitamin deficiency or something. Does anyone have any ideas or has anyone experienced this? Thanks!

I've heard of this. If it is a vitamin deficiency, you can ask his doctor check. He could be other things too. I'd go ahead and talk it through with his doctor, especially since this is something new and sleep isn't the problem.

Also, since he isn't feeling well, I would be worried about kidney, bladder or liver. My son had the dark circles under his eyes when he was younger. The doctor was worried about that. All the tests came back ok, thank goodness. Sometimes, he will get them, but most of the time now he is ok. We don't know why, just happens. But my son would feel fine when he had the dark circles.

My 6 year old PDD-NOS daughter had this same thing, which I first noticed when she was two. It can be caused by allergies. Does your child have seasonal allergies? It also could be caused by anemia. Your doc can test for both of these things with a blood test. Let us know what happens.

-Steph

It is my experience in one of my children ( like me ) we have the dark circles because of our allergies.. my boy had them and come to find out that he had low iron-so low that he needed to be supplemented (anemic), he also had impacted bowels that no one knew about including the doctor
( it took more complaints from me of him not seeming right and finally an xray showed the impaction) he has always had problems, chronic soft stools and still testing for the neurologic side ( autistic?)...I've read that impacted bowels can cause malnurishment, etc. These children are troopers, they won't tell you whats wrong... not wanting to eat is a sure sign of a possible bowel impaction because they feel full. Don't wait to see your doctor... I'm sure that he knows that children with neurologic problems tend toward GI problems... it may take an xray to be sure... I've had two doctors, including our usual pediatrician, push on his abdomen and they said it felt fine but the xray showed different. My son also had reflux!? Good luck!!!

Are you sure he isn't waking at night and just not making enough noise to wake you? If he isn't feeling well, he may not be sleeping.

I had huge dark circles under my eyes when I was a kid. Other kids would ask me if I'd been in a fight. No allergies, no autism. It was probably sleep deprivation.

Thanks to everyone for their advice. I'm going to talk to our dr. I am so sick of dr appts--I feel like they are sick of us too--but I have to go to battle for this little guy... We have an appt with a pediatric gastroenterologist next month for both of our kids. I hope they'll give us some answers.

Thanks again!

My daughter gets the dark circles when she is dehydrated or has a hard time sleeping.

Hello there,
I have been plagued by the dark circles since childhood. As a kid they though it was anemia and some other deficiencies but I know well that i was sleep deprived. I was sleeping in the same room than my mother and I don,t think I ever woke her-up. I would spend hours looking in the dark, thinking and playing games in my head.

I was never the most "normal" kid but only have been diagnosed with mild Asperger 2 years ago (at 28yo). I still get the dark circles and they are still because of lack of sleep. I sleep maybe 2 or 3 hours a night.

It might be hard for you but try and sneak into your little guy's room at night and watch over him to make sure he sleeps all the way thru the night.

All the best to your family, don't let some of the doc appointments take you down. Your fighting the good fight, they are there to help you but I bet they sometimes feel as hopeless as parents and patients because they cannot give us a cure or the answers we want.