Babies With Glasses... How Did You Know?

[AKL_Megs]

If you have/had a baby who needed glasses, how did you KNOW?

I was at a baby shower yesterday, and there were two babies (one an infant, the other a toddler, not related) in glasses. They were adorable, BTW, they make such cute little baby frames, but I couldn't help but wonder HOW the parents knew the baby needed glasses?

Did you notice a problem, or did your pediatrician spot something?

 

[cari12]

My DD8 has worn glasses since she was about 2 years old. We went for her routine 18 month check up and our doctor noticed one eye wasn't responding like the other one. So she referred us to a pediatric eye Dr. (only takes patients by referral). Turned out she had a lazy eye which could barely see at all. For that age they use pictures rather than letters and they go through the various sizes for each eye. So from 2 years until about 6 years old, we had to put a patch over her good eye for 4 hours per day to force the lazy eye to work. Then from 6 years old to about 7.5 years old we put drops in her good eye on Friday afternoon which would essentially blur her vision in her good eye for the weekend, again to force the lazy eye to work.
In that time she has gone from 80:20 vision to 25:20 vision. That last little bit is corrected with her glasses prescription.

 

[indimom]

Not my child, but a cousin's son.
He was probably around 9 months old and mom noticed that he completely ignored the television. She thought this odd since most babies like the colors and movement. Took him to her opthamologist and he referred her on to a specialist or maybe a pediatric opthamologist? I'm not sure. Ends up he was severly far sighted.
I'm not sure what kinds of tests they ran to get his first prescription, but I know she said he would be rechecked and get new lenses every six months until they reached his "correct" prescription strength. So, I guess there is some trial and error involved when they are too young to test the traditional way.
The doctor warned that it may be difficult to get him to accept the lenses at first, but she said within a day he seemed to realize he could see more with them on and left them alone. She said he even cried the first couple times they took them off for bedtime.

 

[fitgirl36]

My DD 16 months has had glasses since she was 7 months old. Her right eye turns in (lazy eye). I noticed it at around 4 months and our pediatrician recommended a pediatric eye doctor. The pediatric eye doctor also said she can't see well close up so she had regular glasses and now has bifocals. While in the regular glasses we patched for 4 hours a day, but no need to patch at this point. The glasses really help her eye straighten out. I only hope that they will make it strong enough that she won't need surgery. As I understand it though from the doctor the surgery is cosmentic only and he said she will proably not need glasses by junior high if all goes as expected.

 

[spacemountainmom]

I am 43 years old and have worn glasses since I was 18 months old. My mom noticed that my left eye wandered and kept bringing it up to the pediatrician. However, every time we were in the office I would keep my eyes perfectly straight. The doctor finally got on board when I was not walking independently. I would walk just fine along a wall, along furniture or holding someones hand.

I was taken to an opthamologist and he determined that not only did I have the wandering eye, I was far-sighted and had an astigmatism. I was fitted with some very tiny glasses. We went home, my dad carried me to the door and set me down to unlock it. I was gone like a shot. I could finally see enough to walk. My parents thought my eye doctor was a miracle worker and he remained my doctor until he retired when I was in college.

I still always wonder how he was able to figure out a prescription for me since I was really too young to help much. I guess he figured it out enough so that I could see and tweaked it as I got older and more able to understand.

Luckily, my kids both have perfect vision. Their pediatrician was pretty on top of screening their vision early on. I imagine that they will be like their dad and need glasses as they age.

 

[Piper]

If you held something close to my daughter, she would reach for it. If it was a little farther away, she ignored it. My pediatrician held his finger right in front of her face and moved it back and forth and she tracked it. He told me she was fine. My husband told me he wouldn't pay to have her checked because the "doctor" said she was fine.

I knew she wasn't. I saved money from my grocery budget until I had enough to take her to a pediatric opthamologist. She had retinopathy of prematurity, near-sightedness, and no depth perception. She not only needed glasses, she needed years of visual therapy (which we did twice a day at the kitchen table!) The eye doctor said she was the proverbial "blind in one eye and couldn't see out of the other" poster child!

They had me put atropine in her eyes for three days before every appointment so they could measure her vision. She never tried to take her glasses off and I decorated a check box with pink material and lace for her to put her glasses in while she slept. She never lost or broke a pair!!

She is 44 now and through advances in medicine and surgery, was just able to get her driver's license a few years ago!

BTW--I didn't go back to the first pediatrician!! So the moral of this book is "Trust your instincts!"

 

[JaneBanks]

I can't answer the question but I just wanted to say that I think babies wearing glasses are the cutest thing!

 

[AKL_Megs]

Interesting! Thanks, everyone, for sharing your stories! I figured it was more "mother's intuition".

 

[anniemae]

I noticed one of my dd eyes would gravitate towards her nose. She would try to correct so that eye would kind of wander. I mentioned it to her dr. who referred us to a pediatric opthamologist. Turns out she has a eye turn, which is corrected with lenses.

 

[StarLight StarBright]

DD was 16weeks premature. She has ROP( retinopathy of prematurity) A Pediatric Opthamologist tested her in the NICU. She has had eye surgeries, and she has worn glasses since before she turned one. If she hadn't been tested, I don't know if I would have really known she needed glasses until she got to school. But, you're right babies with glasses are adorable. DD had little pink plastic frames with a little strap around the back of the head so they would stay on.

 

[Lanshark]

DS began wearing glasses at 14 months because one eye would occasionally drift in towards his nose. It is called esotripia. He is now 21 years old and has been wearing contacts since he was 11 years old.

DD has the same condition and began wearing glasses at 3.5 years old. She had passed every eye exam at the pediatricians office but we noticed that she occasionally ran into things. We took he to a pediatric opthamologist who diagnosed her. She is now 25 and has been in contacts since around 12 years old.

 

[marybet]

MY nephew has an 8 month old and he said the dr. asked which of his parents were nearsighted? They both are and the dr. could tell from the shape of his eyeballs. He doesn't have glasses yet, I think he said when he was around two they would take him to the eye dr.

 

[MichelleVW]

I work in the infant room of a daycare and we have a little baby in there who has glasses. It was obvious to us that he needed glasses since one of his eyes turned in.

 

[Coconut36]

My DD8 has worn glasses since she was about 2 years old. We went for her routine 18 month check up and our doctor noticed one eye wasn't responding like the other one. So she referred us to a pediatric eye Dr. (only takes patients by referral). Turned out she had a lazy eye which could barely see at all. For that age they use pictures rather than letters and they go through the various sizes for each eye. So from 2 years until about 6 years old, we had to put a patch over her good eye for 4 hours per day to force the lazy eye to work. Then from 6 years old to about 7.5 years old we put drops in her good eye on Friday afternoon which would essentially blur her vision in her good eye for the weekend, again to force the lazy eye to work.
In that time she has gone from 80:20 vision to 25:20 vision. That last little bit is corrected with her glasses prescription.

My niece was very similar. It was noticed at a routine visit there were issue with her vision..I think she was a bit younger as when I met DH she was 2 and just undergoing an eye surgery as her condition was quite extreme and her vision compromised greatly.

She has worn glasses since at least 2 and I know early on they also did some sort of special measurements/tests to get the Rx right since the child can't communicate if it looks right at that point.

 

[bumbershoot]

Well, the only kids that I've known who wore glasses extremely early had congenital cataracts, and the glasses were used once the cataracts were removed along with their lenses. They knew about the genetic disposition for cataracts, and they are VERY obvious at birth even (looks like a starburst in the pupil), so that's how they knew.


But at my recent eye appointment, which I had along with DS, before doing the eye chart, etc, he had us look into a machine which somehow figures out how your eyes are doing. I don't know how; I think perhaps it's magic. But it had the info right for both me (not too bad) and DS (perfect for a 7 year old) even before we did the cool thing with all the lenses and "which is more clear, this or this?".

 

[cbg1027]

Sometimes you don't know a baby needs glasses.

I was born with poor vision, but since that's how I was born, I thought it was normal and no one clued in to things until I was 8!

It was a big 'duh!!!" moment for my parents but I don't blame them. I would sit really close to the TV, hold books really close to read them, etc.

In school, I had a lot of trouble reading the blackboard, so I just asked the person next to me what it said or sat closer.

It wasn't until a trip to the beach with my grandmother that anyone noticed. She said to me "Oh look at the dolphins!" and I go "What dolphins??". The rest of the trip she kept quizzing me "What's that sign say?" or "Can you see _____?".

We came back home and I got glasses shortly thereafter, and then contacts two years later at age 10!

 

[SookieStackhouse]

I was 14 before anybody realized I was nearsighted. I somehow managed to pass the school screenings.

 

[design_mom]

Sometimes you don't know a baby needs glasses.

I was born with poor vision, but since that's how I was born, I thought it was normal and no one clued in to things until I was 8!

It was a big 'duh!!!" moment for my parents but I don't blame them. I would sit really close to the TV, hold books really close to read them, etc.

In school, I had a lot of trouble reading the blackboard, so I just asked the person next to me what it said or sat closer.

It wasn't until a trip to the beach with my grandmother that anyone noticed. She said to me "Oh look at the dolphins!" and I go "What dolphins??". The rest of the trip she kept quizzing me "What's that sign say?" or "Can you see _____?".

We came back home and I got glasses shortly thereafter, and then contacts two years later at age 10!

I had a friend in high school who had a similar story. When she was 8, her family went to a football game and her father yelled "Look at #27 go!" and she said "What? They have numbers?" I got my glasses when I was 6 and I remember the first time I actually saw the rain fall. Previously, I knew it was raining because the ground got wet, but I couldn't see the raindrops actually falling.

My DS got glasses at 14 months, but we knew he needed them as early as 8 months because his eye turned in. We adopted him (internationally) and he got glasses within a few weeks of us taking custody. Prior to that, although we could see the need, it was out of our control.

 

[cari12]

My niece was very similar. It was noticed at a routine visit there were issue with her vision..I think she was a bit younger as when I met DH she was 2 and just undergoing an eye surgery as her condition was quite extreme and her vision compromised greatly.

She has worn glasses since at least 2 and I know early on they also did some sort of special measurements/tests to get the Rx right since the child can't communicate if it looks right at that point.

At 2 they use very simple pictures: a cake, a bird, a telephone (old style so DD called it a table! LOL) and there was one more I can't remember. Her first appt. with the specialist was almost heartbreaking as with her bad eye, she could not make out the largest one. Such a non-technical therapy as patching is and still so effective. It was amazing!

 

[cari12]

Sometimes you don't know a baby needs glasses.

I was born with poor vision, but since that's how I was born, I thought it was normal and no one clued in to things until I was 8!

It was a big 'duh!!!" moment for my parents but I don't blame them. I would sit really close to the TV, hold books really close to read them, etc.

In school, I had a lot of trouble reading the blackboard, so I just asked the person next to me what it said or sat closer.

It wasn't until a trip to the beach with my grandmother that anyone noticed. She said to me "Oh look at the dolphins!" and I go "What dolphins??". The rest of the trip she kept quizzing me "What's that sign say?" or "Can you see _____?".

We came back home and I got glasses shortly thereafter, and then contacts two years later at age 10!

This is probably why they now do screenings in Kindergarten in many areas. When DD8 started K she was the only one in her class with glasses but after the screenings, 2 other kids now wear them too. Personally I believe all parents should get their kids eyes tested before kindergarten just in case there is a problem as part of "getting ready for school". DD did not "appear" to have a problem. She functioned great, there was nothing to indicate that the one eye wasn't seeing much. The other eye just compensated.