Babies With Glasses - The site for families of babies, infants and kids with glasses

My family doctor didn't think it was anything serious, but referred us to eye hospital just in case. Saw them today and they have given us the sad news that our 9mo daughter has +6 in both eyes and needs glasses urgently.
I am unconvinced as she seems to have such great vision, picks up Cheerios, grabs toys etc without any hesitation. However, I appreciate they're the experts.
However, as her squint only happens very occasionally and can happen in either eye, I wonder whether each eye might not eventually come good as they are both still working (rather than a permanent squint in one eye which I understand never gets the chance to mature). I have seen some stuff on the internet to support this theory, but I appreciate it's a bit out of left field.
Any comments would be so helpful. I feel I owe it to her to at least explore the alternatives as once she's committed to wearing glasses presumably that's it, permanent.

Thanks all xx

Hi Stephh - your story sounds so much like ours. We were referred to an ophthalmologist by our pediatrician when we brought up our daughter's occasional eyes crossing at 9 months. Our daughter is also farsighted. It was pretty intermittent at 8 and 9 months, almost seemed to go away for a few months, and then got very noticeable and more persistent around 12 months. She's worn glasses since 14 months (she's 2 1/2 now).

The thing about farsightedness in young children is that they can still focus by accomodating - that's why you don't see her struggling to pick up small pieces of food. The problem is that this puts a strain on her eyes and leads to her eyes crossing occasionally. When a young child's eyes cross, it can lead their brains to suppress the vision from one eye leading to amblyopia and vision loss. The great news is that your daughter's eyes have the same prescription, and since the squint is in both eyes, she has a good chance of not developing amblyopia if she wears glasses.

Farsightedness does decrease with age, and there are many stories of young children who have glasses growing out of them as they get older, but it's extremely important that her vision be corrected early on so that it develops correctly.

Best of luck to you! I know how hard it is to deal with such a young child in glasses, but I would advise you to follow the recommendation to get glasses for your daughter.

Ann

Without wishing to sound unsympathetic to you, what is there to think about? A medical professional has told you she needs glasses urgently.

I suggest you bite the bullet and crack on with it: hopefully she'll be Ok with her specs without too much adaptation, although there seems to be lots of useful forum advice if she find adapting to wearing something is difficult.

Good luck,

Tim.

Hmmm, then again Tim, professionals get it wrong all the time....

You weren't at the consultation and were not therefore party to the general atmosphere of hurry and harassment from the staff. Against that backdrop, and with no opportunity to ask questions during the consultation, I feel I owe it to my daughter to explore the subject more fully, for example amongst others here.

I was hoping for more constructive replies though!

Stephh - I think that a second opinion is definitely in order, not because I think they were necessarily wrong, but because you didn't get the service you deserved from that appointment. If you daughter ends up in glasses, you'll be at the eye doctor's relatively often and having someone that you trust and feel comfortable asking questions of is critical.

Again, the glasses may not be permanent, as children will become less farsighted as they get older. While I understand looking for alternatives, if your daughter is farsighted, she really needs glasses now while her vision is developing.

Best of luck
Ann

Stephh

I have come in to this thread rather late but thought I might have something to add. From what I can see, my experience and those of others on this website, you are asking exactly the same questions as all of us have. It is a big shock to find out that your child needs glasses. It came completely out of the blue for us, with no one in our families having any kind of eye problems. My husband wanted a second opinion as she was picking up small things etc. In the end, we knew she had started to cross her eyes, although at first we just thought she was being funny, but we owed it to her to give it a go and see how she went. Immediately you could tell she noticed a difference and I am so glad that we picked it up early. She does not go crosseyed anymore unless she has her glasses off and is trying to focus on something.
I also have a friend who as an autistic child and I knew that she would love to know that all her child needed was glasses, compared to the life her child is living. That put it into perspective for me.
I would go to a different opthomologist, even one that has a lovely caring nurse that you can talk to, like we have. It will make all the difference. Good Luck.