It’s one of the most common questions we get when people ask us about Zoe’s glasses: how did we have any idea that she needed the glasses? At first, I got tired of answering that question so many times, but then it occurred to me that many of the people asking were parents, worried that maybe they’d missed some test for their child’s eyesight, or that there might be some sign they didn’t know to look for. If they have a child young enough, and seem like they’d take kindly to it, sometimes I tell them about the Infantsee program, but usually that’s not the case, and I simply tell them our story, that Zoe’s eyes were crossed enough that there was no mistaking it.
So how about you? How did you know your child would need glasses — or what led you to have your child’s vision checked? I imagine the answers will vary quite a bit depending on the different vision problems.
For Little Eyes 
With Reid it was very subtle and I only noticed that his right eye was slightly crossed after he would be looking at something in his hands or something else up close. It wasn’t crossed all the time. At Reid’s 9 month check up I decided to ask his pediatrician about it. It wasn’t crossing at the time of his appointment but his doctor referred me to a pediatric opthalmologist. I was thinking that it was just going to be one of those things that the eye doctor would tell me that he would grow out of so I wasn’t too worried. Once we got into the eye doc’s office he shined the light in Reid’s eyes, not even a minute after starting the exam and said, “Oh, Reid needs glasses.” The relfection of the light in his eyes gave it away. I was kind of shocked but accepted it pretty quickly. The doctor said that Reid was so far sighted that when he looked at something close, i.e. his hands or his food, his eyes over compensated causing the one to cross when they were trying to focus. That is why I woud mostly notice it when he would look up from looking at something close. The glasses seem to be working, when we can get him to keep them on.
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It was subtle for us, as well. Sam is near sighted, so it wasn’t crossed eyes that alerted us. He would squint at things, but not at everything. We would catch him squinting at the tv or at the computer and he would try and put his face right in the computer screen. But, he could recognize people and objects from across a room.
So, we just kind of watched him for a month or so, and then his preschool teachers noticed he was squinting at stuff at school, too. And we noticed when he looked at books and stuff with little details that he hold them right up to his face.
When I took him to the ophthalmologist I was pretty much expecting to walk out of there with a prescription for glasses, but I was really shocked at how strong it is. Fortunately, he’s done well wearing them and it hasn’t even been a problem.
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Glad to find this blog! My almost 4 yo DS wears glasses all the time – he has lazy eye. Glasses alone were not correcting (although they were helping) so we are now patching one eye 4 hours/day. We were really consistent with it at the beginning (5 hours/day) but it’s been harder in the summer. He does pretty well with it all. so far things are going pretty well but surgery is a possibility for us also.
I didn’t notice really early signs. I sometimes wonder if I’d have picked up on things, been more attentive, if it would have made a difference earlier. DS was 2 yo when DD was born and I wondered but was able to push back the concern until a family photo taking session when the eye turning in was undeniable. (Given that lazy eye runs in our family I really should have taken action sooner). It took awhile to get in to see specialists, etc. so I really wish I’d been on the ball. However, things seem to be going ok for now.
He is farsighted by the way. And sooo cute in his specs! My little Harry Potter 🙂
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My mom (Gradma’s are ALWAYS right) was the first to notice- at a very young age- Of course it was so subtle then that I thought she was over reacting, but then gradually it got worse. At 9 months we asked the Ped, who basically told me that there wasn’t anything wrong. At 14 months I took him to an optometrist “behind my ped’s back!” and he confirmed that he did have esotropia. That is where our saga begins!
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Our pediatrician caught it at his 3-year old check-up. He failed the vision test where you tell what shapes you see from down the hall. She brought him back a few weeks later to re-test, since as you all know, he could have just been “being 3” at the time. He failed again in exactly the same way. Knew all the shapes close up, but none down the hall, and when she got within a few feet from him he would know the shapes again. Yes, he did squint from time to time prior to that, but I thought he was just making cute faces! He knows all his letters, upper and lowercase, and plays a mean Wii. We NEVER would have guessed he was having a hard time seeing. So, he was sent to the pediatric opthalmalogist and failed the sight test, was dialated and then diagnosed with the astigmatism and hyperopia.
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My name is Kendra and my daughter is Kaiya and is 2 years old.
Kaiya’s Estropia progressed very quickly in about a two week time period. We noticed the left eye turning in one day and then it just kept happening. It didn’t matter if she was looking at something near or far. It seems to be constant now.
I contacted our peds and she thought it was fine but scheduled an appointment with a pediatric ophthalmologist affiliated with CHOPS. We went this last friday and were told she is farsighted.
Her left eye is more so than the right at a +6.
We will go and have a follow up in about 2 months and if it hasn’t improved with glasses then we will go with a patch and glasses.
We have gone through our pictures from the last two weeks and can pick it out in various photos that we can notice the turning.
We are going to get her glasses today. My husband , son and I have been talking up her glasses all weekend and got a ” special haircut”. Afterwards she and I decided we are going to the doll shop today to get a handful of glasses for our babies at home.
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We found out when my 2 year old daughter was screened for eye cancer. That really put how minor needing glasses was in perspective. We had noticed her left eye occasionally turning in for a couple of months, mostly when she was tired. We were going to have the doctor take a look at her at her three year check up, as we thought she might have to have glasses. As strong willed as she is, we figured there was no way we were going to get them on her right now anyway. I was really upset at the thought of her having to wear glasses. Neither my husband or I have ever worn glasses. Then, we looked at pictures of her and noticed that the left eye flashed white in several pictures. I had seen a news article about how that was a big danger sign for retinoblastoma; how a stranger had saved a child’s life by noticing it in a picture on the internet and contacting the mother; and how it was urgent if that appeared in your pictures to have your child checked out immediately. Of course, we discovered it at the start of the weekend so we were left hanging and panicked until Monday morning when I called the pediatrician. She referred us to a pediatric opthamologist immediately and instructed us to tell him that she wanted our daughter seen at some point either that day or the next. He got her in within 6 hours of the telephone call. When everybody is that urgent it is terrifying. You can imagine our relief when he said she was cancer free but just had one eye that was really farsighted and she would have to wear glasses. The white flash was a result of her lack of focus in the eye and apparently our brand of Camera had a tendancy to do that in such cases. We are waiting for her glasses to be ready now. Of course, now I understand how important in the long run it is that we caught it early and we make her wear the glasses so that her eye will stay straight and strengthen. We just have to figure out a way to get her to wear them.
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Wow, Kat! Yes, that would really put glasses in perspective. I’m so glad that your daughter’s eyes are cancer-free. Welcome to the world of kids in glasses – I hope she does well in them.
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