This question came in from Wendi, who has experience with a toddler in glasses, but is now facing having her 6 month old in glasses, too. Those of you with babies in glasses, what tips do you have? – Ann Z
My daughter was iagnosed with strabismus and hyperopia (farsightedness) at the age of 2. She is now 4 1/2 and we have just started to patch one eye for 4 hours/day. The diagnosis was a shock to us because neither my husband nor I are farsighted, in fact we are both nearsighted and have low presciptions (plus, no farsightedness on either side of the family). My daughter was a preemie at 7 weeks early, so I thought that maybe that was the cause. Anyway, last month we brought our 6 month old son to get his eyes check per the recommendation of the doctor (apparently, it is common practice that if a sibling has eye issues, to have the child checked early). We were shocked to learn that our son’s eyes are worse that our daughters (my daughter has a prescription of +5.0 on both sides, whereas, my son is +8.0 on both sides). My first question is for those that had glasses on babies… do we go with the straps or not ? We are having a hard time getting glasses that are small enough. Also, I am inclined to get a second opinion….did you? I just don’t feel that my doctor was thorough enough…it was more like, “Yup, same as his sister, here’s your prescription.” Why glasses so early? Will his eyes improve? Will they get worse if he doesn’t wear them? Is eye therapy an option? I would just love to hear your experiences with babies and glasses.
For Little Eyes 
We were told my son(now 15 months) needed glasses at 7 months and we started with him wearing them right at 8 months. My son wears miraflex(brand) minibaby (style) glasses. They have a strap and they have worked beautifully for us. We tried on several pairs that looked cute but were a little big but then I asked if they had Miraflex and sure enough they did. They were under the counter in a box out of site. You may ask directly about that brand or if they can order you some. My son really accepted the glasses quite readily and I am actually glad we started when he was a baby rather than when he was a toddler. He considers his glasses as his and gets fiercely mad when they are taken away. I don’t think children the same age who are just starting out with glasses react the same way.
As far as your other concerns. We had a second opinion but that was at our primary doctors prompting as the eye condition we are dealing with is quite rare. I don’t have much to say about your other questions as we are not quite dealing with the same issues as you.
I hope you get some more of the answers you are looking for.
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My son was diagnosed with accommodative esotropia (crossing of the eyes as a result of severe farsightedness) at 15 mo. He wore solo bambini brand glasses (www.solobambini.com) for about a year. They are one of the few that I found that made glasses for infants. They are made of a bendable poly type plastic and do not have any metal pieces. They have a strap that holds them on since the bridge of their nose usually is not well defined at such a young age. At 2 years old, we bought him “regular” frames but still had him wear a strap. The first day we sent him to preschool without it, his glasses ended up in a twisted, bent mess. Not only does the strap keep his glasses on, it also helps other curious little hands from pulling them off.
My son’s phx is very strong too. He is a +7.5. We were very leary at first, however once we seen that his glasses kept his eyes in alignment, we felt it was best for him to wear his glasses.
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My son was just diagnosed with strabismus, farsighted and astigmatism in both eyes +5 left and + 5.5 in right. He is 6 months old and has been wearing glasses for a little more than a week. I just assumed the strabismus would disappear with glasses however it hasn’t. How long did it take to keep the eyes in line? Or will he possibly need the wear an eye patch?
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I’m not sure. Zoe’s eyes never completely straightened with glasses, and we ended up trying stronger prescriptions, and eventually needing surgery for her eyes. Patching is definitely a possibility if the brain is favoring one eye over the other, but that isn’t always the case. Do you have a follow-up appointment? If his eyes are still crossing in another week, I’d definitely take him back in to the eye doctor.
Good luck to you and your son!
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