Have you gotten your babies eyes checked?

Discussion in 'The First Year' started by [email protected], Mar 20, 2008.

  1. Jhstobe@earthlink.net

    [email protected] Well-Known Member

    I am starting to be a little concerned that DD may have a "lazy eye" She is about 4 months adjusted age and I am assuming her eyes should be focusing and not going "cross eyed" at this age. Am I correct? What age should their first eye exam be at?
     
  2. Buttercup1

    Buttercup1 Well-Known Member

    My girls had their eyes checked by a periatric opthamologist at 6 months (actual). It was recommended that we do this because they were born premature. One of my girls definitely had a lazy eye that she grew out of by 4 months.
     
  3. Leighann

    Leighann Well-Known Member

    We had Ana's checked at 2 months and then again at 4 months. I have strabismus and had surgery as a kid (and a couple of months ago) and its genetic so the girls are at a higher risk. Plus since they were both premature we are taking them again in April. Talk to your pedi about it at your 4 month appointment. GL!
     
  4. lissylou

    lissylou New Member

    Great question!! I am a mom of 4 month old twins, and an eye doctor! Just to let you all know, there is a great national organization, sponsored by the American Optometric Association, called "InfantSee". Participating eye doctors will do exams on infants ages 6 to 12 months for free (even if you have insurance, it isn't billed). Here's the website, if you want to find out more, or to find a participating clinic...

    infantsee.org


    It is a great program, we have checked several infant's eyes at our clinic since it started a couple years ago. It was started to help catch those eye problems that can be helped by early detection, instead of waiting until they are 3 or 4, or at a preschool screening. Participating eye doctors LOVE to see these little ones - it is so much fun! They are called "vision screenings", but we check everything - eye alignment (like eye turns, or "strabismus"), we dilate them to check for ocular health, and generally check everything over, like to see if the eyes are within normal limits as far as prescription goes. Thankfully, most babies fall within "normal" ranges, but we have caught a few things here and there that did need treatment at an early age!

    Feel free to ask any questions! I am happy to help if I can.
     
  5. TFine

    TFine Well-Known Member

    QUOTE(lissa3 @ Mar 20 2008, 09:56 PM) [snapback]680207[/snapback]
    Great question!! I am a mom of 4 month old twins, and an eye doctor! Just to let you all know, there is a great national organization, sponsored by the American Optometric Association, called "InfantSee". Participating eye doctors will do exams on infants ages 6 to 12 months for free (even if you have insurance, it isn't billed). Here's the website, if you want to find out more, or to find a participating clinic...

    infantsee.org
    It is a great program, we have checked several infant's eyes at our clinic since it started a couple years ago. It was started to help catch those eye problems that can be helped by early detection, instead of waiting until they are 3 or 4, or at a preschool screening. Participating eye doctors LOVE to see these little ones - it is so much fun! They are called "vision screenings", but we check everything - eye alignment (like eye turns, or "strabismus"), we dilate them to check for ocular health, and generally check everything over, like to see if the eyes are within normal limits as far as prescription goes. Thankfully, most babies fall within "normal" ranges, but we have caught a few things here and there that did need treatment at an early age!

    Feel free to ask any questions! I am happy to help if I can.



    I contacted 3 doctors from the infantsee website and one of them said he just did admin work and didnt see patients, another had no clue what I was talking about and the 3rd said the waiting list is 2 years.

    Needless to say we do not yet have an appointment! :-(
     
  6. MYSTICH

    MYSTICH Well-Known Member

    Get them checked, we had Ben and Mitch checked out before 6 months. Their doctor said not to worry until after 6 months, this was at the four month checkup but in my heart I knew I could not wait, so I looked up a infantsee doctor and took them in she referred me to a specialist. We did switch regular doctors too, I was bummed their doctor did not jump on this. They are now seeing a peditricin. Anyways, I am so glad we did, Ben has strabismus and is far sighted and Mitch is far sighted and with a big chance of still developing strabismus but more then likely not. Ben has gotten glasses, we can hold off on Mitch getting glasses cause so far he is just far sighted. Ben will have eye surgery soon to help but not fix the problem completely. But if we did not do this as soon as we did, he could have eventually lost depth proception not sure if I spelled that right.
    So if you feel something is wrong get it checked sooner then later. Check out my picture of my 3 little ones Ben is on the end his one eye goes in toward his nose. Also it is amazing how much his personality has come out since he got glasses :) Good luck I hope yours is one that your little one can outgrow.
     
  7. Jhstobe@earthlink.net

    [email protected] Well-Known Member

    QUOTE(lissa3 @ Mar 20 2008, 08:56 PM) [snapback]680207[/snapback]
    Great question!! I am a mom of 4 month old twins, and an eye doctor! Just to let you all know, there is a great national organization, sponsored by the American Optometric Association, called "InfantSee". Participating eye doctors will do exams on infants ages 6 to 12 months for free (even if you have insurance, it isn't billed). Here's the website, if you want to find out more, or to find a participating clinic...

    infantsee.org
    It is a great program, we have checked several infant's eyes at our clinic since it started a couple years ago. It was started to help catch those eye problems that can be helped by early detection, instead of waiting until they are 3 or 4, or at a preschool screening. Participating eye doctors LOVE to see these little ones - it is so much fun! They are called "vision screenings", but we check everything - eye alignment (like eye turns, or "strabismus"), we dilate them to check for ocular health, and generally check everything over, like to see if the eyes are within normal limits as far as prescription goes. Thankfully, most babies fall within "normal" ranges, but we have caught a few things here and there that did need treatment at an early age!

    Feel free to ask any questions! I am happy to help if I can.


    Thanks so much for the info!! I am not sure if there are any problems or if I am just being the worrier that I am but better safe then sorry. They are 33 weekers so I guess I should be proactive. So my questions for you is should I wait till they are 6 months. I see that is when the exams are free. Is six months when their eyes should be "mature" At this point sometimes she looks "cross eyed" and other times she does not. Is there a chance her eyes are still devolping?
     
  8. MYSTICH

    MYSTICH Well-Known Member

    The eye doctors I saw said if you suspect something wrong you should get it checked anyways. We were not going to get Mitch tested but I let him know how I felt even though his eyes did not cross. He wanted us to go with our gut feeling and his farsightedness is actually worse then Ben so I am glad we did test him too, we know what we have to keep an eye out for now.
    I would go see an infantsee doctor, it is quick and they can tell if you need more test done. It could be a thing you just need to use a patch and it would make the muscle strong and no more problems. Go with your gut feeling.
     
  9. lissylou

    lissylou New Member

    Tammy Fine - I am so sorry you have had the run-around! That is really too bad. If those docs aren't seeing infants, or are taking forever to get patients in, they should take their name off of the list. If you would be willing to let me know what area you live in, I would send an email to their state association and let them know the trouble you are having. I wouldn't use your name or anything, just what you had said.

    After I replied last night, I realized I should have said that if you feel there is any problems sooner than six months, certainly ask your pediatrician if you should be seen sooner, or call an eye clinic and ask them - I do talk to a lot of parents on the phone and most of the time can either reassure them everything is OK, or else will recommend they bring them in. For the InfantSee program, the babies have to be within 6 to 12 months as we can do a much better assessment of how things are going at that point (most eye structures are done developing by then). In the case of preemies, I do think they should probably see a pediatric ophthalmologist earlier as they are much more capable for checking for things like retinopathy of prematurity. Usually they do this in the NICU in the hospital, if there is enough risk. Or if you definately see an eye turn at a really early age, seeing the pediatric specialist is certainly in order! If there is a strong family history of strabismus (eye turn), you could cut to the chase and see a pediatric ophthalmologist directly. That said, a lot of little ones do have some eye crossing up to 3 months or so, one of my little girls did. They usually get pretty good control of it by 4 months.
     
  10. lissylou

    lissylou New Member

    QUOTE(Jen S @ Mar 20 2008, 10:36 PM) [snapback]680276[/snapback]
    Thanks so much for the info!! I am not sure if there are any problems or if I am just being the worrier that I am but better safe then sorry. They are 33 weekers so I guess I should be proactive. So my questions for you is should I wait till they are 6 months. I see that is when the exams are free. Is six months when their eyes should be "mature" At this point sometimes she looks "cross eyed" and other times she does not. Is there a chance her eyes are still devolping?


    Jen -

    I wanted to reply to you directly, in case I didn't answer all of your questions. You certainly do not have to wait until the 6 month mark, the 6 - 12 month thing is more a guideline than anything, but if you feel you would like something checked out sooner, that is OK! I certainly wouldn't bill for an infant that came in at 4 or 5 months. Anything that helps to give us moms of twins more peace of mind is wonderful! Babies usually gain control over that "cross eyed" look by 4 months, but having it checked can let you know that everything is OK for sure. We check to see how farsighted they might be - as an earlier mom said, her kids were quite farsighted, and uncorrected, that can cause eye crossing. And as she also said, sometimes they don't have the eye turn, just the farsightedness which may need correction. If you lived in Minnesota, I would love to see your babies!
     
  11. Trishandthegirls

    Trishandthegirls Well-Known Member

    We had our girls checked out by a pediatric opthomologist (spelling?) at 10 months. I haven't noticed any eye troubles, but our pediatrician recommended a visit since the girls were born at 34 weeks.

    Just FYI for anyone planning this type of appointment: the actual time with the opthomologist didn't take long (10 minutes for each girl), but the entire visit was almost an hour and a half. The doctor checked out each of my girls while they sat on my lap and then I had to hold each of their heads steady so he could put in drops to dilate their eyes. Talk about screaming and crying. Apparently the eye drops burn a bit. Then we headed to the waiting room for 45 minutes to wait for the drops to take effect. Then we trouped back into the doctor's office for him to do another 5 minute check on each of the girls. This was the really non-fun part, because the girls had to hold their heads completely steady. Of course they weren't interested, so I basically held each of them down while he checked their eyes. Thank goodness I had brought a friend who could entertain the baby not being examined.
     
Loading...

Share This Page