Your child’s vision plays a vital role in their physical development,
success in school and overall wellbeing.
About 1 in 4 pre-school aged children have an undiagnosed or untreated
vision problem in the United States. Vision problems begin at a young
age, it’s important to schedule regular eye exams for your children
to continue keeping their eyes healthy.
There are a lot of ways to protect your child’s vision, so keep reading
to learn about what milestones to look out for in their vision.
WHAT TO LOOK FOR IN BABIES
Month 3 -
Your Baby’s Eyes Should Focus And Follow Objects
During the first months of life, an infant’s eyes may cross or wander
off to the sides. Don’t worry, this is normal. As their visual coordination
improves, the baby’s eyes will work together to focus and follow
moving objects.
Month 5 –
Your Baby can see in Three Dimension
At this age, babies are better at grabbing objects because they can see
how far it is from them. They begin to develop depth perception and may
even be able to recognize what certain objects are by only seeing part of it.
Month 9 –
Final Color of your Baby’s Eyes
The eye color of your baby depends on the amount and distribution of a
brown pigment called melanin in the iris. Although, it’s common
that you can continue to see slight changes in their eye color during
the first 3 months.
Our Eye Care providers recommend bringing in your baby during their first
year. “An appointment for your infant would include an assessment
of their eye alignment, their ocular health, and a consultation with you,
the parent about any other concerns or questions you may have,”
says Dr. Jason Bleazard.
WHAT TO LOOK FOR IN TODDLERS
Watch for misalignment, or one eye that looks straight ahead while the
other eye turns inward, outward, upward, or downward. This may be a sign
of strabismus, an eye problem that occurs in about 4% of children in the
U.S. The ability of both eyes to focus on an object simultaneously continues
to develop until about age 7. Be sure to seek evaluation early if you
suspect a problem. This can also be caught during a preschool vision screening
at the pediatrician's office.
“There’s not much that you can do to test for strabismus at
home, but you can look at past photos to see if there is misalignment
or if it is worsening,” says Dr. Bianca Mendoza.
WHAT TO LOOK FOR IN CHILDREN AGES 6 - 12
Many school-age children are farsighted. In most cases, they do not need
glasses. Children generally can accommodate by using their focusing muscles
to see clearly near and far. As they get older, children’s eyes
grow and lengthen, and farsightedness often improves on its own. Significant
farsightedness, however, can lead to strabismus and amblyopia (lazy eye)
if left uncorrected.
Colorblindness is common in boys and the symptoms can be hard to detect.
“You won’t be able to detect color blindness from home, this
needs to be tested in one of our clinics. But kids with color vision deficiencies
will often mislabel colors even though they should know them based on
their age,” says Dr. Jonathan Walker.
One symptom is the inability to tell the difference between shades of the
same or similar colors.
TEENS AND YOUNG ADULTS
More than 90 percent of children’s eye injuries can be prevented
with protective goggles. Sports eye protectors are made with polycarbonate
lenses for baseball, basketball, football, racquet sports, soccer, hockey,
lacrosse, paintball and other activities with a risk of eye injury. You
can purchase these at any of our CBHA Eye Care Clinics.
Three Not-So-Obvious Signs Of Childhood Vision Problems Are:
- A quick loss of interest in activities that require using your eyes
- Losing their place when reading
- Turning their head to look at something in front of them
Signs Your Child Might Need Glasses
Here are a few signs that indicate your child may be experiencing vision
problems and need glasses:
-
Squinting. Squinting may be a sign that your child has a refractive error, which
affects how well the eyes focus on an image.
-
Tilting head or covering one eye. Your child might cover one eye or tilt their head to adjust the angle
of vision in an attempt to increase clarity. This might be an indication
that the eyes are misaligned or that your child has a lazy eye, which
is one of the most common eye disorders in children.
-
Sitting too close to the television or holding hand-held devices too close
to the eyes. Sitting too close to the television, holding hand-held devices too close
to the eyes or lowering the head while reading are all possible signs
of poor vision. People who have nearsightedness have clear vision at close
range and poorer vision at a distance. Bringing an object closer makes
an image bigger and clearer.
-
Rubbing eyes excessively. Excessive eye rubbing may indicate that your child is experiencing eye
fatigue or strain. This could be a sign of many types of vision problems
and conditions, including allergic conjunctivitis.
-
Complaining of headaches or eye pain. If your child complains about eye pain or headaches at the end of the
day, he or she may be overexerting the eyes in an effort to increase focus
of blurred vision.
“If your child complains that they are having trouble in school because
they can’t see the white board, or other objects that are at a reasonable
distance, then it may be a sign to bring them in to be tested for glasses,”
says Dr. Robert Forbes.
If you have noticed any of these signs in your child’s vision, bring
them in for an appointment with one of our optometrist at any of our Eye
Care Clinics. Schedule your appointment below.
SOURCE:
www.cdc.gov;
www.aao.org