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eyesight

hi, im not sure if this is classed as a special need but i didnt really know where else to post as i got no replies in the toddler forum.
i noticed that my lo has a lazy eye at about 6months and it took this long (he is now 15mnth) to be reffered to a specialist. when we went to the appointment we also found out that he is longsighted and will need a strong prescription. im just wondering if anyone else has a lo who has the same or who has to wear glasses and how your lo reacted to wearing glasses etc.
holly, mummy to Jayden and 16+5.x

Replies

  • hi holly, sorry to hear about your lo, i cant be of specific help as my lo has suspected delayed vision so although it is sight related we're not in the same boat, however if you pop onto the dvm thread there is a mum there whose little boy is wearing glasses 'leos mummy' i'm sure she'd be happy to tell you how it's going although her son is younger and it's not for lazy eye. also if you go onto www.justmommies.com and look for the visually impaired children chatroom there are several mums with children wearing glasses on there too. googling works a treat as well hth

    i think from what i've heard off other mums children seem to adapt quite easily. if you asked on any of the forums about lazy eye i wouldn't be surprised if you got some replies as i'm sure i've seen links in the past.

    good luck :\)

  • thanks alot for your reply waiting4baby.xx
  • Hi Holly,

    Leo is visually impaired so our situations are a bit different, but he got glasses at about 6 months. To be honest I dont make him wear them all the time because he's just too small. He does get irratated and tries to grab them, but hopefully because your little one is a bit older he'll understand better to keep them on. Also he'll soon realise that the glasses make him see better and he'll want to wear them im sure.

    When you say 'lazy eye' is that the same as a squint or stabismus? Because I was born with a squint and had glasses from about 10 months, which my mum says was easy and I did well with them. Apparently it look a little while to get used to them, and I also wore a patch to strengthen the weaker eye. At 2 I had an operation to correct it and from about 7 years old I no longer needed glasses.

    Hope this is in any way helpful to you, and good luck. Children in spec's are just adorable!
    I know it can be quite a shock when you're told that your little one isn't what they call 'perfect', and I remember the first appointment with the paed to find out why he wasn't focusing was horrible. She told me best case would be he needed glasses and worst case that he could be blind. I was devestated and unluckily it was the worst case scenario for us, but whatever happens we as parents get on with it and in some way these things just make you love them more!

    Take care

    Hannah :\)

  • Hi I usually only post on dec 07 babies but noticed this thread... my little boy turned 1 this weekend and at 6 months we noticed a lazy eye - which they call a squint! he was reffered to consultant and seen at about 8 months! they decided to do galsses test and same as you long sighted and they were saying he has stigmatisms something to do with shape of eye and the light! his left eye is quite bad and actually got worse within a few months! i know its bad but i hate him having it as he's gorgeous but it has become noticiable! anyway he needed glasses and gave us a prescription to take to an options, managed to get him some lovely trendy glasses free and so we tried to get him to wear them fro 9.5months and had no luck at all - then 2 weeks ago i gave them to childminder to try and he bloody wore them all day - i couldnt believe it when i turned up to get him and he was wearing them!

    anyway i am naughty and he hardly wears them with me - i dont knbow why i just never think to put them on him and then when i do he pulls them off after 10mins where as at childminders he wheres them to play in pushchair etc!

    i know your origninla post was a while ago but just wondered how you are getting on as i posted a few times on baby forum and no one else;'s baby had lazy eye or glasses so young i felt a bit alone!!!

    sounds silly i know!

    xxxxx
  • Hey Rach.
    My son is just 1 and is seeing orthoptists to see if he has a lazy eye/sight problems. His isn't so bad at all but I have a severe lazy eye and am concerned he's inherited it.

    He's had 2 appointments so far, the first they just looked at his eyes, looked with a weird magnifying glass thing & observed how he focussed. As they didn't find anything obvious they gave ust he choice to have him referred to hospital for the eye drops or just come bakc for more observation in a few months.

    We chose to have the full tests just so we'd know if there was a problem and how bad it was so we've just had the consultant appointment with the eye drops. The drops weren't that bad - they didn't seem to affect my son apart from to make him a bit wobbly as it affected his focusing.

    The other thing they might do is patching his good eye to try and make the lazy eye work more. I remember I had to have this and I hated it - I was about 5 at the time. I think that quite often my parents had to bribe me to do the patching!! I think i was a headstrong little bugger as a kid!!

    As for the op - please try not to be scared, I had 3 operations on my eyes before I was 18 months old and they do help.

    Hope your boy is ok at the appt and his eyes aren't too bad
  • hi laides, I'm glad I came across this thread, I did post in toddler a while ago, my lo is 21 months and I have noticed that one of his eyes seems to squint, I took him to the g.p. who told me he def has a squint and has been referred to an orthoptist and a consultant opthalmologist, luckily his referral has come through very quickly and he is being seen on 5 march, I am worrying more now as it seems to be getting worse as time goes on, it is much worse when he is tired. When I spoke to my mum she said that both my sister and brother had to have operations when they were younger, infact my sister had 3 ops, my brother also has astigmatism as does she. I dont really know what it means and I know its vain but I just cried when I found out, people have always commented on his beautiful big blue eyes and I hope that it can be sorted. I know there is much worse things that could happen and I feel such a fraud for being upset about something so simple especially as 4 months ago he was referred to a paediatrician as he wasnt walking and there were concerns that he may have cerbal palsy or muscular dystrophy, thankfully although they havent tested they have said it is unlikely he has either condition he is very hypermobile.

    Anyway sorry for the ramble, I just needed to get it off my chest xx
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