Babies cannot address or speak about their problems. As parents, it is your responsibility to understand the symptoms of your child and analyse their problems, if any. Usually, the hearing, speaking and visual conditions are checked first. In this article, we will discuss the child’s vision conditions. Right after the birth of your child, you need to keep an eye on their eyes. The second, baby is born, its vision development begins.
In the beginning, their eyes have visual acuity of 20/400. However, it rapidly develops until the age of 3 or 5, the visual acuity becomes 20/20 like that of an adult. Your child may not be complaining of blurry vision or trouble in focusing but there are few signs which you need to notice as they can indicate that your child may need glasses.
How to Understand if Your Baby Needs Glasses?
The brains and eyes of a child develop in the first year itself. If you realise, there is some concern, immediately concern an eye specialist. Since it is not possible for a child to ask to read the eye chart, it is quite common as a parent to be worried about how to get the eyes checked. Don’t worry paediatricians or eye specialists conduct pre-reading or pre-verbal check-ups with some devices that help to screen the eyes of the baby and identify the vision condition.
Here are some symptoms that will help you to know if they need glasses or at least an eye checkup:
Unable to Follow Moving Objects
As we mentioned before, a child’s eyesight starts growing as soon as it is born. During the development itself, the baby is able to track the moving objects within 4 months. If you find your child is having trouble in viewing the moving objects then it is better to consult the paediatrician and get eyes examined.
Holding Objects Near to Eyes
Sometimes your child might hold toys or objects very close to eyes (more than normal). You need to notice, does your child always do that. If you frequently notice your child holding objects up close to your eyes then maybe he/she has a difficulty to focus on far objects. Your baby might need glasses, better consult your doctor.
Frequent Rubbing of Eyes
It may be a blurred vision or watery eyes, in both cases, it can be a sign of eye problem. Usually, a baby rubs its eyes, when it is ready to sleep but if the frequency is more than it is time to worry and consult the paediatrician and know the cause.
Squinting or Crossed Eyes
If a child is not able to focus on things clearly and if he/she is seen squinting while looking at things or you notice crossed eyes due to lack of coordination between the two eyes then it may be a refractive error due to which the child is unable to focus on things. Consult and get the refractive error corrected with correct prescription glasses.
Optimal vision is essential at every phase of life. So right from childhood, it is necessary to identify and rectify poor vision problems. Be aware of your baby’s eye health and determine if their vision needs help.
