Baby’s vision: preventing and detecting your child’s eye problems

As soon as your baby is born, you wonder about his sight. What exactly does he see? Does he see well? Should I consult a specialist etc. First, know that baby’s eyesight depends in part on family history. Eye problems that are taken care of early on are more likely to go away.  

Eye disorders: essential screening for babies

Baby’s vision: regular checks

• Between 3 and 6 months

The child must have straight eyes, that is to say harmoniously oriented with respect to each other. As the little one does not yet have a nasal root, he can go very far by turning his eyes to the sides: it is normal if he directs them in a similar way. Same thing when he watches closely, following his bottle. Otherwise, after 6 months, it may be an abnormal strabismus, the cause of which must be sought (severe hyperopia, muscle failure, etc.).

• Between 6 months and before 2 years

Some children have what is called “bad posture of the head” which can be used to detect functional amblyopia. The two eyes have opposite visual acuity, one eye being very nearsighted or very astigmatic, for example, the other being normal. In this case, the child will try to center the “good” eye on what he is looking at, slowly pushing his head forward until it leans slightly to the side. The child only uses the eye which sees well. Those who see poorly become lazy, may not develop further and risk becoming blind. To note : if treated before 2 years of age, children with amblyopia and strabismus will recover normal sight. Between 2 and 6 years old, they will only recover 50% of their visual abilities. Beyond that, at the age of learning to read, recovery will be much more random, slower and more restrictive.

• Between 2 and 3 years

The little ones can also be ametropic (that is, myopic, hyperopic or astigmatic). Although frequent, these visual defects (not to be confused with pathologies) are sometimes difficult to detect because they have no immediate impact on the behavior or daily life of infants or very young children. To find out the coefficient of visual acuity, the ophthalmologist uses specific objective investigative methods which will allow him to correct the optical deficiency of the little one as early as possible.

When to see an ophthalmologist?

Apart from screenings carried out during compulsory medical examinations, certain signs should alert you. And get you to consult:

• he often rubs his eyes as if he were embarrassed;
• his eyes remain fixed and do not follow the movements above the cradle;
• he seems to flee the light; 
• he holds his head abnormally bowed;
• he squints ;
• he frequently blinks and frowns;
• he stumbles frequently and bumps into everything;
• he gets too close to the television;
• it does not recognize the images of educational games; 
• he narrows his eyelids or blinks to see from a distance;
• he closes one eye to the sun.

Eye problems: the main visual disturbances in children

Vision disorders: the various corrections

Hyperopia

The child sees badly up close. Severe hyperopia is often accompanied by strabismus in children. The corrective lens is said to converge or convex, that is to say thicker in the center than at the edge.

Myopia

The child sees badly from a distance, but well up close. Myopia is often hereditary, it can be scalable and increase over time. It is corrected by a divergent or concave glass, thicker at the edge than in the center.

Astigmatism

The child sees badly both near and far, his vision is distorted. He does not perceive the contrasts between horizontal, vertical or oblique lines clearly and uniformly. Some directions are seen as more blurry than others. Astigmatism always combines with another visual defect (myopia or hyperopia). It is corrected using a “toric” glass whose curvatures compensate for those of the cornea (which is oval rather than round). The thickness of the glass varies depending on the astigmatism, that is, the direction in which the eye distorts images.

Strabismus

The child is cross-eyed because the visual axes of his eyes are not parallel. To avoid seeing double, he uses his dominant eye to neutralize the image. The unwanted eye loses sight of details. Untreated, strabismus can then lead to amblyopia with serious repercussions on the development of the child. Strabismus can be due either to a visual defect (myopia, hyperopia, astigmatism) different from the two eyes, or to an abnormality of one of the muscles ensuring the movement of the eyes. According to the case, this anomaly is corrected by masks placed sometimes on the dominant eye, sometimes on the strabic eye, either by orthoptic exercises to improve binocular vision, or by surgery.

L’amblyopie

The child sees badly in one eye which becomes amblyopic because it is unused. Compensated by the other eye, he no longer works and no longer learns to see. He can even become blind if amblyopia is not detected for 2-3 years. Around 5-6 years old, you can only recover 50% of your sight at best. Before the harm is irreparable, correction is possible with glasses.