Most people are surprised to hear that the American Optometric Association recommends eye exams to begin at six months of age. By six months, your child has met several important developmental milestones. At birth, the eyes begin to focus about a foot away from the child, mostly looking at faces. Around two months old, the child is learning to look around. At this point, the eyes don’t always coordinate well together. Your child should be able to track moving objects by four months old and begin reaching for things. As their eye hand coordination improves, they will become more accurate in reaching for things.
InfantSee is a no-cost public health program that provides vision and eye health evaluations for children from ages six to twelve months. At your child’s InfantSee screening, Dr. Nate and I will be evaluating how well your child can see using specialized tests for infants. We look for excessive or unequal amounts of farsightedness, nearsightedness or astigmatism. If your child does need glasses to help them see better, we have a variety of frame lines at Bright Eyes that are designed specifically for infants and toddlers: Tomato, Miraflex and Bright Eyes Kids frames. Dr. Nate and I will also check your child’s eye alignment and eye teaming skills. During these kinds of tests, the children usually think we are just playing games with them, but in fact we are gathering lots of useful information about their eyes and vision. Additionally, we may dilate your child’s eyes to check for eye health problems. This is a normal procedure that we do for all ages, and we will only dilate your child’s eyes with your (the parent’s) consent.
It is important to look for risk factors that can cause vision problems in the future. If caught early, many vision problems can be corrected or prevented. Even if your child does not appear to have an eye or vision problem, you should bring them in for their first evaluation.
You may remember Dr. Nate’s blog about his daughter’s InfantSee examination. Check it out for cute pictures.
Call our office at 813.792.0637 or click on the button below to schedule an InfantSee appointment at either the Westchase or New Tampa location. Or visit InfantSee.org for more information.
-Dr. Beth
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