Babies and Infants Vision

It is important to check babies vision. Just because babies are too young to read a chart of letters or shapes, this doesn’t mean they should not have their vision and eye health checked. With specialised equipment, it is possible to obtain an accurate paediatric vision assessment of how well a baby is able to see as early as six months of age.

At Vision Excellence, we are fully equipped to accurately and comprehensively check the vision and eye health in all age children from six months of age, particularly if a parent or carer notices any of the following:

• • The two eyes do not appear to be looking at the same thing or if one eye occasionally seems to wander in or out.
  • If turning the head or closing one eye seems to indicate that one eye is being favoured.
  • If familiar objects or faces are not being recognised
  • If one or both eyes are constantly watering or being rubbed.

If there is a visual problem in a baby or infant, the sooner it is detected the better.

Treatment will often be as simple as observation or specific eye exercises but may also include occlusion (patching), temporary or permanent spectacles, although we will try to avoid prescribing spectacles if correction is possible by other means. Surgery is not usually required but we will refer to an experienced, ethical surgeon if an eye condition is not detected early enough or if it is not correctable using non-invasive methods.

The simple message for infants and babies vision is – if in doubt, get the eyes checked out!