Baby with Eye Problem: What Can You Do About It?

A baby with an eye problem can receive treatment to address their condition. They need to undergo eye exams to confirm the exact problem with your child’s vision. As a result of early detection of their eye issues, they will have a better chance of successful treatment. Meanwhile, the Mornington Peninsula Eye Clinic in Melbourne strongly advises the highest standard of personalized care.  They believe that every patient’s eyes and visual demands are unique.

Baby with an eye problem

We all know how essential our eyes are. But what if your baby has an eye problem? How would you even know if they have vision problems? In actuality, your babies will not come out with all the visual abilities they need in life.

For this reason, babies have to learn the correct functions of their eyes. It includes focusing their eyes, accurate movement, and using them together as a team. If a baby has an eye problem, they are more likely to experience developmental delays.

Given this point, it is essential to detect vision problems in children earlier. This way, they can have the visual abilities they need as they grow up and learn. In this case, the child’s parents play an essential role in determining whether their baby’s eyes are developing correctly.

You might encounter a baby with a lazy eye or a cross eyed baby. A baby with a lazy eye or amblyopia involves the brain focusing on one eye more than the other. In effect, the nerve cells will not mature normally.

As for the cross eyed baby, they have misaligned eyes. This condition, or what they call strabismus, can make crosses not only in one direction. It can either be inward (esotropia), outward (exotropia), upward (hypertropia), or downward (hypotropia).

Fortunately, these conditions are still treatable. The only way to know about these treatments is to ask an eye doctor directly.

Symptoms that a baby has an eye problem

Here are the typical signs they can pay attention to. These symptoms will give them a hint that their baby needs medical attention.

1. First and foremost, take a look if your child is showing excessive tearing. It can indicate that the baby has a blocked tear duct. A blocked tear duct is typical in newborns and gets better without treatment during the first year. In most cases, this condition isn’t severe and not life-threatening.
2. Secondly, check your baby’s eyes if they have red or encrusted eyelids. This condition may signify an eye infection. They can incur this infection from bacteria exposure while passing through the birth canal.
3. Third, check your baby’s eye movement. If there is constant eye turning, your baby might be experiencing a problem in their eye muscle control. Any problem with the muscles will cause their vision not to work correctly.
4. Additionally, take note if your child shows extreme sensitivity to light. It is the result of having an elevated pressure in their eyes. This condition is glaucoma, which can damage the eye’s optic nerves.
5. Lastly, observe if there is an appearance of a white pupil. This condition signifies a possibility of eye cancer.

Generally speaking, parents cannot become the know-it-all type when it comes to their children’s welfare. Even though the internet can provide information about it, the best thing to do is seek medical help from professionals.

Seeking treatment from an eye professional

A baby with an eye problem would be better if an eye doctor can check them personally. Various eye doctors are available who offer proper eye care.

• Ophthalmologists: They can provide comprehensive eye care, including medicines and surgery if necessary.
• Pediatric Ophthalmologists: These eye doctors have undergone specialization for treating kids’ vision problems.
• Optometrists: They can provide the same eye care for their patients, except for surgery.
• Opticians: These are the eye professionals in charge of fitting and adjusting eyeglasses or contact lenses.

Seeking these doctors’ help is a lot better than keeping yourself in the shadow of what’s happening to your baby’s eyes. An eye doctor will conduct a routine medical exam for your child’s vision. A pediatrician or a family physician may perform a general eye health check-up in the hospital nursery for newborns.

As for those infants with a family history of eye problems, an eye doctor should examine them to address the irregularities. In this case, it would be best that the child receives a routine check-up to ensure that their eyes are functioning well.

Moreover, it can prevent the long-term effect of vision problems. As a result of immediately seeking help, your baby will continue to develop normally. Overall, the eyes play vast parts in the baby’s continuous development.

For adults, the eyes are aids to learn and improve for self-growth continuously. Eyes are great tools to explore the world and learn more of its surprises for us in the long run.

How to care for a baby’s eyes?

The baby’s eyes need gentle cleaning every day. Below are the simple tips to follow for cleaning their eyes.

• Make sure that you have clean hands before doing this. Wash your hands before you begin.
• Then, soak a cotton ball in clean water. Gently squeeze it to remove excess water.
• Using the wet cotton ball, gently wipe your baby’s eyes from the inside corner to the outside corner.
• Furthermore, it would be best to use a different clean cotton ball for each eye. It will prevent cross-infection if there are any.
• Some babies do not want their eyes cleaned. For this reason, use warm water. Besides that, please make it real quick without hurting their eyes.

As parents, ask the pediatrician or an eye doctor to know how to stimulate your baby’s eyes. This way, you can help develop their eyesight.