Your baby’s vision skills have already taken great strides. Tracking moving objects and beginning to reach for things, these are all baby steps that lead toward eye-hand coordination and depth perception…Mother Nature knew what she was doing when she made a baby’s eyes.

An optometrist knows your eyes inside and out

Welcome to parenthood: VISION 101 for PARENTS

Mother Nature knew what she was doing when she made a baby’s initial focusing distance 20 – 30 cm., after all, it’s the distance from the crook of your arm (your baby’s favourite place to be!) to your eyes. To encourage healthy vision skills, keep “reach and touch” toys within your child’s focusing distance, alternate right and left sides with each feeding and talk to your baby as you walk around the room. Frequently change the crib position and your child’s position in it and hang a visually stimulating mobile (black and white is a proven favourite) above their crib or change table.

From birth to about age 5 your baby will make sophisticated leaps in vision that are very much like the leaps they’ll make in crawling, walking and talking. During the first five years your child will learn lifelong vision skills – accurately or inaccurately. It’s the development of these skills that lays the foundation for one of their most precious gifts – their vision.

With every examination, your optometrist will determine if your child’s eyes are healthy and working together efficiently.

Your child will be quite mobile (and you’ll likely be much more tired!) Your child is now developing the vision skills necessary to use both eyes together, to judge distances and manipulate their surroundings with greater accuracy. Their play is really their work!

When should I bring my child for their first eye exam?

Mark it on your calendar. 6 months old – your baby’s first visit to their optometrist!

Don’t worry, there’s no need to have your baby study for this test! They won’t have to read the eye chart in order for an accurate and complete eye examination to be performed. In fact, your optometrist will test for excessive or unequal amounts of nearsightedness, farsightedness or astigmatism; eye movement ability; as well as eye health problems, all in a way that will make you and your baby comfortable and at ease.

There are a few ways to make this first visit most enjoyable:

· Work around fussy times. You know your baby best; schedule your appointment at a time when baby is generally relaxed and happy.

· Ask to have any required paperwork sent to you before the appointment so that it can be filled out at home and brought in on the day of the exam.

· Pat yourself on the back for knowing how vital this first eye exam is and for getting yourself out the door to make it there on time!

From six to twelve months

To encourage the development of eye-hand-foot-body coordination, try not to encourage early walking. Crawling and exploring are what they need to be doing right now. Offer toys your baby can touch, hold and see at the same time.

For the full article:  http://www.opto.ca/en/public/04_eye_info/04_03_01_parents.asp#1

submitted by Dr. Tanya Flood, Coastal Eyecare