Healthy vision plays a critical role in your child’s development. Beginning at the birth of your child, there are important steps you can take to ensure your child’s visual development. There are milestones and signs through your child’s life where potential vision problems can be detected. Remember, every child is different and some may reach certain milestones at different ages. However, if you do suspect a problem, schedule a comprehensive eye exam with your Eyecare Professional.

Infants

• In the first few weeks, infants cannot focus on objects further than 8 to 10 inches from their face. For example, infants cannot see the big ‘E’ on the visual acuity chart, where as an adult with normal vision can see this ‘E’ at 200 feet
  
• After 8 weeks, they should be able to focus on your face
  
• After 4 months, infants should be reaching for things with their hands and be able to follow objects with their eyes. Both eyes should follow objects together. If one eye consistently does not track with the other eye or turns inward or outward, please consult your Eyecare Professional
  
• At 5 months, most children begin to see color
  
• After 9 months, they should be able to judge distances fairly well and make eye contact easily

Toddlers through 5 years

• From 1 to 2 years of age, a toddler’s hand-eye coordination should be developing well
• After 18 months, they should be able to point to objects, pick up toys, and walk without bumping into furniture often
  
• If your child is rubbing their eyes or squinting them to see better, these could be signs of a vision problem
  
• After age 3, be very aware of lazy eyes or crossed eyes as these problems can become permanent if not correct at an early age

Kids Age 6 to 12 years

Signs of a vision problem may include:

• They sit too close to the computer or television screen
• They draw or write bent over their book
  
• They work with one eye shut

Bad posture:

• They sit too close to the computer or television screen
• They draw or write bent over their book
  
• They work with one eye shut
  
  Learning difficulties:
  
• When they read they mix some letters
  
• Stumble on words or lose the line
  
• They do not like to read for too long
  
• They find it difficult to remember what they read or to concentrate on their work
  
• They mix red and green

Common Vision Problems

At the age of 6, one child out of three has ametropia. Ametropia refers to disorders such as far-sightedness, near-sightedness and astigmatism. These are very common and can be easily corrected

Far-sightedness: When your child can see distant objects clearly, but have trouble seeing objects that are close

Near-sightedness: When your child can see close objects, but has difficulty seeing objects in the distance

Astigmatism: When your child has trouble seeing objects both far and near, this may mean your child is astigmatic. This means their eye is not round, but instead is shaped more like an egg and causes objects to look distorted