Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why would the pediatrician refer your child? What is going on that prompted that concern. 2 year olds aren't generally screened for vision at the pediatrician's office.

There have been some interesting studies on the role of time of outside direct sunlight and nearsightedness. One study looked at children in Singapore and Australia of Chinese descent. Australian children average something like 12 hours a week of outdoor activities while the kids in Singapore did around 3. The rate of near sightedness was drastically higher in Singapore.

My DH both are nearsighted so when our kids were little we made sure they got a lot of outdoor time under sunlight with opportunities to look into the distance. For sports we made sure to choose outdoor sports so instead of signing up our kids for gymnastics, swim team, volleyball, or basketball we signed them up for baseball, soccer, tennis, lacrosse, etc. So far they are in high school and don't need glasses.

In other words, it was your superior parenting choices that resulted in your kids not needing glasses.

My brothers and I grew up on a farm. We were outside for hours everyday, even in the foulest of weather. Our parents, grandparents and great-grandparents were also farmers. Some of us are nearsighted, some of us are not. I wonder what our parents should have done differently. We even grew nearly all our own vegetables, most of our fruit, all of our own meat and rarely ate highly processed food. Oh, how I loved the hot dogs, boxed macaroni & cheese my friends ate. Did I mention a number of us also have environmental allergies?

I had roughly the same upbringing. I didn't get glasses until 7th grade. My prescription at the time was -3 diopters. It was a shock how much clearer the world was. I could finally read the chalkboard.

I understand how you feel. My son is now 8 and has had a very heavy nearsighted glasses prescription since he was 4 years old. His current prescription is -11.

I was sad when he got glasses because I didn't know that he wasn't able to see well. I also was angry at myself because I didn't recognize any signs of poor eyesight. However, my son was also delayed in speech and didn't do the classic "holding things too close to his face." Unrelated, we did learn later that he's autistic. The ophthalmologist said that very young children essentially adapt to their worlds with poor sight and learn how to navigate that way. It just hurt to know that he was unable to see and I didn't know and couldn't help him sooner.

However, when they get those glasses and realize how much better they can experience their worlds, it's amazing. I remember my son's smile when he first got his glasses and it was amazing to watch him. He walked all over the house looking at things and smiling. He started looking at his favorite TV shows and commenting on the characters like it was his first time seeing them. He started loving books and puzzles - all the things we tried to get him into before, but he just didn't seem interested. Now we know it's because he couldn't see them.

And here we are, 4 years later, with a kid that loves to swim, read, and play basketball while wearing what he calls his "super cool glasses."

Anonymous wrote:Well, clearly, you must have F'd up somewhere, OP.

Seriously, do you really not know that you can do everything right and things still not turn out the way you expect? Did you think you were insulating yourself from developmental challenges because of your superior parenting? You think it's appropriate to deny your DC corrected vision because you don't like the esthetic?

My DD got her first contact at age 5. You heard that right. At age 3, she got her first pair of glasses because vision in one eye was so much weaker than the other. She wore those glasses for a year and it continued to deteriorate. At age 4, the opthamalogist gave us the choice of patching her eye or getting a contact. (The concern was that her brain would 'shut off' her weaker eye in favor of the much stronger one.). You think glasses are bad, try patching for a year. Patching marginally helped but not as much as a contact would. So, that's what she got.

My nephew got his first contact at a month old. It’s amazing what can be diagnosed at such a young age.

Hi OP. BTDT with my two year old as well. Vision checkup (with some machine they use now) at my daughter's well check caught an abnormality. Ophthalmologist diagnosed it as astigmatism and we put her in glasses right away. She was right on the edge of needing glasses or not. Because we treated her early, she was able to stop wearing glasses a couple of years later. She is now almost 12 and having no vision difficulties.

I would not delay glasses if the ophthalmologist recommends them. As someone else mentioned up above, you need to train the brain and eye to work together in order to see correctly.

Anonymous wrote:Why would the pediatrician refer your child? What is going on that prompted that concern. 2 year olds aren't generally screened for vision at the pediatrician's office.

There have been some interesting studies on the role of time of outside direct sunlight and nearsightedness. One study looked at children in Singapore and Australia of Chinese descent. Australian children average something like 12 hours a week of outdoor activities while the kids in Singapore did around 3. The rate of near sightedness was drastically higher in Singapore.

My DH both are nearsighted so when our kids were little we made sure they got a lot of outdoor time under sunlight with opportunities to look into the distance. For sports we made sure to choose outdoor sports so instead of signing up our kids for gymnastics, swim team, volleyball, or basketball we signed them up for baseball, soccer, tennis, lacrosse, etc. So far they are in high school and don't need glasses.

In other words, it was your superior parenting choices that resulted in your kids not needing glasses.

My brothers and I grew up on a farm. We were outside for hours everyday, even in the foulest of weather. Our parents, grandparents and great-grandparents were also farmers. Some of us are nearsighted, some of us are not. I wonder what our parents should have done differently. We even grew nearly all our own vegetables, most of our fruit, all of our own meat and rarely ate highly processed food. Oh, how I loved the hot dogs, boxed macaroni & cheese my friends ate. Did I mention a number of us also have environmental allergies?

If a kid that age does not get adequate stimulation of the brain and optic nerve via vision (corrected if needed), they literally lose the neurological capacity for sight.

You have issues, OP. Get help.

Why would the pediatrician refer your child? What is going on that prompted that concern. 2 year olds aren't generally screened for vision at the pediatrician's office.

There have been some interesting studies on the role of time of outside direct sunlight and nearsightedness. One study looked at children in Singapore and Australia of Chinese descent. Australian children average something like 12 hours a week of outdoor activities while the kids in Singapore did around 3. The rate of near sightedness was drastically higher in Singapore.

My DH both are nearsighted so when our kids were little we made sure they got a lot of outdoor time under sunlight with opportunities to look into the distance. For sports we made sure to choose outdoor sports so instead of signing up our kids for gymnastics, swim team, volleyball, or basketball we signed them up for baseball, soccer, tennis, lacrosse, etc. So far they are in high school and don't need glasses.

My daughter wanted glasses when she was little (before she needed them), because her friend had then.


You will control how he feels about this tool he needs to navigate the world.

Sometimes a parent has to be an actress.

Anonymous wrote:My son began wearing glasses at 2. He responded so positively to his glasses that he never wanted to remove them. He searched for them as soon as he woke and didn’t want to take them off at bedtime. I wore glasses from a year on and was always self-conscious so I worried he would have a tough time with it but I was projecting my own feelings. When I saw how he liked them, I never gave it another thought. And now when I look back at those younger pics of him in glasses, it’s so unbelievably cute.

Oh my gosh, so cute!

Get the glasses. My parents waited too long and my vision is worse now than it had to be. My daughter got her glasses at 1.

Get the child glasses and get yourself some therapy! Do not rob your child of good vision. I can't believe we are even discussing that.

As someone who currently has a very mild prescription and also astigmatism, even at -.75, -1, -1.5, it’s noticeable impact on my vision. I get headaches and eye strain and simply can’t see distances well.

I wouldn’t put my kid through that just for vanity.

I can also tell you it’s a crapshoot about who needs glasses and who doesn’t. I had vision correction surgery but before that, I was -12 at my worst. My husband is also -7 something. Our child is almost 14 and has perfect vision. He spends a lot of time on screens (not proud of that) but also is a baseball player so lots of outdoor time with distance vision needed. Certainly wouldn’t have envisioned (ha!) perfect sight for him.

My toddlers little pink Barbie glasses were so cute.

Anonymous wrote:We went to the ophthalmologist because pediatrician referred us after his 2yo vision screen. Turns out he is nearsighted and has astigmatism. He doesn’t need glasses yet but will in a few years when he starts K.

- He gets very limited screentime (that too only TV, not phone or iPad) and lots of outdoor time. Eats a very healthy diet with plenty of fish and vegetables

- Both his father and I are near-sighted, and his father has astigmatism. But we weren’t diagnosed until our late teens despite regular doctor check-ups. Have the tests gotten more sensitive nowadays?

- Is it the worst thing in the world if he doesn’t wear glasses when he starts K? Can we delay until he starts to have issues like not being able to see what’s written on the board?

I know I will get flamed but my little boy is very handsome with beautiful eyes and I don’t want them to get covered up my glasses

Gross. There are something’s you shouldn’t even admit on an anonymous board. How shallow can you be?

Anonymous wrote:If the doctor said he can wait 6 months, it sounds pretty mild. Unless it was that you asked if it could wait. My son began wearing glasses at 2. He responded so positively to his glasses that he never wanted to remove them. He searched for them as soon as he woke and didn’t want to take them off at bedtime. I wore glasses from a year on and was always self-conscious so I worried he would have a tough time with it but I was projecting my own feelings. When I saw how he liked them, I never gave it another thought. And now when I look back at those younger pics of him in glasses, it’s so unbelievably cute. By midddle school he moved to contacts because he plays a lot of sports. So if in 6 months he needs to wear glasses, don’t hesitate. I recommend miraflex. They are virtually indestructible.

No, I didn’t express any hesitation towards glasses. Doctor said that without asking. Thanks for sharing your experience.