To be worried about my toddlers eyesight and call the GP?

[SundayWellSpent]

Sorry I know this might not be the most appropriate place to post but I've been worrying about this all weekend and I'm hoping someone might have had a similar experience or can tell me if they would be worried or not?

I've noticed that my toddler, who is 18 months, seems to be shutting one of his eyes when they are outside and it is bright or when looking at something/someone approaching from a distance. They also seem to be rubbing their eyes a lot- especially the eye they keep shutting. I didn't even cross my mind that it might be an issue until I stupidly googled it. Now I'm worried they have a lazy eye. Is this something I should be bothering a doctor with? My gut instinct says yes but I'm also not sure what they could do?

Auch please don't tell the OP it would be a waste of her time and the doctor's to go and see a GP. No-one is suggesting she ask the GP to examine his eyes but to get a referral for the hospital. That is absolutely the right reason to see a GP.

I and my brother, My dad and a few others in family have a lazy eye/squint so have asked the hv to refer ds to optometrist (he has an appointment thursday). Give hv a ring. X

Opticians is the way to go. They will ask the age of the patient when you book an appointment so they will tell you if they dont deal with babies. Eye tests at this age for dd consisted of her sitting on my knee and the optician examining her eye using their small lights, looking at where she focused, whether she followed the lights etc.

Go to your GP, they will refer you to ophthalmics. My daughter has a lazy eye, it runs in my side of the family so I was looking out for it in my daughters. I took my daughter to the GP when she was 2, started patching and glasses wearing at 2.5. You need to go through your GP though

Both my children have been referred to the optometrists at the local hospital via the health visitor. In our area (north London) normal opticians wont see them until they are 5. The specialists at the hospital are used to seeing tiny children and my children love going there.
I would recommend talking to your health visitor or gp.

I took my dd to the gp at the same age, we were seen in the community clinic a week later and the ophthalmology dept 3 days after that

My local independent won't see children under 3, the big chains will but the amount of experience they have with young children is very variable

Treatment at this age is really important as it can prevent long term vision problems -please speak to your GP

I took my son to the GP at 9 months because I thought he had a vision issue. He was referred to the hospital and had excellent care. He had glasses at 16 months which had to be provided through the hospital because they needed to be fitted correctly (He had a special strap fitted for the low bridge to his nose).

We had Japanese tourists taking his picture because he looked so cute in them at such an early age.

Yes get it checked. My lazy eye was not picked up until I was 5 and as a result I have no depth perception.

My daughter is 2 and is under the care of the eye department at our local hospital after a GP referral when she was 5 months old. It's not a waste of time to go to the GP.

hospital eye specialist here. ask ypur gp to refer ypu to an orthoptist they are specifically trained to test kids eyes.

my guess is he had a drift outwards causing these symptoms.
sadly an optician could missit

My local optician won’t see children under 4 years old.

I’d go to the GP and ask for a referral to an ophthalmologist.

Go to the doctors who will refer you to a specialist. That's what happened with us, nothing to worry about. Our ds's have worn glasses since one was 10 months and the other was 2 1/2 years.

HV or GP referral to eye hospital at that age. My DD has a squint and was referred at two. Didn’t get discharged from hospital until age of eight and now goes to a local
Optician. I would want the experts seeing a child that young.

My DS has been wearing glasses since he was one, at this age I'd contact your HV who should be able to refer you to opthalmology at the hospital. If they feel it can be handled by community optician then they'll discharge you to their care. Boots etc won't generally test really young toddlers.

My dd was referred to the hospital orthoptist via the HV. She had a squint and got glasses at 18 months. Still has them now age 15

We noticed our youngest developing a squint aged 3. Opticians won't take children over five.
So we went to the gp armed with a photo of if happening and we were referred to the orthoptic department of the local hospital.
We were right to do so. The eye with the squint was becoming very lazy thanks to a very minor problem in his retina.
You'll probably have to endure the hell that is getting atropene eye drops into a toddler, but it's the best way for them to find out what's going on.
I have to admit I do bribe my child with a promise of sweets from the hospital shop if he behaves himself.
He's 5 now and is fine wearing glasses, especially as his have minions on.

I would suggest the hv at first who can do the right referrals - high st opticians don't see toddlers. If it's outside though it could be hay fever?

It was 16 years ago, but DS (age 2) had a squint and I went to gp who referred him to an ophthalmologist clinic. They had special way of assessing little ones who can't read. DS was diagnosed with astigmatism and brown's eye and prescribed glasses. He grew out of both by the time he was 5. Although did struggle with the physical part of reading because his eye muscles were weak and he had trouble with his pursuits and cicades. He outgrew that too.

My ds had a bit of a lazy eye and was referred to the hospital by the health visitor. They are used to dealing with toddlers.

AuchAyeTheNo, at this pount it isn't known if it is an eye problem and not an allergy one.

What the OP is describing is what i got until i started using hay fever eye drops. The staring at something could be him watching his floaters, or trying to focus.

A GP can decide what referals to make or what to try first, rather than waste a couple of weeks getting a optician appointment first. Then back to the GP.

GP and a referral to your children's hospital eye clinic.

When DD was a toddler there were eye tests for three year olds. I had no idea that DD had a problem with one of her eyes until the eye test. She was immediately referred to an orthoptist at the hospital.

If preschool eye tests have been cut then this is an absolute disgrace.

Either way, I would ring your GP, and maybe a few opticians to see who can see your DS first. He will get referred anyway. Opticians can refer as well, but they do it via the GP.

We were referred to the GP by an optician when DS2 was 3. He was long sighted with a big difference between his two eyes which put him at risk of a lazy eye. We saw the hospital team for a year whilst he wore an eye patch and had his prescription gradually increased. It made a big improvement.

Go to the opticians, the gp will only send you there anyway. When my dd was about the same age she hurt her eye and we had to see the optician, they were brilliant and knew exactly what to do.. Being experts and all!

Opticians arent experts in kids eyes. GP would refer to an orthoptist normally based in a hospital, not a high street optician. See a gp or hv first