How to keep glasses on 2.8yr old?

[NoodlesMam]

My 2.8yr old DD2 is visually imapaired and at her last hospital appointment she was assessed for glasses. It turns out that along with all of her other eye problems she is long sighted in one eye and short sighted in the other . Anyway, there's a chance that glasses might help and so we've had some made up for her to try. We're picking them up tomorrow and have been talking to her for the last few days about how exciting it is and that she's going to be just like Daddy and her cousin who also wear glasses. My DD is very used to having her eyes touched, she has to have drops every 2hrs while she's awake and a big glob of vaseline type stuff in before she goes to sleep but I really don't know how she's going to react to actually having to wear glasses. Any tips on how to get her to keep them on???

Did you get to see the frames before they were made? I only ask because I normally help children pick a frame they like, rather than their parents, purely because I think if they like the frames then they are more likely to wear the glasses. Also make sure that the frames are fitting her and not causing any discomfort, like they're not digging in to her head or sliding down her face.

I think the main thing really is just to be positive about the glasses, tell her she looks pretty, things like she must be able to see so much better. Also see if you can find some children's books about people wearing glasses. A sticker reward chart might be good fun for her too.

Its hard work and of course young children don't understand why they need to wear glasses but it really is worth persevering with. I really wish I had worn them. I have amblyopia (lazy eye) and astigmastism in my right eye and I was treated with patches when I was about 5 or 6, which I point blank refused to wear. I was also treated with glasses, which I refused to wear. Refused to wear them although I needed them all through my childhood and teenage years. My glasses I bought today at work (which I desperately need) cost me the grand total of £180 for one pair, purely because of the lenses I needed. If I'd have done the patches and the glasses when I was younger I would have greatly improved my lazy eye and not needed such a bad prescription. I was horrified when I saw it today! I'm so mad at myself!

I'd go for all forms of bribery and corruption personally and start with low expectations She may be fine, but may struggle to adjust at first, especially if the prescription is quite high. If you can get her to wear them at a time when they are likely to be of benefit (and fun) with plenty of praise and reward rather than just wear them all the time, just to start off with. Just make sure you find out when you collect the glasses what the procedure is for when they break! Dd3s never last more than 6 months and that's with repairs.

She may surprise you.

My DD2 got glasses when she was quite young (3.5 I think) and after just one day of me continually replacing them she realised that she could see so much better with them on, and didn't take them off again.

To the extent of wearing them to bed!

Thank you everyone for your replies, my DD2 has been really good keeping her new glasses on. We did buy some little miss sunshine ones along with the free curly round the ears ones and although she loves the miss sunshine ones she seems to prefer the curly round the ears ones as they stay on better and must be more comfortable. We're not sure if they are helping or not as she has adapted so well to having such poor vision you can't really tell until she has a vision test and although we have the picture cards at home she refuses to comply! The hospital are not sure if they are going to make any difference either and even if they do, eventually both of her corneas will scar over (right one has already) and her vision will be like looking through frosted glass :( I just hope that the glasses help enough for her to get as much visual info as possible before that happens :(