Anyone used atropine eye drops on 2 year old?

[acbrmw]

My daughter has just been prescribed these drops. We were given patches originally but because she has eczema they weren't sticking on her face with all the cream on it. The pharmacist told me they aren't licensed for 2 year olds and the (very unlikely) side effects in terms of high fever make me nervous as she had a febrile seizure a few months ago. I also worry it will be too much for her to cope with at such a young age, she already gets very tired each day.

Has anyone else used these eye drops on such a young child?

Could you get cloth patches?

This was a mumsnetter's link on making a cloth patch previously.
I havn't used atropine drops on my dc but have seen a child at work from abroad who had used them for occlusion therapy.
Atropine is used on young children diagnostically to get the correct prescription for glasses but less commonly for occlusion. The main worry I would have is being hyper vigilant on keeping them locked away as they are highly toxic if ingested in small doses and also whether a 2 year old would let me put them in every day without a fuss. Perhaps post on the orthoptist's squint thread on here for her advice.

Link to lazy eye- squints- glasses etc thread.

The drops really do work marvellously in very young children and are just as effective as a cloth patch. You only need to put the drops in 2-3 times per week to get a benefit too - some people use it on Friday night and Sunday night for example. So she will be getting a very tiny dose. You can occlude the punctum (tear ducts near the nose) after putting the drops in as well if you wish, which can reduce the overall dose to the body.

Sent you a pm.

Thereislace, atropine is now being used routinely for the past 5 + years as a first choice in occlusion therapy, all the literature suggests its v effective and the benefits far outweigh any risks.

That is interesting Twighlightsparkle. I presume because patches can be removed or not used.

Thanks everyone for replying. It's so warming when you log in and find there are people out there offering support. As a result I've looked into cloth patches further and it has potential. I also wonder what dose of atropine others have used, we've been told one drop a day for 5 days and then 2 days rest for a 4 week period. barleysugar mentioned 2-3 drops a week which would mean almost half the battles each week putting them in!

We used them with DS when he was 2 and had a terrible squint due to a lazy eye. The results were incredible and he n

No longer has any issues!

It always used to be one drop a day but there was a great American study which proved the same benefit when used at weekends only!

Oh and don't forget you can put them in while they are asleep, you don't even have to open the eyes. One drop in the very corner, it will gradually seep in.

Thanks Catline and barleysugar, both really useful. I'm always amazed how people with answers seem to find the questions and so touched they take the time to reply. I'm encouraged to hear it has used and worked on young children before. The advice that their eye doesn't need to be fully open has also made it less daunting. We put in our first eye drop today when we were changing her when her eye was half open and she hardly noticed (just rubbed her eye and then immediately tried to suck her thumb which I quickly grabbed and washed thoroughly to remove all chance of ingesting any). It worked as her pupil was dilated later in the day. I'm going to call the orthoptist tomorrow to double check the dosage. Also pleased to report that she didn't seem too bothered about having blurry vision and it didn't seem to obviously affect her. She was very tired at the end of the day and rubbing her eyes but nothing more as yet.