Squint in babies?

[TheCountessOlenska]

Ds aged 10 months has an appointment at the hospital on Monday to look at his eye. I didn't think it looked that bad but since the appointment came through I am noticing it all the time, looks particulary bad in photos. I just wondered if any one had experience of this - I googled but freaked out a bit at the mention of operations. Does anyone know what will happen at this first appointment ? thanks.

Our son was tested at 18 months and it was mostly covering one eye then uncovering it to see how the eyes responded, looking at certain points on flash cards, and following a light or objection with his eyes.

I had the surgery when I was younger (10) and it was fine - fast recovery and no problems.

I expect they will do an eye test. My dd had one at a similar age for a similar reason. They put drops in the eyes which dilates them, then you wait half an hour, then they hold various lenses in front of the eyes to see when they focus (ie if they need a prescription). My dd fell asleep after the drops the first time and they did the examination while she was sleeping!
Often a squint is caused by long sightedness. If one eye is more long sighted than the other the weaker eye can become 'lazy'
My dd wears glasses now and her eyes have improved a lot. After a couple of weeks of protesting she grew to love her glasses (as she can see better!)
Sometimes if the squint is more pronounced they may advise patching along with the glasses. They wear a patch over the good eye for an hour a day or so to encourage the bad eye to work harder.
Once all of these have been given a good try (years) then surgery may be required if necessary.
My dd just needed glasses :-)
Hth

Thanks both, that's really helpful Shamoy Gosh, I never even considered glasses Was your dd wearing them at 10 months then? I guess they are held on with elastic at that age?

My dd was referred at 10 months and by the time we had the appt and got the glasses sorted etc she was just over 1. Her first glasses had very curly bits on the ends of the arms to hold them round her ears. I wasn't keen on the ones held on with elastic. I looked at quite a few styles as I was determined to find some that were not ugly as well as being comfy!
That's just our experience though and obviously I'm not qualified in any way so I'm not saying your dd will get glasses, it's just a possibility.
Good luck for Monday :-)

Our DD went through this at 7 months for a squint.

Has worn glasses since which we manage to keep on most of the time :-)

Her eyes definitely look straighter and she can see more with them on.

Does anyone know, if the glasses work, when the eyes should fully straighten?

There is another long running thread re kids squint, back with link in a tic!

I have one - picked up at 18m, operations at age 4 locally (was over-corrected) and at age 16 at Moorfields Eye Hospital in London, where I have ongoing treatment.

long running squint thread

Fingers crossed for you Countess

Thanks very much for the link Blondie, I'll have a read now

How was the appt?

Oh I didn't realise but my GP had referred us to the general Paediatric clinic - So he had a general check over (all fine ) and she referred him on to the eye clinic (can't remember what it's called!)
thanks for asking Shamoy, I'll update when he's been - might be useful to someone else too.