Myopia (short-sightedness) In siblings

[Lovingmummy9]

Hi guys, I’m a bit worried. Both my children have been short sighted since they were 2 and 3 years old. Now 5 and 6 still the same one child’s eyes have become slightly more short sighted in one eye but

Sorry sent half the thread. Meant one child’s eyes have gotten a bit worse and has astigmatism too. Has anyone else’s children got this too? My only explaination is my husband has been myopic (short-sighted) since he was around 4 too. Same sort of prescription. However I’ve never had any glasses! I wonder how they will progress as they’re older. Anything I can do ?

Both my girls are short sighted - as am I - DD2 has a much stronger prescription than DD1 & they both have astigmatism.

There isn't really anything you can do to be fair other than ensure they get regular eye tests & wear their specs although I know how difficult this can be with little ones as DD1 got her specs at 2 & DD2 was 18months old so I spent a lot of time reminding them.

They are 16 & 18 now & they both have the same prescriptions they had at the beginning.

Thank you whiskysourpuss. I don’t know anyone who has short sighted children most of the people I know have children with long sightedness. I heard myopia progresses but not always. I hope it Stays around the same. Would you mind telling your children’s prescription I’m a bit uninformed but I think my kids would be around -3 and only one has astigmatism which apparently got better. Yes I heard also that it doesn’t go away. Oh well. Just want to learn from others experiences. Thanks for replying ! X

Astigmatism is very normal, it just means the eyeball is more short-sighted (so curved) horizontally compared to vertically - or vice versa. It's more unusual not to have astigmatism.

Myopia does usually progress, it's often partially genetic, but early onset myopia can also be due to a premature birth.
Current thinking is that time spent outside has a protective element against myopia development. The current recommendation is that 2 hours a day is the optimum.

Yes it will progress before it stabilises but that just means a change of prescription

I have myopia and astigmatism and have worn glasses since I was 5. I have wore contacts but happy in glasses

Hi there everyone, thanks for replying to my thread. So after all this time I thought my older daughter was more short sighted than the little one turns out she’s -1.75 and my younger daughter is almost -4! I do get worried as it’s quite high for a 5 year old (the older one is 6) but I guess like you said it is normal that it progresses and they have been wearing glasses for 3 years now and from the original prescription till now there hasn’t been the biggest leap ever so I’m holding on to that! My husband was myopic and has astigmatism from around 4 aswell and still has it now. I guess it just one of those things ! Also I notice so many children with glasses now at the kid’s school, it wasn’t so common in my days but does make it easier I suppose ! X hope everyone is having a nice week x