Anyone have experience with squint in young child?

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My dd developed a squint just before 18 months and she was found to be very longsighted. She's been wearing glasses about 7 months and is very good about wearing them but the squint doesn't seem to be any better when she takes them off. We keep taking her to eye appointments but they're rushed and dd always freaks out when they try and cover her eye and so they never learn anything and I feel like they're wasting our time. Today I tried to suggest I cover her eye instead of them using a sticky eye patch for the tests but they didn't listen and as a result more screaming and crying and nothing achieved. Now they're suggesting she see a consultant in a few months. Patching was mentioned previously but I'm scared they'll suggest squint surgery does anyone have any experience of either? And did it fix it? She's only 2.

DD has surgery twice for a severe squint.

Once aged about 4 and again aged about 6 (I think this is correct as she is 22 now, so it is a long time ago). She does still have a noticeable squint when she is tired or drunk and she does not have 3D vision; however, 90% of the time it is not noticeable. It was traumatic (for me, not so much for her) at the time, but worth it.

I had squint surgery before I was 2 and it didn't fix it, should probably have had it re-done. My DH also had it and his isn't there anymore. My younger sibling had patching which worked well.

I had squint surgery at 3 and remember being in hospital well, this was in the 80s and I was on an adult ward but I don't remember it being scary or traumatic in any way, however there must have been pain so I've probably just forgotten. It fixed the squint until it started creeping back in my late teens, at which point I had another surgery which fixed it again. I don't remember what they tried before my first surgery but before the second they tried a sort of slatted patch on my glasses and Botox injections in a muscle in the corner of my eye (interesting experience). Neither worked so surgery it was. I do remember the pain of this but it was worth it a million times over. I hate the pictures of me as a child with my squint

I had squint surgery when I was four and don't remember much except being too sick off the general anesthetic to eat any Easter eggs (but I also have asthma which I think is a risk factor in ga complications)

It's not noticeable now unless I'm tired or drunk (or have taken codeine) but I don't have 3d vision and have struggled massively learning to drive.

I was never patched because my mum refused it but I wish she hadn't as I might not walk into door frames quite so often!

I'm short-sighted too but not badly enough to wear my glasses unless I'm studying

On the plus side my squint meant my eye turned out rather than in, so I was give exercises to do after surgery. One of which was to look at my finger and bring it towards my nose so my eyes would cross.

This has the upshot now of my being able to move my eyes independently a bit like a chameleon (I really just relax the bad eye then bring it back into focus) but it's quite a cool party trick

If the squint is corrected using glasses then surgery is probably not recommended. It is normal to still squint with the glasses off as the vision is no longer corrected.

Dd had patching treatment as the vision was not so good in one eye and patching forces the other eye to work properly. She also had squint surgery but only because she still had a noticeable squint with her glasses on.

Thanks for all your replies, her eye is a lot better with the glasses on but I don't know if it's 100%. I'd never heard of the problems with 3d vision before so that's a bit of a worry. I'm worried about patching because she reacts so badly when you cover her eye but we'll certainly try it if that's what they recommend. Seems like the surgery is a bit hit and miss as to whether it fixes it.

Dd doesn't have binocular vision either. We save a fortune not going to 3D cinema showings!

I had a squint corrected when I was about 2. Before that I had to wear a patch for a few hours a day as I had a 'lazy eye'. Surgery corrected the squint, but like PPs I had to have it done again when I was about 16. They don't do anything about it until they're past a certain age anyway, because of growth etc.
Since then I have no issues - it slips back when I'm tired or drunk, and one of my eyes is still dominant, but I have good vision and can drive etc. without any problems.

I wouldn't say the surgery is 'hit and miss' - they correct it when young, but it recurs in some people when they're teens. It's better than having double vision for life, or one eye that stops working. Any treatment is going to be harder on you than on your little DD, but I don't remember a lot about it tbh as it was when I was so young (the first time). Listen to the doctors and do what needs to be done.

Ds has very long sightedness and has a squint which the glasses rectify. He's had his glasses since he was 10 months old and is nearly 16. He wears his glasses all the time and when he takes them off the squint is there. He was patched before he went to school. But we've never had surgery. He was discharged from the hospital when he was 6 and has been under the opticians since.

My DS wore a patch over a 2 year period with a very good result. Wearing time ranged from 30 minutes a day up to 4 hours a day depending on progress.
My DS has some additional needs and we were very worried about how he would react to patching. In the end simple explanations of how this would help his eye, lots of interaction and distraction whilst wearing the patch and good old fashioned bribery worked and after the first week or so we had no problems.
You can get bright coloured patches that after using you put on a chart thing that builds into a picture - that helped.
Time on the iPad whilst wearing the patch was good too.
Good luck.

Ps a non sticky eye patch might help in the early days. You can get soft felt ones that attach to your glasses. I don’t think they are as effective but might start you off.

It is the sticky patch that she really objects to, as if the world has ended, so the felt one might be a good idea even if it's just used as practice for her appointments.

www.meyepatch.co.uk I wonder if one of these might help