3 year old needs glasses - your tips for introducing glasses and essential accessories?

[Highlandmama]

My 3 year old has been diagnosed as very long sighted and needs glasses. Neither myself or my husband wears glasses so this has caught us by surprise! We have two pairs of glasses on order but I need tips on how to introduce them, and do I need accessories? Like a strap/band? He’s very little - how in the world will they stay on? The optician says that everything must be very blurry for him right now, so I guess it’s good he has been diagnosed so early. TIA

DS has been wearing glasses for long sightedness since he was 8 months old.

Initially we would pop them on just for a short time and distract him with a treat of some sort or, if we were putting the television on we’d say for him to put his glasses on so we can watch X.

He was wearing them full time really quickly and when he moved into his own bed we put a special shelf up for him to put his glasses on when he got into bed, he would then jump out of bed in the morning and put them straight on. So cute!

Never had any straps or anything. The opticians will fit them so they don’t fall off too much. They may get broken fairly regularly though!

You can get prescription swimming goggles. DS has a hefty prescription (asda opticians do free thinning btw) and, although he does have an astigmatism, with a slight adjustment in strength recommended by the optician we just ordered without the astigmatism correction. They were life changing for him.

My 14 year old has worn glasses since age 3. To be honest he just put them on on day one without a fuss and kept wearing them! I guess he just liked being able to see. He now wears contact lenses . Good luck!

Unless things have changed radically, his glasses will have 'curly' ear pieces on them. That makes them more secure so they are less likely to fall off. (And more difficult to pull off!)
Because XH and I both wore glasses when DC2 needed them at an early age, we made a 'glasses club'. (They were considerably younger than your little boy.)
I expect you will be very surprised how quickly he will adapt - mainly because he will enjoy how much his vision has improved.
Good luck OP.
If your little boy is looked are by visual impairment/ sensory services (it varies by county), you can always ask them for help too.

Ds has worn glasses since 18 months, never used straps or anything just kept putting them back on if he took them off then distracted with something. He broke several pairs in first few months but soon got used to them

My little boy was 6 when he got his glasses, would have been sooner but he's asd and couldn't handle the opticians. I thought we would really struggle with getting him to wear them, he has sensory issues, hates change etc but he took to them really quickly....he could finally see clearly and he obviously loved that.

2 year old in glasses here and she has been a superstar with them even though we thought it would be hell.

No strap needed. We have 2 pairs too and we give her the choice of which colour she would like to wear that day and she puts them on herself when she's decided.

Did you know you posted in covid? Might get more responses elsewhere

DD2 got hers at almost 4 (longsighted in one eye) and DS2 got his at two (longsighted both eyes). No straps needed, they kept them on because they could see properly for the first time.

I can still remember DS2 especially, the optician put them on him and while I signed the paperwork he just stood looking up and around and I realised for the first time how poorly his sight had been! He puts them on first thing and takes them off last thing at night, he's nearly 11 now and we've only had one breakage when he pulled the arms apart accidently.

They will fit the glasses around his ears (they don't tend to use curly pieces anymore) and get him to lean forward and shake his head to see if they move, the opticians are very good and experienced but ask them any questions you have.

Lens cleaner is a must though, grubby hands make grubby glasses even at 10 years old!!

Thanks everyone! Feel very reassured reading this! Like I say it’s just really caught me off guard. Good to know @AugustRose about the lens cleaner. @Sideswiped he will get a referral to the hospital team but waiting times are currently 3 months so the optician is keen to get him started wearing them asap.

Ooops - didn’t mean to post in covid!

He’s looking for the benefits though already “mama, when I have glasses, my friends won’t be able to poke me in the eyes”

Thanks again folks

My DS has worn glasses since about 2.5 with no real issues with him getting used to them. We had a bit of trial and error with frame styles. The metal frame with the nose pinchers (not sure what the technical term is) really made dents in his nose, so we switched to plastic frames that are all moulded round the nose. What we have struggled with is finding plain frames that aren’t plastered in Disney advertising, cartoons, football logos or dinosaurs. Specsavers is the worst for the lack of choice.

The problem with some of these highly decorated frames is that the arms that go round the side of the head are slightly wider and interfere with peripheral vision. I know this as I’ve worn glasses most my life and riding a bike (for example) when you have to look around you, can be made a bit difficult with thicker arms.

So I would recommend steering clear of the frames that have Hulk etc stuck on the arms and look for plainer, more slimline frames. They will be lighter too.

DS has glasses since 15m (needed them earlier but COVID prevented it cos a kids eyesight is non essential obvs 😠

He has the squishy Mira flex ones with a strap. They are virtually unbreakable and do not have hinges you could pinch finger in. He is very clumsy and we won't be moving him onto proper ones for a year I should think. When we do we may go for Tomato glasses which are similarly child friendly.

The thing that worked for us (accidentally) was on the first day he had them, putting on a bike helmet and taking him for a ride. He could not remove them and was distracted. Apparent the trick is to get them to keep them on for an hour or so as it takes time to adjust and realise they can see better. Once they realise they can see better they want to wear them. Bike ride was long enough to get us over that hurdle. That said, at 15m you can hardly get them to keep their socks on, let alone glasses! your DS will be more rational at 3 (I hope!).

My little girl has been wearing them for the last 6 months (she was 18 months when she started). I have been so surprised how well she's done with glasses and patching. What I will say is really make sure they fit properly. We had to go back 3 or 4 times for adjustments, and actually had to order new frames entirely, as the ones we were given first were far too big for her face and kept slipping. At that point they were getting flung off at every opportunity, as they were just annoying her. We now have Tomatos, they don't budge when she wears them, so no need for a strap. Good luck!