Eyesight for a 8wk old baby? Getting very worried....can anybody reassure me?

[fatbetty]

I was wondering if anybody might be experiencing a similar thing: DS3 is now 8 weeks and she just doesn't focus or look at objects or people and I'm beginning to get really worried about this. Both DS1 and DS2 would follow objects by this age, and she doesn't. There have been occasions, I think, where she has smiled when looking at you but can't be sure. She does seem to respond to light, but she tends to keep her head to the right. Just wondering if other babies of the similar age are going through the same thing or if anybody has experienced this?

My dd2 was like this, she didn't focus until 4 mo which is the point at which tests would be done. So your ds has at least another couple of months. We were told to try and stimulate her by holding her near a window where there would be contrasting shadows for her to look at.

My dd1 and ds both were smiling at this point, so I know where you are coming from. Interestingly I had to ffeed both of them but bfed dd2 on demand and I have wondered whether she was too busy looking at the crook of my arm to bother with anything else!

Try providing things in only red, white and black. High contrast is very good for visual development.

Thanks for your replies. Over Christmas it seemed like she (sorry meant to put DD instead of DS) would follow things (ie. turn her head when something moved in front of her), but maybe that was just shadows. It's hard not to let your mind think the worst. She has a black/white/red border in her moses basket at the moment. This morning I was trying to zoom up to her face and she was flinching to that action. She wasn't doing that last night but maybe the light was bad or she was too tired to care.

We did end up being referred to the hospital by our GP at 3 mo and the hospital looked at us like we were mad.

I really wouldn't worry for a while yet, although I know it isn't easy. And I found it hard to gauge what sort of little person she was until she could look at me.

fatbetty - yes its normal as they cannot control the eye controlment till 4m old

fatbetty I think that a mother's instinct should always be treated seriously.

I would take your ds to the gp and tell him/her your concerns, and what you've noticed. I really would. best of luck xx

My mothers' instinct was that dd2 couldn't see. I was wrong.

But if (like me) you need reassuring then ask your GP - I also found my hv very helpful and she kept telling me that dd2 could see.

I think I will go see the GP on Monday just to put my mind at ease. He'll probably look at me like I'm mad but I'll feel better. Thanks for all your comments! I'm glad to hear that I'm not alone out there.

Don't panic if your gp sends you off to the hospital - mine did and it ws too early to be concerned. Also consider seeing two gps - one def. said dd2's eyes were fine - I think with experience they can tell - my hv is also v. good and she knew. One thing that made me worry more is that every baby book says that babies should be focussing/smiling by 8 wks - nowhere did I see the fact that 4 mo is normal and that is what I was told by the eye expert at the hospital. Hope it all goes well. xxx

fatbetty. My DS (7mo) is visually impaired. Was DD checked out carefully by a paediatrician inthe hospital, and at the 6 week check? There are a few things they might be able to see during those checks, or is there anything odd about her eyes, like clouding or a strange shape to any part of them?

Some babies really are slower to get into using visual information, and that's probably what's going on, and her eyesight's fine. Some shut their eyes as they just find it too much at first, others seem better at just ignoring it - so I would guess that's what's going on.

You need to trust your feelings though, and I would insist on a referral to a paediatric opthalmologist (or if there isn't one you can see soon enough, an opthalmologist). There are some conditions they might just have missed and, in the cases of the ones that are treatable, they need to be treated as quickly as possible as it's not just the eyes that need to work for a child to see. The optic nerve and the parts of the brain responsible for processing visual information need stimulation in the first few weeks and months of life or they just won't develop properly later. Also the sooner you are aware of a VI, the more you can do to help stimulate a child's vision, understand more about how to help tham or help them to adapt, and it really makes a difference.

At your DD's age they can only look into her eyes and see if anything looks wrong and run things like blood tests which might point to other conditions.

They wouldn't be able to actually test her eyesight until she's a few months old and able to sit on a knee and choose which direction she looks in - they do a test called 'preferential looking' with babies where they look at a plain grey circle and a stripy circle on a flashcard. The baby automatically looks at the stipes as they're more interesting and the stripes get closer together as each card gets more difficult.

There are also conditions that they wouldn't be able to detect without testing her vision, but the things you are doing to stimulate her vision are the right ones anyway.

DS's condition was obvious at birth, and his problems are more with distance vision, so my experience is diferent to yours. I think your DD sounds like she's probably perfectly OK, but it would be well worth getting your DD checked out just because of all the advantages of knowing about a VI sooner rather than later.

Crimplene, thanks for your message. How did you come to realise that your DS was visually impaired?

Her eyes look fine to me and are of a normal shape. today I've been testing her to see if she'll follow me when I move from side to side in front of her - and she does to a certain extent but doesn't really look directly at me or she could be just following the sound of my voice. Other times she doesn't do anything. Maybe I just need to work more with her on strengthening her vision.

Just for my peace of mind I will try to get a referral like you suggested for a paediatric opthalmologist. If there is something wrong it's better to know sooner rather than later.

I don't really remember if they checked her vision at the 6 week check. I think they just asked me about it and I really hadn't tested it out much.

fatbetty. I've tried to answer you twice and my computer has crashed at the end of a long reply both times so I'll do this as a couple of shorter posts in the hopes of getting to the end.

We suspected that something was wrong when DS was born with a cataract in each eye, but we were told that they wouldn't affect his vision. the cataracts have grown and we only started to understand about his VI a couple of months ago. I would have taken a long time to guess that any of his oddities were anything to do with his eyesight if it hadn't been for the cataracts.

None of them became aparent until a couple of months ago anyway - things like not making eye contact with people further away, not seeming to recognise me when I walk towards him, refusing to be left with me just ont he other side of the room (he stil feels alone), getting upset about bright light.

ctd...

...Different types of VI and kids' personalities tend to lead to lots of different types of behaviours; blind older babies typically freeze when somthing's really interesting to them as they want to concentrate on hearing it - but sighted younger babies often do the same thing as they just feel overwhelmed by sound and pictures and touch sensations of their own movements all at once so they need to shut some of it out. I feel almost certain that this will be what your DD is doing. ctd...

...they should have checked your DD's 'red reflex' before she was discharged from the hospital and written down that it was OK in her red book. The opthalmologist can have a better look into her eyes by putting in eye drops to dilate the pupils (they sting briefly, and then will make her very sesitive to light for hours) to have a better look at the inside of her eye. It's easier to do in young babies as they fight less (they often have to anaesthetise older babies and children for this, so it's another reason why it's worth doing while she's young)...ctd

I'd lay quite a lot of money on your DD's vision being fine, but I hope it goes OK. Feel free to contact me privately if you want - especially if they can't find anything wrong, but you're still worried, I can dig up inforation on various support organisations.

DD1 did not respond to light or appear to watch us at 8 weeks. We saw our GP who was equally concerned especially as she had a difficult birth and there were serious concerns about brain damage. We were referred but within the next fortnight she started to notice things. She is absolutely fine. Your DS is probably fine but just go to your GP for reassurance.