Two year old cross eyes

[TontoM]

Hi All,

To begin with I’m making a GP appointment tomorrow so I know seek medical advice, what I’m seeking is anecdotal and personal experiences.

My 2 1/2 year old has started going cross eyed. He doesn’t it intermittently but more so the last few days. Is it possible he’s doing it on purpose and thinks it’s funny, or is it as I’ve read a sign that he may need glasses? Has anyone had this happen and it’s just their kid messing around?
Thanks

I’d go to optician rather than GP, ours were able to do a quick check for anything serious & refer straight to ophthalmology where a few weeks later they found she did indeed need glasses.

It sounds like a squint. My now 13 year old had this. She had regular appointments at an eye clinic and learned to control her eyes pretty well. We were offered surgery but as she grew up the squint was hardly noticeable. After 11 we were told it wouldn't get any worse and it hasn't.
Your dcs problem may be completely different but this was our experience

We were referred by the HV straight to optometrist. Didn't see the gp at all

My child had this at this age, needed glasses and to wear a patch each day for a few hours- still needs glasses but the squint is corrected

I had that at 2.5yrs too, and needed glasses . That was the first since mum noticed . I’d go to the opticians rather than GP . Atb x

My son suddenly got a squint over a few weeks when he was 5. It was so sudden that I thought he was doing it on purpose. We went to the optician and got referred to Moorfields. He had surgery on both eyes to correct the squint when he was just short of 6 years old. The doctors said he'd probably always had an unnoticeable squint from birth and it had suddenly got worse.

He's now 15 and it's never come back, but the doctors at the time said that it could come back one day.

Thanks all

My young son suddenly developed this eye crossing as well. Went to the optician, who diagnosed Strabismus in one eye. The muscles holding the eye were not strong enough on one side, so pulling the eye over, hence the cross eyed appearance.
Started with glasses, but it didn’t correct the problem. Ended up having surgery on both eyes, as it was too much to correct on one eye. Surgery was 30 minutes under general. Eyes were straight immediately.
Discovered during this process, that if the eyes cross, the brain is receiving 2 overlapping images, so it learns to ignore the information from one eye and just uses the info from the other. This means that they can’t see in 3D, only 2d, which impacts on their ability to catch, kick, etc.
He now has to wear a patch over the stronger eye for 2 hours a day to improve his 3D vision back to 20:20.

Agree with others to go to the Opticians - they can refer to Optometry dept at hospital if needed.

My 3 year old was referred for a squint and it turns out she has pretty bad sight but thankfully it's balanced across both eyes so is corrected with glasses.

I had a squint that wasn't caught quick enough and I have been pretty much blind in one eye as a result as my brain just stopped taking signals from my poorer eye, grew up wearing eye patches and glasses but nothing has helped. As pp says it has impacted on my depth perception, spacial awareness, I can't see 3d and have poor hand-eye coordination as a result.

It isn't noticeable at all when I have glasses on but turns in a fair bit when I'm tired ir pissed.