help- dds new glasses!

[drlove8]

DD4 has had a recent appointment at hospital because she has a squint. The very nice consultant told us that her vision is quite bad and sent us off to the optition (spell?) with a prescription for glasses for dd.
we waited a day and then went to pick up dd4`s new glasses.... pink with the hook behind the ear type frames.... supposed to be hard for a little one to take off.
Yeah right ! DD4 had them on for five minutes before she chucked them away! . this happened about 4 times untill she finally lost them in tescos!
Little old lady told dd2 shed handed them into the customer services ....phew !
got them back but, little old lady "forgot" to tell us they had been squashed flat! .
So had to go back to optition and see if dd4 could get another pair.
Found out that the tiny frames that dd4 has (only ones that fit) have been discontinued and optition had to phone round all the stores in a frenzy trying to find some... she manages to track down 2 sets and they are being sent over from edinburgh..(and being kept for dd).
So DD4 will finally get her new glasess next week, but how do i get her to keep them on? any ideas ???

My DD2 was about 3.5-4 when she got her glasses - a day or two of her taking them off and me replacing them about 65,000 times an hour and then she seemed to twig that she could actually see better with them on!

(And that it was no good taking them off as I would just put them straight back on her again )

So it really didn't take long before she realised that she might as well leave them on.

OK we had this BIG TIME. I actually asked the ophthalmologist whether they did a balaclava with slots for lenses. And was somewhat put out when he thought I was joking.

DD1 has some sensory issues which I think mean that she never gets used to the "glasses" sensation. Plus she's got no social processing so no way of persuading her to wear the things. So we always knew this was going to be a nightmare. It was a long long slog, but my plan was to make all "favorite" activities contingent on glasses wearing, just so she associated them with good stuff. Food, bath, telly. No glasses, no food. No glasses, no bath. No glasses, no telly. Every time she hauls the glasses off, I turn the telly off. Say "no glasses, no telly". Pause. Put glasses back on. Say "glasses, telly". Turn telly back on. Repeat until losing the will to live.

Plus I pushed a lot of responsibility down to school and transport - they will let you do all the hard work of acclimatisation, and claim "oh no, we can't possibly keep them on her in school " unless you make it very clear that you can't manage it without them, and her eyesight is in their hands too. We had a section of the home/school diary for glasses compliance which would typically come back with "tried to remove glasses 12 times in 2 hour period". It took a long, long time. But she is much better now.

Coupla other tips - I don't attempt to put the glasses on anywhere I can't afford to lose them. Learned my lesson after she flung them into some nettles at an NT property. Also, I pay the extra for the flex frames even though they are not on the NHS. They won't withstand being stood upon (or run down by the buggy if your LO has an extraordinarily accurate aim in this context but no other ) but everyday abuse is OK and otherwise you are in the menders 3 or 4 times a week.

haha. Like yr balaclava suggestion r3dh3d. Actually lots of good tips there

someone advised me I should tie some ribbon or something round her head. Never tried tbh - bit too strangley for my liking. They DID used to supply some tie thingies for glasses - they'd flex a bit. However - have not managed to get one myself despite much pleading. Prob is for health and saftey reasons

so tips:-
we put glasses on her toys / dolls / us. Made a big thing out of it. Sure this didn't make a jot of difference cos she doesn't really pay attention like this but hey ho we tried Sure it would work with more motivated / attentive child

my dh bought a tiny set of screwdriver thingies from poundshop and became v adept at putting them back together himself for simple stuff - we have a lens that likes to escape but luckily for us this doesn't neccesitate a big mend at the optician

we always get prescription for 2 pairs of glasses at a time (well we do when I go. This concept of ASKING seems to evade dh) If its for high enough prescription they should give you this no problem. But yeah - its not offered so do ask

If yr going somewhere and she's going to be facing away from you and you can't see her very well - just leave them off. Not worth the hassle of scrambling round on the floor / retracing yr footsteps. We do this when I'm using the double buggy and thus I can't see her or if we're on the spare pair option already

r3 i did ask about the flexi frames , ds2 has glasses too and is quite brutal with them(footyplayer)...flexi has saved me from many a repair job with his ....and he's 9 NT.
DD4 is just too small ... her head is 45cm so only the "baby" frames fit her ...and they dont come in flexi....
funny thing is she loves sunglasses...., think shes got a sensory-light issue ...she turns off lamps all the time.
Am loving the balaclava with slots idea - that would be ideal.....she likes hats /pots/potty anything on her head .
lol .
one good thing is her lenses are coated with the scratch resistant thingy so they can just be refited into new frames so we should get them replaced fast.
note - do not wear glasses in tescos/asda/ect.

My daughter got her first page at age 3 and the only way to get her to wear them was to put her on the rocking horse or her little car. We ALWAYS asked for 2 pairs too but she did gradually get better.

My daughter got her's on her second birthday. And yes it was flipping awful to get her to keep them on. I would follow the advice already given about getting two pairs every time you get a new prescription and, well, just persistence - there will be a time when she doesn't take them off, honestly.

Keep congratulating yourself that the squint has been detected early and will be dealt with - it helps when it's difficult!

My ds is 14 and we are still trying to get him to wear his glasses that were issued in June. School and home work together by building up the time he keeps them on for, currently 5 mins twice a day and a reward each time.It took weeks to get him to take them out of the case so 5 minutes seems like a big deal to me anyway. Once he's happy at 5 minutes it will go up quickly but he is still protesting although neither launching nor smashing so definitely moving forwards.

thats good the launching has stopped Asdx2 ! - small steps is always a good thing!
Im stuck in waiting on the optition optisioon glasses people phoning , so i suppose it gives me a chance to mumsnet, paint over the scribbled walls, do housework have quality time with the twins... think calm craft activities - no doubt will end up in more wall art and copious screaming !