Baby Blog

I often wonder about my infant son’s eyes, how they develop and how to care for them. So, of course I did a little online research and am sharing my findings with you.

Baby’s eyes take a while to develop which we as parents often observe by the fact they change color. Baby Nik was born with blue eyes; they went green at eight months and now are a nice deep brown like his mommy. At six months, the pediatrician makes sure that the baby can track properly and their eyes are developing correctly.

At about a year, you can take your child to the eye doctors for their first tests. Initial testing may include tracking and gazing tests, finding out if the baby is near or far sighted, checking how the eyes work together as well as establishing the general health of the eye.

There are a number of serious and less serious infections and problems associated with infant eyes or that are noticed when a person is still a baby. One of the most common problems babies deal with is eye infections is conjunctivitis. Often newborns develop this as they pass through the birth canal. Young babies get conjunctivitis from infected adults. This is why anxious new moms always ask people to watch their hands before touching their baby: good advice.

Blocked tear ducts in young babies is a good indication of a lot of eye infections in their future. In serious cases, the eye doctor performs minor surgery to correct the problem. Rare infections include cataracts, drooping eyelids and misalignment of the eyes. These are usually genetic problems or issues related to the mother’s pregnancy.

If your little one does get something in their eye, hold their hands away from their face to prevent them rubbing the eye and perhaps injuring it further. A baby will blink and cry if you do this and this may actually remove the foreign object. If that doesn’t work, use a cotton swab to gently lift the offending item from their eye’s surface. Of course you can always try washing the eye out with a little room temperature water. If all of this doesn’t work, contact your pediatrician and take your baby to the emergency room.

Like anyone, a baby only gets one set of eyes and until they leave your house, those eyes are your responsibility. My goal is to keep a close eye on baby Nik’s eye development. We are hoping to take him to his first eye doctor visit very soon. The idea will be to establish a lifetime of annual checkups and a desire to look after one of our most precious human traits: clear vision.