Strabismus or “Lazy Eye” (Emma has it)

Yesterday was Emmas 2-year doctor appointment. You know, the one where they ask you to fill out a huge questionnaire on your childs development? Emma is doing very well and hasnt given me anything to worry about for the most part in fact, she has been ahead in many areas including being able to count to 20 and swing on a big kid swing all by herself. Shes strong and isnt afraid to do anything. A blessing, but I do have to watch her like a hawk! 🙂

There was one little thing that gave me a mild cause for worry, something I was hoping would simply go away on its own but hasnt yet. I noticed that when Emma was feeling tired one of her eyes would kind of turn inward a bit. My husband and I thought maybe she was doing it on purpose, like trying to cross her eyes or something, because it would go back to normal after a few seconds. It looked like she was staring into space and then snapped back to reality. I thought I should mention this to her pediatrician just in case, and Im glad I did because she knew exactly what it was.

Strabismus

It scared me at first of course I dont want my daughter to have any conditions with a forboding name like that! But its basically lazy eye or the muscles of that eye being weaker. I dont know the cause, but I was told that if it went untreated it wouldnt be fixable, so it was good that I told her early. Weve been referred to an eye doctor and there are ways to treat this that include eye exercises and having her wear a patch over her good eye a couple hours a day. The patch sounds doable to me trying to get my 2-year-old to cooperate at an eye appointment is not something I look forward to, though.

Oh, and I also found out that my mom has a lazy eye, and I read that this is something that runs in families. The eye doctor told her that it is something that could have been treated when she was younger but not now. Ive never noticed it so it cant have been too severe, though. Like with Emma, it must only happen intermittently.

Have any of your children ever had this?

Im wondering about TV and if it could make it worse right now. Its something Im going to ask the eye doctor and Ill definitely be limiting television. I was already doing so anyway, but now I have a really good reason to keep her away from it.

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