How to Protect Your Child’s Eye Health and Safety

August 23, 2021

Do you know that August is Children’s Eye Health and Safety Month? An advocacy organization known as Prevent Blindness first designated this eye health and safety awareness month back in 2014. By coincidence, August is the month most kids in the United States go back to school.

 

Keeping Your Child’s Eyes Healthy and Safe

Protecting your child’s eyes and vision requires you to always think ahead. Often, parents and pediatric eye doctors address eye problems when they arise. However, it is always best to anticipate eye conditions before they develop or start presenting symptoms.

 

It is important to understand that kids’ visual development often undergo numerous changes beginning at birth. You and your pediatric eye doctor should monitor each vision milestone as your little one grows from an infant to a toddler to a school-aged child.

 

Visual and eye development does not happen at the same pace for all kids. Fortunately, there are several ways to protect your child’s eye health and safety. Some of the ways to keep your little one’s eye health on target include:

 

Routine Pediatric Eye Exams

You need to take your child to an optometrist or ophthalmologist at least once every two years. This will help you identify and stay on top of any condition that develops in the meantime. Comprehensive eye exams will help your pediatric eye doctor detect and diagnose any possible eye or vision condition.

 

This will help him/her determine the best way to manage or correct the problem. Some of the most common eye and vision problems eye doctors notice in kids include:

 

• Myopia
  
   

• Hyperopia
  
   

• Presbyopia
  
   

• Astigmatism
  
   

• Colorblindness
  
   

• Crossed eyes
  
   

• Drooping eyelid
  
   

• Lazy eye and more
  
   

Feed Them a Balanced Diet

Certain nutrients can be beneficial to your child’s eye health and safety. These include vitamins A, C, and E, omega-3 fatty acids, lutein, and zinc. Ensure your child eats lots of fruits, oily fish, leafy green veggies, and non-meat proteins such as nuts and eggs.

 

Increase Visual Engagement

You need to visually engage your little one as a newborn baby and toddler using high-contrast patterns and colors. You can do this by letting them focus on things or objects around them for a while.

 

Approach such objects from all angles to get them comfortable with a wide field of vision. Games such as patty cake and peekaboo can also help stimulate a baby’s hand-eye coordination in the same way a game of catch can do with toddlers.

 

Watch Out for Warning Signs

You may be able to detect certain eye and/or vision problems if you notice your little one struggling with certain problems. These include frequent eye rubbing, squinting, sensitivity to light, head tilting, poor hand-eye coordination, disinterest in looking at distant objects, and more.

 

Most people are unaware of just how many eye and vision problems there are. Some tend to overlook the most basic ways of protecting their eyes and vision. This is unfortunate. It is important for everyone, especially parents, to learn more about eye health and safety.


 

To learn how to protect your little one’s eye health and safety, visit Family Vision Care Associates at our office in White Plains, New York. You can call 914-359-3300 today to schedule an appointment.