Toddler crossing her eyes frequently - habit or something to worry about?

[LoveBWVVBR]

My toddler has recently started briefly crossing her eyes probably 5-10+ times/day. It's just started happening in the past couple of weeks (that I've noticed, anyways). She's 22 months-old if it matters. Is this a common toddler habit, or should I try to get her in to see her ped. asap?

I wouldn't normally be extremely concerned, but a little 2 year-old boy at our play place recently developed a severe lazy eye out of the blue. It was really quite sudden. His mother told me that the Dr.'s say that the little boy was at high risk for this issue because both parents have quite high vision perscriptions themselves. If the therapies don't work then he is going to need surgery to correct the problem! DH and I also have high contact/glasses perscriptions. Anyways, sorry to be long. I'm just not sure if I should be concerned or if all toddlers do this

 

[The Mystery Machine]

I would get a medical opinion. It could be a host of many things and timely correction is of the essence if it turns out to be something serious.

As far as lazy eye, take a picture and see where the eye is. You can really see lazy eye in a photo.

My dh had lazy eye and has horrible vision now because it was overlooked and not corrected. The window of opportunity for correction is short.

 

[portia9]

You should definitely get her checked-better to be sure.

 

[LoveBWVVBR]

I would get a medical opinion. It could be a host of many things and timely correction is of the essence if it turns out to be something serious.

As far as lazy eye, take a picture and see where the eye is. You can really see lazy eye in a photo.

My dh had lazy eye and has horrible vision now because it was overlooked and not corrected. The window of opportunity for correction is short.

I'll call her ped. today then. He wanted her to start seeing a ped. opthamologist anyways, because DH and I both have lousy vision.

I don't think that DD actually has a lazy eye (yet). Her eye crossing is brief and seems to be fairly random. It's always the right eye, too, which has me worried that it will turn into a lazy eye if not treated promptly. DD's ped. is great, though...I feel very reassured that he'll get her treated asap if it's an issue.

 

[Pixiedust34]

Find a good pediatric eye doctor for a full evaluation. If there is an eye muscle weakness, the sooner it is dealt with the easier it may be to correct the situation.

My ds has a slightly weak left eye muscle and has been seeing a specialist for years. His glasses and some eye exercises have helped him a lot.

 

[linda0706]

That sounds very similar to what happened with my daughter. Turns out she had accomodative estropia. When she concentrated to focus, it would cause the eyes to cross--it wasn't a constant thing, only when she concentrated (even though it was subconciously.)

Ped. opthamologist put her in glasses at around 21 months old. Worked like a charm.

And in case you're wondering how in the world a small child will keep glasses on their head, that's the same thing I asked my doctor..."sure doc, you don't have a toddler, do you?" Doctor said she WILL keep them on because she'll be able to see better & will WANT to keep them on. Doctor was right! By that very same evening she REFUSED to take them off, even for bed. We had to wait until she was asleep & slip them off of her.

Here's another thing I wondered about...how in the world would they do an eye exam on a toddler?? In case you're wondering too, let me tell you, they've got all kinds of tricks. They'll start a movie across the room & watch how the child focuses. They have a little handheld noismaker thingy & will move it around the child's head, watching how the eyes move. All sorts of things. And my doctor gave me a paper at the first appointment showing all the symbols they use on the eye charts (tree, hand, house, cat, etc.) I was instructed to teach them to my daughter so that on her 2nd visit (6 months later) the doctor would be able to better test her vision. It's the kids's version of the Big E chart. Worked like a charm.

Your child might have a totally different issue, but for sure, get her to a pediatric opthamologist. You'll be glad you did.

 

[kellyg403]

I agree with others, a good ped optomologist is in order. My ds 11 had the same problem when focusing, but only his left eye would wander towards the nose. He has been in glasses for sometime now and as another said, there is a small window of opportunity to correct. At age 8 ds's eye would still do this and the dr said that more than likely his will be uncorrectable. However, I have noticed in the last year or so it only happens when he is really tired. His vision in that eye is 20/400 and his right is 20/200. The dr explained that the right eye compensates for the left eye and the brain is only sending messages to his right eye, hence the wandering his left eye does when focusing. There is much more involved but that is the basic idea behind my ds's problem. The eyesight is so poor in one eye, the brain is sending messages to the eye that isn't so bad. My ds was born 3 weeks early, so not really premature but his condition is oftentimes seen in premature infants.

Kelly

 

[DisneyAddict_M]

I would definitely get her checked. My niece started doing that at around 2 years old. She ended up needing glasses.

 

[Mom21]

Definitely get her to a pediatric opthomologist as others have suggested. the window to correct is very short. DD's dr said if not started correcting by age 5, it is almost impossible to correct. Dd started wearing glasses for this at age 4 and by age 9 was out of glasses. A few months ago her dr gave her a clean bill of eye health. It is best to start as soon as possible.

 

[SandrainNC]

My oldest started doing that right after he turned 5 and he had to get glasses. I would definitely get it checked out.

Sandra

 

[LoveBWVVBR]

That sounds very similar to what happened with my daughter. Turns out she had accomodative estropia. When she concentrated to focus, it would cause the eyes to cross--it wasn't a constant thing, only when she concentrated (even though it was subconciously.)

Ped. opthamologist put her in glasses at around 21 months old. Worked like a charm.

And in case you're wondering how in the world a small child will keep glasses on their head, that's the same thing I asked my doctor..."sure doc, you don't have a toddler, do you?" Doctor said she WILL keep them on because she'll be able to see better & will WANT to keep them on. Doctor was right! By that very same evening she REFUSED to take them off, even for bed. We had to wait until she was asleep & slip them off of her.

Here's another thing I wondered about...how in the world would they do an eye exam on a toddler?? In case you're wondering too, let me tell you, they've got all kinds of tricks. They'll start a movie across the room & watch how the child focuses. They have a little handheld noismaker thingy & will move it around the child's head, watching how the eyes move. All sorts of things. And my doctor gave me a paper at the first appointment showing all the symbols they use on the eye charts (tree, hand, house, cat, etc.) I was instructed to teach them to my daughter so that on her 2nd visit (6 months later) the doctor would be able to better test her vision. It's the kids's version of the Big E chart. Worked like a charm.

Your child might have a totally different issue, but for sure, get her to a pediatric opthamologist. You'll be glad you did.

Thank you for this explanation! I'll admit that I told DD's ped. that he was nuts to think that DD would sit for an eye exam at 1 year-old last year (he wanted to refer her since DH and I both have bad vision). He told me that they have all kinds of tricks, but my DD is "high needs" so I was still so wary of having a nightmare appt. Trust me, the 1st year dental appt was the stuff that nightmares are made of I didn't want a repeat of that. It sounds like they make the appt. fun for the child, though!

We are seeing DD's ped. tomorrow morning. I will update as to what he says. Chances are he will refer her out to the ped. opthamologist asap, but I did want to start with him since I trust him so much.

Oh, and it would certainly be interesting to try to keep glasses on DD. Maybe she will keep them on because she can see better, but probably not. She won't keep sunglasses on for anything, and we live in FL so it's so bright here most of the time

 

[DisneyAddict_M]

Thank you for this explanation! I'll admit that I told DD's ped. that he was nuts to think that DD would sit for an eye exam at 1 year-old last year (he wanted to refer her since DH and I both have bad vision). He told me that they have all kinds of tricks, but my DD is "high needs" so I was still so wary of having a nightmare appt. Trust me, the 1st year dental appt was the stuff that nightmares are made of I didn't want a repeat of that. It sounds like they make the appt. fun for the child, though!

We are seeing DD's ped. tomorrow morning. I will update as to what he says. Chances are he will refer her out to the ped. opthamologist asap, but I did want to start with him since I trust him so much.

Oh, and it would certainly be interesting to try to keep glasses on DD. Maybe she will keep them on because she can see better, but probably not. She won't keep sunglasses on for anything, and we live in FL so it's so bright here most of the time

They have glasses for kids that sort of wrap around the ears and are hard to get off. My niece had those when she was younger. Surprisingly, she kept them on most of the time...and she hated wearing sunglasses too.

 

[linda0706]

Thank you for this explanation! I'll admit that I told DD's ped. that he was nuts to think that DD would sit for an eye exam at 1 year-old last year (he wanted to refer her since DH and I both have bad vision). He told me that they have all kinds of tricks, but my DD is "high needs" so I was still so wary of having a nightmare appt. Trust me, the 1st year dental appt was the stuff that nightmares are made of I didn't want a repeat of that. It sounds like they make the appt. fun for the child, though!



Oh, and it would certainly be interesting to try to keep glasses on DD. Maybe she will keep them on because she can see better, but probably not. She won't keep sunglasses on for anything, and we live in FL so it's so bright here most of the time

I forgot to say that during my DD's appointment they had me sit in the chair & hold her on my lap. The appointment was really quite painless for us.

I know what you mean about keeping the glasses on...I REALLY TRULY did not believe my daughter would either. You'll be surprised!

Good luck. I hope all turns out well for you.

 

[LoveBWVVBR]

I hope that we don't have to wait too long to see the opthamologist. DD was just crossing her eyes again while I was giving her a snack. I'm now convinced that this is something involuntary, since it's happening so randomly. I'm soooo afraid that she's going to develop a lazy eye like the little boy in her music class. His parents are having a heck of a time trying to get him to do all of the therapies, and he may end up needing surgery anyways. I have started noticing that it is predominantly her right eye that keeps going in towards her nose. I'll post back about what her ped. says tomorrow.

 

[BuckyFan04]

I got glasses when I was 18 months old. Either the doctor or my parents noticed that my left eye was weak and turning inwards, and they took action right away to correct it. I still have glasses (astigmatism, nearsightedness), but I don't have a lazy eye. My left eye will, however, still turn in very slightly sometimes when I'm tired, but I can correct it by blinking or refocusing my eyes on something.

 

[DisneyTeacher]

My son starting crossing his eye/eyes just before he turned 3. I wasn't worried, I thought it was just a lazy eye and thought we would go to an eye doctor and do a few little activities each day and he would be fine once we got the muscles a little stronger. Nope, he had very poor vision, close to 20/800 in both eyes. We had NO idea, he acted like he could see just fine--he knew his letters and numbers and could read them written on paper.

My DH and I both have very good vision so finding out my son had such poor vision was a real surprise. We messed around with a local doctor for about 2 years before moving on to a Ped. eye doctor. We were lucky and found a great doctor the second time. My son had eye muscle surgery at age 5 and his muscles are fine now. It didnt help the poor vision but his eye are very straight now. Ask around and find a good doctor. We have to drive over 2 hours to get to my son's eye doctor but it's worth it.

 

[Tosca83]

I hope that we don't have to wait too long to see the opthamologist. DD was just crossing her eyes again while I was giving her a snack. I'm now convinced that this is something involuntary, since it's happening so randomly. I'm soooo afraid that she's going to develop a lazy eye like the little boy in her music class. His parents are having a heck of a time trying to get him to do all of the therapies, and he may end up needing surgery anyways. I have started noticing that it is predominantly her right eye that keeps going in towards her nose. I'll post back about what her ped. says tomorrow.

What happened? My 2.5 yo is doing similar and it's worrisome. :/

 

[CarolAnn856]

What happened? My 2.5 yo is doing similar and it's worrisome. :/

You may not have realized it, but this thread is 10 years old. Taking a quick peek at the OP's profile, she is still active on the Dis, but most of her recent posts seem to be on the Budget Board. Hopefully she'll see this.

In the meantime, please call your child's doctor and make an appointment. Good luck!

 

[mjkacmom]

What happened? My 2.5 yo is doing similar and it's worrisome. :/

This is an old thread, but my dd16 had this issue at 2. We patched her for a year (which she hated and it didn't work). Had surgery at 3, no issues since. Do not hold off on seeing a doctor, it can result in permanent vision loss.

 

[Tosca83]

You may not have realized it, but this thread is 10 years old. Taking a quick peek at the OP's profile, she is still active on the Dis, but most of her recent posts seem to be on the Budget Board. Hopefully she'll see this.

In the meantime, please call your child's doctor and make an appointment. Good luck!

We do have an appointment already set up. She actually had already been seen by a pedi ophthalmologist, right before this started, so it's really freaking me out a bit. I did see it was 10 years old, but I was curious as to the outcome. Thanks!