Baby's First Eye Exam in Laramie WY

Even if no obvious vision issues are present, it is recommended to schedule your baby’s first comprehensive eye exam in Laramie WY with a doctor of optometry around six months of age.

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No News is Not Always Good News... It’s Just No News

Signs of vision or eye issues in small children or babies are not always obvious or even noticeable by friends, teachers, or even parents! Kids don’t have enough experience to know what ‘normal vision’ looks like and might be underperforming visually and not even realize it. Even if no vision issues are suspected, it is recommended to schedule your baby’s first comprehensive eye exam with a doctor of optometry before 12 months old. During this exam, the optometrist will check for nearsightedness, farsightedness, and astigmatism, as well as assess eye movement, coordination, and alignment. The overall health of the eyes is assessed, all without any feedback needed from the little patient. Although serious eye health problems are rare, early detection and treatment offer the best outcomes if any issues are found.

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Did You Know?

At birth, infants cannot see as clearly as older children or adults because their eyes and visual system are not yet fully developed. Significant visual improvements occur during the first few months of life. Here are some vision and developmental milestones to look for, keeping in mind that each child is unique and may reach these milestones at different times.

Infants Have Poor Vision... Before birth, the visual system has a huge excess of connections and is lacking some organization. From the first time we open our eyes, our brain begins to sort those connections and develop clearer, more detailed vision. This process happens quickly in those early years and slows down as we grow toward adulthood.

Lazy Eye Is More Than An Eye Turn... The term ‘Lazy Eye’ refers to a condition called Amblyopia; where proper visual development in one or more eyes is prevented or delayed in some way.

Glasses Can Straighten Eyes... Kids normally start out with a small amount of farsightedness which their eyes can easily compensate for by adding a little extra focus with the muscles inside their eyes. If the farsighted demand is too high, this excessive focusing effort will drive the eyes inward and can result in an eye turn. Wearing glasses provides clear vision without the extra focusing effort, allowing the eyes to rest in a more forward-aligned position.

Infants Can Have Wandering Eyes... For the first few months, an infant's eyes might appear uncoordinated or occasionally crossed, which is typically normal. The muscles responsible for alignment and focus are not very accurate at first; their brain is quickly learning how to improve and these seemingly strange eye movements happen less frequently with time and practice.

Color Vision Is Genetic... The parts of the retina that detect color are coded in the DNA; color deficiency will be present even at birth and can even be tested at a young age. This can help parents and school teachers understand the limitations of color deficiency and help the child succeed.

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What is Lazy Eye?

This general term refers to a broad state of underdevelopment in visual processing called Amblyopia. We were born with an excess of neural connections between our eyes and brain; the image on the retina is used by the brain as a guide to organize these connections. This process develops into a visual system capable of seeing fine details, but can result in amblyopia if the retinal image quality is disrupted. There are a few ways this can happen:

Refractive Amblyopia

• Having an uncorrected glasses prescription can result in persistently blurry vision and poor development. Astigmatism causes blur by distorting details and affects the vision at all distances. Far-sightedness is normal for children in small amounts, but when it is uneven or in higher levels it can also create blur at all distances for either both eyes or the eye with the higher prescription. High amounts of near-sightedness can also create problems with visual development, but are much less common.
• What Can Be Done... Wearing glasses full-time with the correct prescription can help get visual development back on track! Sometimes therapy with patching or other activities along with glasses wear is also needed.

Strabismic Amblyopia

• An Eye Turn, or Strabismus, will cause double vision and is very disturbing especially to a developing visual system! A child’s brain will quickly learn to block the input from the turned eye and ignore its development. Eye-muscle coordination can also be affected and limit how well both eyes can ever be used together.
• What Can Be Done... A detailed eye exam can determine the cause for the eye turn and guide the treatment options: An eye turn due to over-focusing through a high farsighted condition can be resolved by wearing the proper glasses, muscle and visual coordination trouble can be improved by vision therapy, and surgical intervention is available if the muscles need repositioning to straighten the eye alignment.

Deprivation Amblyopia

• When the visual image is blocked from reaching the retina, development is severely impacted. Congenital Cataracts are a common cause, but can also happen from scarring or opacity in the cornea; in rare cases it can even be a result of childhood cancer inside the eye!
• What Can Be Done... Immediate intervention is needed to clear the visual pathway of any opacity or obstruction: usually requires surgery for the cataracts, cornea, or internal lesion removal.

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How Parents Can Support Visual Development in Laramie WY

Parents play a crucial role in helping their baby’s vision develop properly. The way infants and children play greatly influences their mental and physical development; play is really just practice after all. Here are some age-appropriate activities that can assist in fostering healthy visual development in kids and infants.

Playing With Hands-On Toys... Hanging toys for infants within arms reach and other loose toys encourage hand-eye coordination as the child processes visual feedback in order to manipulate physical objects and adjust focus to a dynamic visual target.

Avoid Close-Up Screen Time... Prolonged and stationary screen use does not provide adequate stimulus for cognitive and 3-dimensional processing of their environment which is critical at very young ages. This type of activity actually can stimulate detrimental eye growth that leads to severe nearsightedness and increased health risks.

Read Aloud Together... Listening to speech and interacting with physical objects is a great learning environment for very young children; following along in the story and illustrations develops crucial, accurate eye-movement skills and stimulates visual imagination as well as promoting steady control over depth of focus.

Spend Time Outdoors... The feedback between our eyes and body are practiced at their best when interacting with a dynamic and colorful variety of objects’ shapes and textures; what better place for that than the great outdoors. Kids who spend time outdoors are also less likely to progress in their nearsightedness.

Brain Play, Not Just Eye-tertainment... Activities will help children develop strong eyes and minds and bodies when they require active adaptation, application of creativity, and combine visual-motor skills. Staring at videos and looking at flat screens does not provide enriching stimulation for a growing and learning brain.

These activities can help ensure that your child’s visual system develops properly, supporting their overall growth and learning. Regular check-ups with an eye care professional are also important to monitor and address any potential vision issues early on.

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What is InfantSEE®?

InfantSEE®, a public health initiative managed by Optometry Cares - The AOA Foundation, aims to integrate eye and vision care into routine infant wellness care, enhancing children's quality of life. Through this program, AOA member optometrists offer comprehensive eye and vision assessments at no cost for infants aged 6-12 months, regardless of the family's income or insurance status.

While many parents may believe that vision screenings are sufficient, a study funded by the National Eye Institute found that even the most advanced vision screening tools and highly trained screeners miss ONE-THIRD of children with eye or vision disorders. InfantSEE® addresses this gap by providing early intervention with specialized equipment and procedures not typically included in standard vision screenings.

During an InfantSEE® examination, an optometrist will evaluate the infant for significant levels of nearsightedness, farsightedness, or astigmatism, assess eye movement skills, check for eye health issues, and review the patient and family history. Comprehensive eye and vision care at this early stage is crucial for detecting potential problems, ensuring that babies develop the visual skills necessary for their growth and life-long learning.