Jill N. aka Eye Need Coffee Mommy
On Wednesday, we had the opportunity to take Baby AJ in for his very first eye exam! Both my husband and I learned a lot (did you know baby’s can be born with glaucoma or cataracts?) and I’ll be sharing the experience with you through a two part video series.
According to a recent survey, one in 10 infants in the U.S. have undetected vision problems, ranging from crossed eyes to cancer. While pediatricians provide an important base-level eye screening that is designed to detect gross eye abnormalities, a comprehensive eye assessment by an optometrist is designed to detect much more and is an important part of your well baby care.
An important first step in preparing for your baby’s first eye exam is to identify an eye doctor who specializes in infant exams. VSP makes this very easy for you by allowing for an advanced search of our doctor network.
We took AJ to see our good friend, Dr. Kirschbaum (at Dr. Chan and Moon‘s practice in Grass Valley), who has a child friendly office and a lot of experience with infants. She was gracious enough to let us capture the exam on video and talk through exactly what she was doing and why she was doing it.
AJ was fascinated and engaged throughout the entire appointment (which took approximately 30-40 minutes). Because they do dilate the baby’s eyes (you’ll see how in the video) it is recommended to bring a pair of infant UV sunwear for the ride home or covering the car seat with a blanket to help with the sensitivity to light.
This first video provides a brief overview what you can expect when you take your baby in for an eye exam between 6-9 months of age.
Great video! It’s very helpful for new parents to know how important it is to get their baby’s eyes checked at an early age. Great job, Jill!
Great job Jill! Excellent overview for tentative first-time parents on the importance of early vision exams.
Thank you B!