19 Month Old with Glasses

Updated on April 12, 2009
A.W. asks from Fuquay Varina, NC
11 answers

About 3 weeks ago I had to get glasses for my 19 month old son and after 2 broken pairs and no interest in keeping them on I am a little frustrated. His vision is really bad and I would think he would enjoy being able to see better but that is apparently not the case. Can anyone please give me some ideas on how to get him to keep them on and leave them on? Any tips, tricks, bribes, anything...I am desperate!
Thanks a million!

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A.J.

answers from Memphis on

Have you tried "croakies?" They look like little spaghetti tubes that hook on to the earpieces. Hope this helps!

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M.M.

answers from Jacksonville on

With a 19 month old you need a pediatric ophthalmologist.

See if you can get a referral to Dr Buckley at the Duke Eye Center.
He did my daughters eye surgeries at 2 and at the time he was also doing a little boy with eye cancer. He was maybe 18 months.
He is very well respected in the eye dr. community. If he can't see you ask his office for a recommendation. There are really no pediatric ophthalmologists around here so you may have to go to Greenville. He was able to recommend a dr for our follow ups and consequent surgeries in CA and VA.
We used the straps that went around my daughter's head, but she is blind without glasses so she pretty much kept them on since she got them.

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S.S.

answers from Raleigh on

this may sound crazy, but try the same tricks you would use for potty training. sit down to a 30 minute dvd. if he makes it through it reward him. take it slow. do not expect him to be able to want to wear them all day. my son has a slight twist in his bones for which he wears a brace only at night. the first night I was lucky to get him in it for 3 hours and had to wait until he fell asleep to even put it on! now he does the entire night and will even hunt his brace up at bedtime because it is routine!

eventually he will learn that glasses have to be on and he will want to see better. just pick a good reward like yogurt raisins or something he doesn't get all the time. it has to be something you can dish out several times a day until he gets it. stickers might work too. good luck and don't stress.

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J.K.

answers from Raleigh on

My daughter got glasses at 2 (she is almost 4 now) and she actually kept them on because she can see better. I talked to many parents and the straps to hold them on his eyes could help (they tie behind the head like a crokie). Maybe just make a big deal about how cool they are...also you may try investing in another pair that may be more comfortable. It could be the fit. Definately keep putting them on and don't give up hope. I would never have known that blindness could result from not helping children with poor vision (especially lazy eye) until I went to the eye doctor. Good luck. It is one of those things as a parent that makes it h*** o* us more than the child. You sound like a good mom.
One more idea I just thought of (if you and your husband do not wear glasses yourselves) is for you to get a pair for you to wear because most kids want to be just like their parents. Even if you got a cheap-o pair of reading glasses from the dollar store. If you wear them then maybe he will. I know the eye doctor told us to wear ours around the house. I wear contacts and glasses and that DID help when I wore mine.

K.C.

answers from Nashville on

A.,
My daughter has been wearing glasses since she was 11 months old. We found a website that sells flexible, comfortable, not to mention adorable glasses for babies and toddlers. They stay on way better than the wire pairs they have at the opthamologist, and they are virtually indestructable (the only thing I have found that can ruin them is a chewing dog :)
Cloe took hers off at first too, and the doc wanted us to put these drops in her eyes that would make her vision even fuzzier unless she was wearing them. After reading the side effects (burning, and redness), we decided against the drops and opted to just stay vigilant about putting them back on her. Eventually she got used to them, and now she asks for them when she wakes up and keeps them on all day.
The name of that website is solobambini.com
They run about 150-200 bucks with lenses and all, and I have to say it is completely worth the money.
Hope this helps you!!
-K.

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L.S.

answers from Lexington on

My 5 year old got glasses last summer and he would only wear the first pair when we read a book. Immediately after we finished, they were off. I took him back to the dr. and she stood by her prescription but referred us to a ped opthamologist. He changed the script quite a bit and he hasn't taken them off since. You might get a second opinion just to be sure.

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E.M.

answers from Louisville on

i have heard the plastic frames are alot more sturdy... thats the only advice i have sorry!

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P.P.

answers from Jacksonville on

My son was around the same age when he got glasses 11 years ago. His first pair had soft plastic that curved around the ears and he had a hard time getting them off. We also had them that had a tight fitting band that fit onto the glasses and around the head to hold them on. Took him a few months to keep them on but just persistance on part of us got him to were it was second nature to have them on. Prayers for you as it is frustrating and also expensive.

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G.M.

answers from Raleigh on

i don't know how to keep them on, but I just got an email that said that the Target stores will be giving away free glasses to kids 12 and under. You need to bring a doctor's prescription to any target that has a vision center. I think they're trying to promote it.

Good luck with the glasses!!!! are they uncomfortable? maybe that's why he's taking them off?

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L.B.

answers from Asheville on

You don't say whether you took your son to a "regular" opthalmologist (spelling??) or one specializing in juveniles. When my grandson, now 6, was 15 months old he was diagnosed by his pediatrician as having poor vision and she recommended my daughter take him to an opthalmologist specializing in juveniles, which she did. He was fitted for glasses, which he took to very well (with the exception of broken pairs, of course). The doctor told my daughter that when my grandson, even at his very young age, realized he could see much better with them than without, he'd wear them, which he always has. SO if you didn't take your son to a juv. specialist, my suggestion is that you do so (yes, changing docs. may be a bit awkward, but in the long run well worth it!!).
When he began to wear glasses, my daughter was fearful that people (in supermarket lines, etc.) would make a big deal about a kid so young wearing them, but that never happened ... he's just a very cute little guy who happens to have glasses on!!
And, by the way, in addition to his vision problem, my grandson, now in first grade, has also been diagnosed with ADHA, which keeps him from focusing well on school and tho he's a very bright little guy, necessitates him being in a classroom with several other kids with similar problems.
Anyway, hope the above has been helpful. L.

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S.T.

answers from Greenville on

I agree with some of the other ladies on here. If you didn’t already make sure you take him to a ped opthmologist. Optomietrist often have the best of intentions but do not always get the script right. My oldest daughter who is now 9 got her first pair of glasses 7 yrs ago. She was 19 mos old. She has very weak eyes. It is not lazy eye b/c both or her eyes are equally bad. She started at a -9 and -9.5 and has since improved very slowly to a -7.5 and -8. When she got her first pair she was amazed that she could see and would not take them off. EVER. She bathed, played, and slept in them. I think it is that her script was dead on. Even when we moved and came up here the opthamologist was amazed at how well the script suited her. He would not have been able to do that with a nonverbal child. I am so thankful. But before we knew she was going to do that the optometrist (the opthamologist didn’t sell glasses). Recommended the flexible glasses. They are very bendable and vertually indestructable she had the same pair for almost 3 yrs. You can bend them all around and they will not break. We also had the ear things that went all the way around her ear. They hook aorund so that it almost hooks under the lobe. Also make sure that they gave you the polycarbonate lenses they are more expensive but sooo light. Lexie's glasses would have been terriblely heavy without that. But I think if he has the right prescription that he will enjoy them. If they are wrong they could be giving him headaches and that would definitely be a reason to want them off. I hope this helps. Please feel free to write back ify ou have any questions. I would love to help. :)

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