Crossing Eyes

My son used to do this and it is a medical condition (at least it was for us). The muscles in his eye weren't strong enough. We took him to several pediatric eye doctors for opinions. We ended up having to do eye patches over his eye (the good eye) for 30 to 45 minutes per day for 12 weeks. I would look into getting her in to see the eye doctor. If it isn't treated when they are young, they will have to have glasses.

If you don't react to her, she will get bored with it and stop doing it. It is just a "new trick" she probably thinks it is funny and is just getting your goat. Nothing to worry about unless she is doing it involuntarily, that is a problem that she would need to see an optometrist for.

Crossing her eyes on purpose is not a problem. In fact when someone has weak muscles crossing their eyes is an exercise to do to strengthen the muscles.

If it makes you uncomfortable, as Mikelle F. suggested, just ignore her and she'll get bored with doing it.

If she is doing it on purpose, it's not a problem. She is only doing it cause it's a new trick and it gets a reaction out of you. If you don't like it, don't react and she'll stop after a while. Then move on to the next thing that will likely drive you bonkers cause that's just what kids do!

If it isn't on purpose, take her to Ped eye DR.

S.

Well... it is fun...?

ikes...my daughter did this at 2 1/2 years old....I got it checked out and the children's eye dr. thought she was having seizures.....NOT....I told my daughter not to do it anymore because I didn't think it was funny, but scary....since then it has stopped and she has never had a seizure in her life! (ps...where we lived at the time, we only had one children's eye specialist..and I had heard after the visit he's not that reliable....and that was from the pediatrician I used to work for.)

Call your eye dr. and see what they reccommend. Doesn't hurt to ask....and it doesn't hurt for your child to see an eye dr....one that is reliable! :-)

Dear J.,
In my opinion, if she's doing it on purpose, it's just something she's figured out how to do and is doing it.
I figured out how to cross my eyes and did it to my mom all the time. I vividly remember her saying..."I hope you know if you do that long enough your eyes will get stuck that way."
Of course they didn't.
I think what you should do is make it fun for your daughter as a test.
Look up.
Look down.
Look to the left.
Look to the right.
Cross your eyes.
Try to roll them around in circles.
It's actually good to exercise your eyes like that.
If your child actually had an eye problem, such as lazy eye, she wouldn't be able to just cross her eyes at will or look up and down.
My step son had lazy eye in one eye and he couldn't move it to save himself. That was a medical issue.

If your daughter is just experimenting you'll know by having her try to roll her eyes all different directions.

Chances are, she's just goofing around and being a little kid and discovered if she crosses her eyes, she sees two of you when she looks at you. The fascination will wear off.

Best wishes.

my daughter would do it on purpose also. Have you noticed that she would do it while watching tv or not doing it for fun? My daughter did, so I took her to the eye dr. she had a "lazy eye". Her brain favored the one eye and left the other with not a lot of strength. She has glasses and needs to wear an eye patch on her strong eye for about 1 hour a day.

I would have her evaluated. All children should have their eyes examined it is one of the five senses and 10% of children go to school being undiagnosed for vision problems thus having learning delays and issues that are sometimes not caught until they are much older. I work in the optical industry and had a girlfriend who's child was crossing eyes it took them well over a year before they finally did something. She had major vision issues and muscle problems. Hopefully she is just doing it for "fun" and to get a "reaction" out of you but if it is really a vision problem the sooner you start helping your child the better.

She is probably enjoying an old skill and might be getting some feedback from Mom. Nothing to worry about. If she is doing this while engaged in normal activity ie eating, walking, playing. Then I would get a eye check up done.