Glasses on a 2 Year Old

Updated on November 21, 2007
C.I. asks from Cape Coral, FL
12 answers

At my grandson's two year check up, we mentioned that his left eye was turning inward. It got worse when he was tired. He was referred to a pediatric eye doctor. My daughter was informed that he was extremely farsighted. He was then referred to a pediatric specialist. This doctor confirmed the farsightness & prescribed glasses. We spent most of the day trying to find frames small enough for his little head. We finally found a pair at Super Target. Has anyone gone through this with someone so young? Any ideas on HOW to keep the glasses on?? He spends the days with me, & his dad has him every other week-end. The rest of the time is spent with mom. So, we all need to have the same routine.

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So What Happened?

Thank everyone for all your help & wonderful ideas. Austin is doing real good when it comes to keeping the glasses on. He really likes seeing. My bigeest problem now, is keeping them on his tiny little head. We did get the wrap around frames, but the stems are a just a little to long. We bought the strap that holds them on, and had to tie a knot in it. It is still a work in progress, but things are getting easier every day. Thanks again......C. (better known at Grandma)

More Answers

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D.J.

answers from Jacksonville on

I went through the same thing when my daughter was less than two. She didn't like to wear the glasses either until her doctor tried patching the good eye in order to strengthen the bad eye. I had the exact problem when I was very little too and my eye was patched also. I believe that I kept my glasses on though. My daughter realized that she would rather keep her glasses on than have to wear the patch. You can purchase the patches at any drug store and cut them down a bit to fit the eye area better.

When I was working with disabled little ones at a special ed. school I had a few through the years that had to wear glasses, and you can imagine how often they threw their glasses during the day. Their specialists provided straps to wear around the back of the head to keep their glasses on finally after major repairs to their glasses. It worked very well and the kids finally realized that they had to keep the glasses on their faces. Good luck!

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P.M.

answers from Tampa on

Hi C.,
I went thru a very similar thing with my daughter when she was 19 months old. She has the extreme farsightedness and her eyes also tend to move inward. After getting her glasses we went thru a week of struggling to get her to wear her glasses. What I did was sit her in front of the television while in my lap. after she got comfortable and used to seeing the television i put the glasses on her. she fought and fought as did i, but finally she would realize she could see better with them on, so she would relax for a while. after about a week of this she stopped fighting and had no problem wearing them. i hope it doesn't take that long for your grandson to get the hang of it. she is now nearly 8 years old and loves her glasses. don't hesitate to ask if you have any further questions. good luck!
blessings,
P.

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M.B.

answers from Orlando on

Believe it or not, your grandson will want to wear his glasses after he'll figure out that he can see better with them on. My daughter was also 2 years old when she was introduced to her first pair. The pair she wore had bendable arms and it hooked around her little ears comfortably. So they stayed on her through the entire day. As she got older and participated in sports like soccer, she simply attached a cloth like strap to her glasses where they stayed in place. Kids are offered a variety of colors, and scratch resistence lens and bendable frames. My daughter is 11 years old now, and just about every year her prescription changes, I highly recommend Lens Crafter in the future.

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A.F.

answers from Melbourne on

My daughter started wearing eye glasses at 15 months. She had a lazy eye with additional vision problems. Having a young child get use to wearing eye glasses can be a challenge. When she got here 1st pair of eye glasses I brought her a light weight metal frame designed for small children I was back to the place (in NJ) at least 4x in two weeks. They were very kind and understanding and fixed the frame for me each time, but then after not even making it out of the parking lot during a visit...they suggested we try the flexon frames the ear pieces were U shaped and this made it a little harder for her to get the glasses off also the flexon glasses were bendable. The only thing she could break on these was the nose pads and they are inexpensive and easy to replace. The Flexon glasses were much more expensive however they were truly worth the price. Sam's club, Walmart, BJ's, really any eye center carries either the Flexon (name brand version) or a comparable version. My daughter is now 6yrs old and has gone thru 2 eye surgeries, and I still always purchase the bendable eye glass frame for her. Another tip I learned is we purchase a very inexpensive pair of eye glasses which I keep put away as our emergency pair. Since on several occasions we have missed placed her good pair to only be found later in her toy box or under her bed...LOL. As a parent with a young child in I can tell you it is a challenge but this too will pass.

I'm not sure what Ped. Doc. you were referred to but we see Dr. Teather in Melbourne, and have been very happy with our experiences there so far. Dr. Teather's office has an eye glass center attached to it that carries many children's frames. I the place is called "Art for your Face" on Highland ave. in Melbourne.

Best of Luck,

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S.R.

answers from Orlando on

Hello,

My four year old son also wears glasses, we are new to the whole thing, he's been wearing them for about 4 months now. When we started out he thought they were cool, then he would hide them when I was not looking. It was a rough start. We started rewarding him for leaving them on for an hour & not touching them. Then we would make the duration longer, he does much better leaving them on now. He does still try to remove them and has to be reminded, but he no longer hides them. Finding something to make them happy to wear the glasses, to me anyway, is the key. My son actually wears them better if he gets to put them on, makes him think it is his idea instead of feeling like a punishment. My son also has a lazy eye & has to wear an eye patch for 7 hour of the day, we are still working at that one. So I hope all works out for your grandchild.

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K.M.

answers from Jacksonville on

Hi C.,
I had a friend with the same problem with keeping glasses on her very active 2 yr. old son. She eventually found him a sport band that attaches to the arms of the frame and wraps around his head. Of course at first he did not want it on, so when ever he started tugging at the band she would distract him with a game or a song like the itsy-bitsy spider where he had to use his hands and eventually he would forget all about his glasses. Also, another trick is to make a game out of seeing how far he can see with them on like airplanes flying overhead. He is still too young to appreciate his glasses, but slowly and surely and hopefully someday he will . Good Luck!

K.

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B.G.

answers from Ocala on

well my daughter was 4 when she needed glasses but most ped eye dr should have the glasses to fit second they make straps that hug the back of the head and hold the glasses on and just reinforce they need to stay on. he will get used to them eventually just stay on top of him granma :) Another thing we learned from my daughter is often they will treat the stignatism and it throws their balance off our ped told us to tell the eye doc not to treat the stignatism just the vision the other will correct itself over time, it worked she wore her glasses more when her balance wasn't off than when it was the other way around.

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L.C.

answers from Tallahassee on

My daughter was 18 months old when she started wearing glasses to correct for lazy eye. We were able to find frames that had wrap-around arms to them (they hooked behind her ears). Once we put them on her in the morning, she couldn't take them off! And they stayed-put when she played. If you can't find such frames, or if your child can still take them off, constant, gentle reminders to keep them on will work until he's old enough to understand they're necessary to help him see. We also had non-shattering lenses in the event they ended up in some kind of accident. Good luck!

M.S.

answers from Ocala on

Hello C.,

My daughter was 3 when she got glasses. It broke my heart to see her with them on at such a young age. I told her that she needed to be very careful with them and to not hurt them. I told her to make sure that when she wanted to play with her brother that she needed to always put her glasses on the counter when she was playing. She did her best to try to remember what I told her to do. BUT there was several broken pairs of glasses that we have gone through. They are kids ((NOT ROBOTS)). They can not handle the big resonsablity, they are just to little.

All of you need to remember that he is a BOY and he is only two and he CAN NOT UNDERSTAND WHAT THE VALUE OF HIS GLASSES are.
He is only human and he will break them from time to time.

Do not be h*** o* him, if he breaks them.

I wish you all the best with this and be Thankful to the LORD that he only needs glasses and that he does not have anything serious like CANCER or anything else bad.

Glasses are Glasses and he will be fine.

God Bless and have a WONDERFUL THANKSGIVING.

:)

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A.P.

answers from Lakeland on

My daughter has the same eye problems but she did not get diagnosed until age 4. I agree with Anna about the u-shaped ear pieces that will stay on better ana also about the flexon frames. Beware, some eye technicians will tell you that the flexon frames will actually break easier because the metal is thinner but I have found that it is not the case. My daughter is on her third pair and the flexons have been the best so far. good luck keeping them on.

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S.B.

answers from Tallahassee on

That is so weird. I was just told that my son is farsighted and he needs glasses. I starting noticing his right eye was turning in and took him to his ped Dr. They referred us to a eye specialist. He then told us the reason for his eye turning in his b/c he is farsighted and he tries to focus on something so the eye goes in. So we ordered him his glasses through the eye center. I was told they have something to go around a childs head to keep them on. I haven't seen any but I was told so. I am picking up my son's glasses Monday morning so we will see. I am still in shock that an eye doctor can tell a 2 yr old needs glasses b/c of he or she being farsighted!!! Hope this helps.

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T.F.

answers from San Francisco on

Hi, I'm not sure where you live but you could Google Toddler Glasses or phrase like that. You could the chamber of commerce in your area. There are frames that will fit your grandson for sure - even smaller. CAn your specialist refer you to a shop that specializes in children's/toddler frames? I would also call your local hospital or check their website. Good Luck!

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