I have to first say that I am in no way a doctor or an expert in this area, so if you have any question as to if you should have your child seen by a doctor, please do so as soon as possible.

Many other Mommies have been asking me about how I knew when Asher needed glasses, so I thought I’d share my experience.

Asher was born with beautiful blue eyes. They were seemingly perfect and he passed every exam at his pediatrician’s office with flying colors. It wasn’t until his second birthday that I noticed “the turn”. When I would take a picture of Asher, sometimes his right eye would ever so slightly turn inward, or cross. I couldn’t tell if it was an angle thing or if he was tired or what, but something told me to make an appointment with an eye doctor.

New patient exams are always so far off! So in the mean time, what did I do? I Googled….and Doctor Google was not nice. I would highly recommend to take everything you read online with a grain of salt, unless you want to have nightmares about your child needing immediate surgery. It was all I could talk about in those days leading up to our appointment. My poor poor friends. It was always, “Do you see it?” “Tell me I’m crazy” or “Do you think it’s bad?” at playdates. I noticed other kids with glasses everywhere now. What brand were they wearing? How long have they been wearing them? The questions were endless! The appointment day couldn’t come fast enough for this Mama.

I reached out to every friend I could think of whose child wears glasses. I needed some fears to be calmed. I would have never guessed I would have had so many! I am so thankful that one of my friends suggested a group on Facebook for parents of kids with glasses.

It’s a private group called “For Little Eyes – a group for parents of young kids in glasses.”

I have learned so much from these parents! From fit, to brands…..they are super supportive and informative. (I will link the group at the bottom of this page).

Well, the day arrived and I was nervous. I has Asher watch every youtube video possible about “eye doctors”. There are so many cartoons that address a visit to the eye doctor, it’s great! When we arrived, they did a quick eye exam. Since Asher can’t read yet, they used pictures (like the birthday cake) and asked him if he could recognize them from a distance. After that, he had to have his eyes dilated. This was the only part that made me nervous. I did have to hold him down, across my lap. The drops didn’t feel good….I could definitely tell. Once they were in and a few tears were shed, all was well in Asher’s world. We sat for an hour in a dimmed room for the drops to work. I brought his iPad and let him run around a bit back there.

They were then able to do an exam using multiple different machines.He sat in my lap and we all made it as fun as possible. He was a very good patient and even let them blow the spurt of air into his eye!  I just remained upbeat and tried to have as much fun as I could with him.

Come to find out that Asher has something called Esotropia, or an eye turn. His is due to being farsighted. We were prescribed glasses and the doctor was hopeful that with glasses his eye turn would resolve itself. I guess some doctors go straight for surgery. I am so glad ours does not. He said, “If you have a problem with your leg, do you have physical therapy, or cut your leg off?”. Asher’s glasses are his physical therapy. The doctor wanted to see us back for a check in 3 months after he had been wearing his glasses a few months. He said that it might take up to 3 weeks for Asher to accept his glasses and wear them without having a problem. He also mentioned to have him wear them as often as possible, without breaks.

Sooooo we bought glasses at the doctors office and then cancelled our order the next day. They had a small selection and no one was really able to tell us if they fit properly. I chose the only blue pair they had that looked like they could survive a day with my rough and tumble 2 year old. I didn’t love them on him though. The doctors office also doesn’t always tell you things like the fact that your child’s eyes must be centered in the frame. Often times they fit toddlers in glasses that are too big. We went with miraflex and I liked the idea of them, just not the style. They did seem to fit ok. The doctor’s office had us pay close to $400 and yes we had insurance. Once I got home, I had buyers remorse, so I looked online and called to cancel my order with the doctors office. There are quite a few places online we considered buying from. Zennioptical.com, DiscountGlasses.com, Tomatoglasses.com, Amazon.com, JonasPaulEyewear.com and more!!! We went with Discount Glasses because I found a discount code that worked!!! Woot Woot!!! I found Miraflex New Baby glasses in Royal Blue for $100.

It included:

• Lightweight Polycarbonate Lenses
• UV-Protective Coating
• Scratch-Resistant Coating
• Anti-Reflective Coating was $10 more

Our latest appointment was our 3 month check up. It went well and the doctor was happy with Asher’s progress. He did mention that it is now time to begin “eye patching”, where you cover one eye with a patch so the weak eye can become stronger. I hear the dreadful “Dun Dun Dun” music every time I hear the word “patching”. I am so thankful though for our doctor……he told us that the latest research shows that one hour of patching is just as effective as doing 6 hours of patching. I’ve seen many parents in the Facebook group dealing with patching for hours a day…..even full time patching. God bless them. I am just thankful that our doctor had only prescribed an hour a day. He even said to take an old baby sock and cut a hole in it, slide it over the glasses and patch that way. Unfortunately, our socks weren’t small enough and it felt bulky for him. So, off to the store I went! I bought adhesive patches and brought them home. I remembered some of the moms in my FB group would draw pictures on their kids patches so that it made the process more “fun”. So I drew my best dinosaur on the patch. I then printed out pirate coloring pages for Asher to color while he patched. I felt prepared, I felt clever, I felt confident! Asher was excited to be a pirate and color his new pages…..so I put on the patch. There was immediate screams and yanking at the patch. It was hopeless. I took off the patch and noticed that he was bright red on the area the adhesive touched his skin. My kid was allergic to the patches. I even tried to make my own customized patch for his glasses out of crafting foam paper and double sided tape. It looked comfortable. It wasn’t bulky. He hated it and ripped it off in 2 seconds flat. I searched and asked the moms in my group. I finally decided to try a company that makes customized patches for glasses. It’s called Frame Huggers (eyepatchesforglasses.com) and I ordered one! I had to measure his glasses to their specifications and I could even choose a image to put on it…Mario Bros it is. It has been shipped and I’m waiting for it to arrive. I’ll update our experience once it gets here. Fingers crossed!!