How do the optometrist test babies eyesight?
Although infants cannot speak, optometrists have the clinical education, training and experience, as well as the instruments and resources, to provide non-invasive eye and vision assessments for any non-verbal patients such as infants. During the assessment, parents might hold the baby on their laps or on a lap pillow and might also assist by holding targets or toys to hold the baby’s attention. Optometrists will gauge the babies’ comfort levels with specific techniques and adjust them as necessary, but will typically evaluate visual acuity, refraction, motility, alignment, binocularity and overall eye health. These tests will determine signs of strabismus, amblyopia or diseases of the eye. Visual Acuity/Refractive Status Assessments for visual acuity and refraction are largely intended to measure for nearsightedness or farsightedness common risk factors for amblyopia, which develops when an otherwise healthy eye has not received adequate use during early childhood. Nearsightedness or
There are quite a few different tests that can be done to assess a baby’s eyesight. My daughter was tested first at 9 months (because she crossed her eyes), and she’s been wearing glasses since 14 months. For what it’s worth, her ophthalmologist told us that for babies, it’s often as much art as science, and the prescriptions are never quite as exact as they are for adults, though it’s not such a big deal since babies aren’t trying to read small print or anything. Here’s the tests that are done at my daughter’s eye appointments: 1. They dilate her pupils and measure the curvature of the back of her eye. Which gives an indication of the prescription. 2. They have these cards that are long rectangles (probably 2 feet long, by half a foot wide). On one end is a little square with black and white lines. The rest of the card is the shade of grey that’s exactly between the black and the white. They have a whole series of lots of these cards with progressively thinner lines. Ok, so you know h
