How can I get my 3 year old to wear his glasses?

amother

Lavender

Tue, Jul 05 2016, 6:03 pm

My 3 year old needs glasses and he refuses to wear them. I put on a strap but he just yanks them off. Does anyone have any tips? Or should I just not push him to wear them? He needs them because his right eye is seeing everything and the left eye needs it, so it's not like he sees better with them, it just helps his left eye. His eye dr made it sound its really important he wears them. Any advice would be so helpful!

greenfire

Tue, Jul 05 2016, 6:13 pm

what ever happened to patching up the good eye to teach the bad eye to work ?

what I can tell you from my own experience is that I suffer today from not wearing my eyeglasses as a kid and not getting it patched ... my amblyopia aka lazy eye might have had some exercise deeming it more functioning ... as an adult it becomes too late to fix

you get him kool eyeglasses ... maybe a few pair so he has FUN wearing them

they also make kool patches nowadays

https://nei.nih.gov/health/amb.....guide

Quote:

Treatment
How is amblyopia treated in children?

Treating amblyopia involves forcing the child to use the eye with weaker vision. There are two common ways to treat amblyopia:

Patching

An adhesive patch is worn over the stronger eye for weeks to months. This therapy forces the child to use the eye with amblyopia. Patching stimulates vision in the weaker eye and helps parts of the brain involved in vision develop more completely.

An NEI-funded study1 showed that patching the unaffected eye of children with moderate amblyopia for two hours daily works as well as patching for six hours daily. Shorter patching time can lead to better compliance with treatment and improved quality of life for children with amblyopia. However, a recent study2 showed that children whose amblyopia persists despite two hours of daily patching may improve if daily patching is extended to 6 hours.

Previously, eye care professionals thought that treating amblyopia would be of little benefit to older children. However, results from a nationwide clinical trial3 showed that many children from ages seven to 17 years old benefited from treatment for amblyopia. This study shows that age alone should not be used as a factor to decide whether or not to treat a child for amblyopia.

Atropine

A drop of a drug called atropine is placed in the stronger eye to temporarily blur vision so that the child will use the eye with amblyopia, especially when focusing on near objects. NEI-supported research4 has shown that atropine eye drops, when placed in the unaffected eye once a day, work as well as eye patching. Atropine eye drops are sometimes easier for parents and children to use.

FranticFrummie

Tue, Jul 05 2016, 6:18 pm

Ask the doctor. I'm sure they've had this problem before.

If the problem is a "lazy eye" (strabismus), you can get him an eye patch for the strong eye, and make it into a pirate game. Get him a plastic sword if you have to. Teach him to say things like "Grrrrr, arrr matey!"

Find him a pirate themed coloring book. You can find them online, or even free printables. Sit and color with him while he wears the patch, so that he will learn to use that eye and work on hand/eye coordination.

Another one is "walking the plank", where you have him walk along the street curb, while holding onto one of your hands for balance. Do this with the patch on, too. Left/right movement helps integrate the brain, improve spatial awareness, and gross motor skills. All of this will come together to help the brain recognize the weak eye, and make the connection stronger.

BTDT.

We had several doctors tell us different things. One doctor said that she wouldn't need surgery, because it's not bad enough. Another gave us tons of patches and told us to do coloring books. Another said to do cross body physical movements. Another said "Just wear the glasses, and she'll grow out of it.

DD is now legally blind in one eye, because she refused to do the patch treatment, no matter how hard we tried. She wears her glasses with no problem, but without them she sees double and gets really dizzy.

I think that we should have fought her harder about the patch. I think we should have gotten a second opinion on the surgery. I think we all hoped for the best, and wanted to think that she'd outgrow it. At her last appointment, we found out that the right eye wasn't seeing anything but light and shadow. Sad

It's not all bad news though. She's dead-on accurate in archery! Shooting Arrow

amother

Red

Tue, Jul 05 2016, 6:32 pm

I'm guessing the opth is trying to prevent amblyopia which OP's ds doesn't yet have although it can develop if the eyesight is not corrected. They use glasses for this, not patching. OP I'd use a timer and bribes. I rarely use bribes for my kids but this is really really important. Start slow, say 15 minutes at a time. Give him a nosh he loves. An hour later do another 15 minutes and every hour after that for the first day or two. Slowly increase the time he needs to keep the glasses on. Expect it to take time, it's ok, but you have to start. My dd got glasses at 10 months old and it was tricky training her to keep them on because I couldn't use incentives. She hated them and after 5 minutes would pull them off. So I kept them on her for just less than the amount of time she would keep them on herself and I took them off before she had a chance to. I waited an hour and put them on again and I took them off before she did. I very slowly increased the amount of time I left them on. It took about a week but it worked. Amblyopia avoided.

amother

Brunette

Tue, Jul 05 2016, 6:36 pm

It sounds like a lazy eye can develop if the glasses aren't worn. Do anything in your power to get her to wear the glasses and she'll eventually adjust to them and want to wear them. Buy special toys/games/videos/nosh for glasses time. It's all cheaper and easier than dealing with a lazy eye down the road. Make the experience as positive and rewarding as possible rather than forceful/punitive.

Stars

Tue, Jul 05 2016, 7:54 pm

Have him increase the time every day, but don't let it take more than a week or two until he is wearing them full time.

I never recommend this, but Screen time works wonders. Also any type of distraction, activities like coloring, play dough, bubbles, pool, bring friends if necessary. Bribing doesn't hold luster for too long. New toys a little longer, but also not much. Keep him very busy.

OP do whatever it takes. He will develop a lazy eye if he doesn't ear the glasses. And then patches are so much harder to deal with.

amother

Salmon

Wed, Jul 06 2016, 3:55 am

Maybe he would respond better without the strap. I used glasses around this age and my glasses were strapless.It was actually a recommendation of the doctor, so it wouldn't feel like a foreign object. My parents allowed me to choose the glasses I liked and they explained the importance to me. I agree that screen time might help, in this situation I would recommend to allow it so he keeps it on. It also helps if someone he admires also wears them, like a cousin or a big brother and that can influence your child.