Regular eye exams play an important part in ensuring the health of you and your family. 

What can a doctor of optometry do for my child?

Your doctor of optometry can:

• Diagnose, treat and help prevent diseases and disorders affecting your child’s eye health
• Identify health conditions that are often first detected through an eye exam, 
• Refer your child to specialists and help manage post-eye-surgery health. 

 Why are eye exams for children important?

•  A full eye exam can check your child’s vision and eye health more than a store sight test or a school vision screening.
• Visual abilities play a key role in early development. For example, between ages one and two, it’s important for a child to develop good hand-eye coordination and depth perception. There are activities that can help improve these essential visual skills, such as playing with building blocks or balls of any shape and size.
• Your child may not realize they have a vision problem; they may simply assume everyone sees the way they do.

How many eye exams should my child have?

Doctors of optometry recommend:

• having their first eye exam at six months of age
• a complete optometric eye exam between six and nine months of age
• at least one eye exam between the ages of two and five and yearly after starting school

A doctor of optometry can complete an eye exam even if your child doesn’t know their ABC’s! A doctor of optometry can use shapes, pictures and other child-friendly ways to evaluate vision and eye health.

Infants (six months or younger)

Vision

At birth, your baby can see blurred patterns of light and dark. During their first four months, their vision will extend from an arm’s length to across a room. By their sixth month, your baby will acquire eye movement control and develop hand-eye coordination skills.

Common issues

• Strabismus (crossed eyes) – for the first six months, an infant’s eyes can appear slightly crossed or out of alignment, but if your infant’s eyes appear significantly crossed or remain misaligned after six months of age, contact your doctor of optometry right away. Your child may have strabismus, commonly known as crossed eyes, a condition that can be treated. If detected and treated before eight years of age, it will often resolve completely.

Why eye exams are important at this age

Visual abilities play a key role in early development. Infants should have their first eye exam at six months of age and then every year after that. A doctor of optometry can complete an eye exam even if your child doesn’t know their ABCs! They use shapes, pictures and other child-friendly ways to evaluate vision and eye health.

Preschoolers

Between ages one and two, it’s important for a child to develop good hand-eye coordination and depth perception. There are activities that can help improve these essential visual skills, such as playing with building blocks or balls of any shape and size.

Children at age two enjoy listening to and telling stories. It helps them develop visualization skills and prepares them for learning to read. At this stage of their development, toddlers also like to paint, draw and colour, sort shapes and sizes and fit or assemble pieces. These activities are all integral to their visual development.

A preschooler’s eyes are not ready for prolonged or intense concentration at short distances, but they do enjoy TV. To make TV viewing easier on the eyes, the room should be softly lit, the television placed to avoid glare and the child should sit further away than five times the screen’s width, taking periodic breaks from staring at the screen.

Be alert for symptoms that may indicate your child has a visual problem:

• red, itchy or watering eyes
• sensitivity to light
•  an eye that consistently turns in or out
• squinting, rubbing the eyes, or excessive blinking
• a lack of concentration
• covering or closing one eye
•  irritability or short attention span
• holding objects too close
• avoiding books and television
• visible frustration or grimacing
• headaches

Getting an eye exam is the best way to identify any issues early. If you notice any of these symptoms, book an eye exam with a doctor of optometry.

Your child should have a complete optometric eye exam between six and nine months of age. Children should have at least one eye exam between the ages of two and five and yearly after starting school.