Natalie needs glasses

So we went to the opthalmologist yesterday for a follow up from Natalie's strabismus surgery (both eyes) in September and she's doing great, no turning in of either eye!! But she is near sighted in her right eye. So the Opth. is going to put here in glasses. He mentioned that the glasses in this case sometimes don't do the trick and we made need to patch. So I'm wondering how you get a very active 3 yr old to wear glasses? Add to that the fact that Brooke will not be wearing glasses? The girls just turned 3 on 4/21? He said he would like her to wear them "most" of the time. I wasn't too excited to hear, but we've rolled with everything that's been thrown at us with Natalie that this is nothing compared to what we've been thru. My dh is taking tis a little harding and goes back to memories of when he was a kid and the teasing that would happen (especially b/c his sister wore big coke bottle glasses). I told him that alot of kids now wear glasses at a young age. He told me I'm going to have to home school the girls (he was half joking)! I think he's being a little dramatic. The girls have something called Beckwith Wiedemann Syndrome and are on the large size for their age. Natalie is 43lbs and 42 inches tall and Brooke is 37lbs and 41 inches tall. Natalie had surgery for tongue reduction (part of the syndrome) and has speech issues because of it. They are more likely to cancer, but otherwise totally fine! DH is very sensitive to all this which is I think going to put him in a midlife crisis. I sort of went off on a tangent there so thanks for reading if you got this far!!!

Kim

 

I'll be interested in the replies, because I am fairly certain Alisha needs glasses and will get them at 3 (or so we were told by the opthamologist who we took her to at 3 months and at 1 yr). The one thing is that I think it will initially be kind of fun for her, especially if they are pretty pink glasses! she loves wearing her sunglasses. i'm mostly worried about 1) her keeping them on all the time and 2) her throwing them around and breaking them. good luck!

 

" My dh is taking tis a little harding and goes back to memories of when he was a kid and the teasing that would happen (especially b/c his sister wore big coke bottle glasses"

Times have definately changed as far as glasses are concerned! Glasses are so much cuter now! My oldest is 14 and just got glasses to use at school... she loves them and was very excited about it! They are "the cutest glasses EVER!" So as for your daughter... your problem might end up being the other daughter wanting glasses, too! I would pick her up a non-prescription pair from Claire's if she feels left out! Can she help pick out the frames? Maybe if she helps pick them she will want to wear them more?

Good luck!

By the way... I'm from the Chicago suburb area, too!

Helen

 

My oldest DS got glasses at 3yo. I remember asking the opthamologist how to get him to wear them and she looked at me like I was insane and told me "tell him to wear them" :huh: Well, I did and he did! She may surprise you. Especially if they are actually helping her. I remember driving home after getting the glasses and watching him in the rear view mirror and he was just staring out his window, watching everything going by and when we came to a stop light he said "look Mommy, those trees have leaves!" Absolutely broke my heart to think of all he hadn't seen but I'm so thankful I went with my gut and scheduled him to be checked by the opthamologist.

He has never complained about wearing them and I've heard a few kids over the years ask him why he has glasses and he's very confidently said "because they help me see better! in a "like duh!" kind of tone. He did just ask me about 6mo ago for the first time if "when I'm a grown-up will I have to wear glasses still?" to which considering what his eye issues are the answer had to be "yes" and he frowned a little and said "well, they do help me see better" and that was that.

Good luck! She may surprise you!!

 

Both of my older kids got glasses right after their 3rd birthdays. We had no problem getting them to wear glasses. Like the PP said, they were just so excited to see all of the little details they never wanted to take them off. They even tried to sleep in them.

Now your other daughter may start asking to wear glasses as well. The can get jealous! The other kids at school don't really make fun of kids with glasses anymore, at least none that we've run into. We've had a few ask why they have to wear glasses and we just explain they need them to see things clearly and the other kids go, oh okay.

At that age the best glasses we found were the blue's clues and nick jr glasses (they even carry them at walmart) but they were small enough for their faces and still looked really cute. Now that they are older the best glasses deal I've found out there is at Eyemasters (do they have one near you?) They have a a special for kids where you get two pairs for $99. Even with complicated high prescriptions. My kids have +9 (super thick) lenses and we don't have to pay any extra. I was paying $400 for one pair before I found eye masters. HTH!

 

Patrick had the surgery and glasses at 3 yrs old too. I had no problems, I hyped it up like it was something terrific that he was getting them and he was so excited. He just left them on. That isn't to say we haven't had to replace broken ones every once in awhile...they are still young, active kids but good luck to you!

 

My oldest started wearing glasses at 3 as well. I think it was way harder on me than it was on her. I had tears in my eyes all the way home but, you know, she put them on, didn't complain, and I never even had to remind her or anything. She is 12 now & has just now started asking for contacts (which we got for her this week). Up until this year, wearing glasses didn't bother her at all.

Now, the patching was another thing entirely. We went through that for quite awhile & she HATED it, but hopefully it won't come to that for your daughter.

 

My DS started patching at 3 and 4 mo and then started wearing glasses at 3.5. Honestly I had no problems getting him to wear glasses. Both DH and I wear glasses and I only wear contacts about 1/2 the time so it wasn't a big deal for him to wear them. He has one eye that turns in and the glasses help him his eyes to work together. The glasses don't really help him see better so initially he wasn't too keen on them because they didn't really help him see better. However I have talked to a lot of parents whose kids happily wear glasses because they can see so much better. However he is a boy and I have had the glasses adjusted many times the lenses are scratched and so on. When shopping ask about warrenty and if it is full replacement no matter what and for how long. Some glasses are one year and some are 2 years. Also for us a glasses clip for sunglasses was important to me, and I had them custom make that for an additional $95. He had 18 kids in his preschool class and 4 including him wear glasses. It's pretty common and they adapt to it. Just be firm with the rules and consistent and she will keep them on. In fact my other one is a bit jealous he doesn't have glasses.


Now patching we have a lot of trouble with. We are supposed to patch for 2 hr/day and I struggle with that. He is supposed to do it when he is watching TV, or colouring, playing play doh and activities where he has to focus a lot. I struggle to get him to do this. We are now after 8 mo finally at the point where if he is watching TV or playing on the computer that he will willingly wear it. As soon as those activities are done that patch is off.