When do they get an exam?

My babies were born at 37 weeks which most consider full-term. They've never had their eyes checked.
When do babies get their first eye exam?

 

You can go through the infantSEE.org program if they are under a year and their exam is free, which we did because my DH has a genetic eye disease. Otherwise, I believe it is around 3 or 4 just before they would start preschool.

 

Ask your pedi for a recommendation to a pediatric opthamologist.

ETA: Oops- I just reread your post- its been a long day. Hmm when? I don't know. Mine were preemie so they went a couple of times that first year.

 

I have an appointment for Mark next week, and I took Eli and 6 months because his eyes looked crossed in some pictures I took of him. When I took him in, they said he's near sided, and they asked that I bring in Mark since they are twins.

Personally, I would have waited until they were 2 or 3 years old unless 1)I saw signs of a vision problem and2) They had no history of vision problems in their family. Unfortunately, my DH is so freaking near sided that he's can't see past the length of his arm; my father's side is also pretty bad, so I figured I would get an assessment now. I'm extra conscious about eye issues given the family history of near-sidedness. I've also had a friend who was born with cataracts, and another friend whose child was born with detached retinas, so I'm a little paranoid.

 

My boys were also full term. I have HORRIBLE eyes (astigmatism, lazy eye, legally blind without glasses/contacts, etc) & have had glasses since I was 18 mos old. That being said, I've watched my duo VERY closely.

When Aiden started showing some signs of a lazy eye, I had him checked by our Ped. He recommended he be seen by a Pediatric Opthamologist, so we used the Infantsee program (only to find out later that an eye exam was covered by my insurance through OUR providers...check that out!). He had a mild lazy eye & was either near or far sighted (I forget), but nothing to 'correct' at that point. He recommended yearly eye exams & that Conner come in yearly (starting at 2 since he's not showing any problems), because they're twins & because of my family history (my dad also has horrible eyes).

So, at 2, I will take both boys in. I think, otherwise, they don't get screened til preschool or kindergarten. I'd just hate for my kids to be undiagnosed before then. As a side note, though, my brother & SIL have decent eyes, but my niece got glasses at 20 mos, so family history isn't always a key factor!

 

Ours were also full term (38 weeks) and we will probably get them screened at 2. I used to have great eyesight and now need glasses for night time driving. My mom is almost blind in one eye and DH has terrible vision, I would like to nip any eye problems in the bud early if they are there. Both my mom & DH's vision issues are from it being untreated for so long. (Neither of them wore glasses until they hit adulthood and they needed them from childhood).

 

My oldest DD is almost 6 and has never seen an opthamologist. She has been screened at her pedi at her 5 year check-up I believe. I took Mal to see one because she had clogged tear ducts. I asked the opth. if she needed to see Sam and she said not unless they were preemies or I had concerns. She said around 2 is when most kids have their eyes checked but it's not necessary.

 

I heard about InfantSEE here, so I took my twins to be screened just before they turned 1. It's a free service. We found out that both are fine right now, but Kevan has more likelihood of needing glasses earlier than Karina.

But, my older DD didn't have a real vision screening until her 5-year well visit this year, standard at our ped's office. She was 20/20 in one eye, and 20/40 in the other, so they referred us to the opthamologist. Turned out that was inaccurate -- it was actually 20/20 and 20/30, and she has a touch of astigmatism in one eye.