Note, these are various symptoms of visual disturbances in babies

Visual disturbances in babies can have a negative impact on the overall development of the child. Therefore, it is very important for parents to detect visual disturbances in babies early so that further treatment can be done. What are the symptoms of visual disturbances in babies? The following is the review.

What causes vision problems in babies?

Until the age of 6 months, the baby's vision is still blurry. After 6 months of age, babies begin to learn to coordinate their eyes to see so that their vision will develop rapidly. However, sometimes this does not happen because of a disturbance in the baby's vision.

There are several things that can be the cause of visual disturbances in babies, including refractive disorders (minus eye and plus eye) which is the most common cause in children. Besides that it can also be caused by:

Amblyopia - poor vision in one eye that causes it to be "unused", also known as "lazy eye".
Infantile cataract - a cataract that occurs in infants that is usually the result of a congenital abnormality.
Retinopathy of prematurity - eye disease that usually occurs in babies born prematurely.
Strabismus - crossed eyes.

Signs that the baby has a vision problem

Babies who have vision problems at certain ages will show several symptoms. Infants with visual impairments on 3 months of age can exhibit the following symptoms:

Cannot follow objects with their eyes
Inability to be aware of hand movements (at 2 months of age)
Has difficulty moving one or both eyeballs in all directions
The eyes often become squinted

While on 6 months of age, the baby may show the following symptoms:

One eye or both eyes cross most of the time
The eyes become watery frequently
Do not follow objects that are at close range (approximately 30 cm) or distant objects (approximately 2 meters) with both eyes

In addition, you also have to pay attention to some important things that are signs of abnormalities in the child's eyes that may interfere with their vision, such as:

The center of the eye which should be black (pupil) turns out to be white or there is a white shadow in the middle of the eyeball.
The eyelids that are not open or partially open can cover the baby's view.
Crossed eyes, can be caused by amblyopia (lazy eye) or abnormalities in the eye movement muscles (extraocular muscle).

If you find these signs in your child, do not hesitate to take your child to a pediatrician for examination. If the pediatrician finds a problem, there is the possibility that he will be referred to an ophthalmologist.

Remember, your role as a parent is very vital to detect these disorders. The sooner you detect abnormalities in your child's eyes, the better the treatment that will be given later so that the child's growth and development is not disturbed.