If you wear glasses or contact lenses, you know just how frustrating it can be to go without them for even a short time. It must be even more stressful for a young child (even a baby) who wants to interact with the world, but can’t see well. Doctors recommend that all children have their eyes checked at six months, age 3 or 4, and then every year by the pediatrician thereafter.

Here are some signs that your child might need glasses.

1. Frequent squinting or closing one eye – You’ll usually notice this when they are trying to read something or focus on something in particular. Their eyes will slightly narrow. If one eye is stronger than the other, you might see him or her close the weak eye.

2. Bringing things close to their face – Have you seen your child reading or coloring with the book or paper right up to their face? Some kids will bring their heads down close to the table as well.

3. Lots of eye rubbing – Straining one’s eyes all day long is exhausting. People who need glasses tend to rub their eyes to relax them.

4. Frequent headaches – When the eyes struggle to see and the brain struggles to perceive, headaches are possible. If your child seems to be having unexplained headaches, or headaches that occur after reading or focusing far away, they might need glasses.

5. Inability to read the board in class – This is often the symptom that leads many parents to getting their child checked. Either their son or daughter will complain that they can’t see or their grades will start to suffer. Observant teachers will sometimes let a parent know there might be an issue.

6. Trouble keeping eye contact – This mostly applies to babies. If by three months your child can’t make eye contact for more than a second or two, he or she might be having trouble seeing you.

7. Trouble following moving objects – Again, this mostly applies to babies. Your child might have trouble following an object that’s moving nearby. You can test this by getting his or her attention and slowly walking, or gently roll a toy past.

8. Head tilting – Tilting can be a sign of a muscle imbalance or strabismus, resulting in double vision when they look in a particular direction. To stop this, they’ll tilt their head.

9. Sitting too close to the TV – Like the classroom chalkboard, your first sign that your child needs vision help will be them sitting very close to the television.

10. Losing place while reading – Skipping lines or (worse) losing place in the middle of a line is another symptom of vision problems. To combat this, you might see your child using a finger to mark his place while reading. 

Written by Alicia Overby - Founder & President of Baby Elephant Ears

Alicia is wife, mother, and creator of Baby Elephant Ears. Baby Elephant Ears was created out of parental concern, not financial desire. In 2005, when their second child was an infant, he cried all the time and just couldn't seem to get comfortable.

After seeking advice and suggestion from the medical community and alternative medicine, they eventually ended up in the chiropractors office where their baby was successfully treated for asubluxation, discomfort most likely the result of the strain during labor, which was now being exacerbated by the normal lack of infant neck strength. Only proper neck, head, and back alignment would offer him relief. When they couldn't find a product to give their baby the necessary support, Alicia took matters into her own hands and crafted her own infant support pillow. The first Baby Elephant Ears was born!

For more information, visit www.babyelephantears.com.

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