Taking care of children encompasses many things, from physical health to mental and emotional well-being.
When it comes to physical health, it’s essential to ensure that your little ones have healthy eyes.
Before children learn to talk, they use their vision and hearing senses to understand their surroundings.
However, unfortunately, nearly 450 million children in the world suffer from different eye problems that require immediate treatment.
In this article, you will find useful tips and tricks to help you care for your child’s eye health.
1. Research and plan a healthy diet for them
One of the simplest ways your child’s eyes can become much healthier is by providing a nutritional diet and plenty of water.
Food items like fresh fruits or vegetables help the rods and cones of the eyes to work properly and prevent many conditions.
Moreover, you can always study the risks of children’s eye issues such as myopia in children. Look up resources and learn about the experience of other parents with vision-impaired kids.
This will help you know what kind of food is important to deal with such possibilities or how to prevent them.
But for basics, prioritize dishes containing vitamin A, namely leafy and yellow vegetables.
Eggs also promote healthy eyes, containing vitamin A, lutein, zinc, and zeaxanthin.
As for water, children must drink at least 6-8 glasses of water a day to maintain optimal hydration.
2. Encourage eye protection
Another simple hack you can try is encouraging your children to protect or cover their eyes whenever they go out in the harsh sunlight.
Kids often engage in various outdoor activities like soccer or bicycling. So it is possible that they can fall and hurt their eyes, or a dirt particle can enter.
Therefore, if they regularly play outdoors, it’s a good idea to make them wear safety helmets and goggles.
Purchase good-quality UV sunglasses to shield their eyes from harmful rays and ask them not to look directly at the sun for too long.
3. Limit screen time
Children today have an unhealthy addiction to smartphones and tablets. They spend hours every day looking at social media and cartoons.
This can damage their eyes and lead to an unhealthy mind and body. Limiting your children’s screen time is an effective way to make their eyes healthier.
The blue light emitted from electronic gadgets can cause eye defects like blurriness or strain on the eyes. This can further lead to diseases like migraine attacks.
For starters, make it a rule that nobody in the family is allowed to use these devices at least an hour before and after bedtime.
4. Make them attend eye exams
You may not notice it right away, but there are several warning signs that your children will show, indicating an eye problem.
Some of the most common ones are red and itchy eyes, watering of the eyes, and frequent headaches.
To prevent these symptoms from getting worse or from occurring in the first place, see an ophthalmologist to diagnose your children’s eye conditions.
Ophthalmologists can diagnose if children have nearsightedness (myopia), farsightedness (hyperopia), or astigmatism through visual acuity testing using eyecharts. Blurred vision is one of astigmatism’s most common symptoms of astigmatism. Objects may appear stretched out or distorted. Learn more about managing astigmatism here.
Ophthalmologists assess how well a child’s eyes work together and their ability to follow objects with both eyes. This evaluation helps detect strabismus (crossed or misaligned eyes) and amblyopia (lazy eye). They also assess how well a child’s eyes work together and their ability to follow objects with both eyes. This evaluation helps detect strabismus (crossed or misaligned eyes) and amblyopia (lazy eye). By using a phoropter or autorefractor, ophthalmologists can measure the eye’s refractive error, which requires corrective glasses or contact lenses.
The doctor will examine the pupils’ size, shape, and reaction, which can provide valuable information about neurological health and potential eye diseases. Color vision tests assess their ability to distinguish between different colors, which can be impaired in color blindness.
In some cases, ophthalmologists may temporarily use eye drops to paralyze the eye’s focusing muscles (cycloplegia). This allows for a more accurate measurement of refractive errors, especially in children with difficulty cooperating during a standard refraction test. Moreover, the doctor may need to dilate the child’s pupil using eyedrops to identify retinopathy of prematurity or diabetic retinopathy.
5. Ask them to take breaks
Our eyes are constantly looking at things and sending messages to the brain. But, unfortunately, your children’s eyes are also continuously looking at the board in school and then being subjected to video games or homework after returning.
If they keep straining their eyes daily, it can lead to myopia or near-sightedness, followed by other eye defects.
This is why you should ask your kids to take breaks from their daily activities. For example, after coming home from school, you can tell them to nap for about 30 minutes before proceeding to other activities.
6. Boost their visual engagement
Just as it’s important for children to rest their eyes, it’s also important for them to be exposed to various shapes and colors.
If you have a toddler, then it becomes all the more important to encourage them to play using brightly-colored blocks and toys.
Play games like peek-a-boo and patty cake to widen their peripheral vision and develop their hand-eye coordination.
Or you can even color their room using visually-appealing wallpaper, like cartoon characters. Finally, place interactive toys on their bed or near the crib.
Over to you…
These are a few basic tips to promote healthy vision in your children. If you feel that your child’s eyes are looking different or experiencing eye problems, consult your doctor immediately.