As we all know, the eyes are one of the most sensitive and essential organs, and it is vital to take care of them. In contrast, children are the most innocent and mischievous ones. So, It is necessary to look after them and ensure they are not hurting themselves, especially their eyes. First eight years of life is critical for vision development and eye brain coordination.
Before we move ahead, it is crucial to understand and remember the difference between a paediatrician and a paediatric ophthalmologist. A paediatrician is a child specialist who provides the overall medical care of the children, and a Paediatric Ophthalmologist is an eye specialist who has specialised in the care of children’s eyes. So, a paediatrician performs limited eye examinations whereas a Paediatric Ophthalmologist evaluate the child’s eye in detail with specialised equipments and several additional tests.
There are many decent Paediatric Ophthalmologist centres; Iksha Eye Care, Andheri (Mumbai) centre has one of the best Paediatric Ophthalmologists in Mumbai with experience of more than a decade. It provides extensive eye care services, has one of the finest child eye care infrastructures for safe and hassle-free services, and offers one of the best squint surgery in Mumbai.
Simple and Easy Ways to Protect Your Children’s Eye
Resting of Eyes
Children often indulge in numerous activities like playing online games, watching YouTube videos, reading, writing, etc. Such activities put a strain on the eyes. Therefore, it is our duty to make sure that children are not continuously engaging themselves in such eye-straining activities for a longer period. Taking at least 30-40 breaks between all such activities for a child is mandatory to maintain their proper eyesight.
Healthy Diet
Adopting a balanced diet that includes green leafy vegetables, carrots is essential to keep our eyes healthy, especially of children. One should avoid giving junk food to children. Fruits like papaya, orange are rich in vitamin A and C, berries and almonds are rich sources of vitamin E which acts as antioxidants, fish like salmon are rich sources of omega 3 fatty acids. All these are very important for maintaining good eyesight in children.
Regular Eye Check-ups
As a responsible parent, the most important thing to do is to ensure that the eyes of their children are developing properly with proper eyesight. One can schedule eye check-up according to vaccination schedule which is easy to remember. Always remember, at birth child can see things only close to face and gradually the vision develops and reach adult values by 6 to 8 years of life. Regular Eye check-up at 6 months,1 year, before preschool (3 years), before pre-primary (5 years) and then annually is important.
Outdoor Activities
In this world of digitalisation especially in the post-covid pandemic era, it is difficult to convince a child to leave online games, videos and engage in outdoor games and activities. But it is essential. If a child continues to engage in various digital screen activities, it will negatively affect their eyesight, leading to major long term eye related problems like dry eye, progressive myopia etc.
Sleep Schedule
Nowadays, children are usually on their phones/tablets, it has become imperative for them to have a proper sleep schedule; otherwise, it will affect their eyesight. It’s important to make a habit of no screen 2 hours before going to sleep for inducing sound sleep for your little one.
Avoid Eye Rubbing
Children unknowingly rub their eye which is usually noticed by parents but ignore it as just another child’s habit. It is essential to check on them and ensure they avoid rubbing their eyes. Eye rubbing can affect corneal development and can change spectacle number frequently and is an important cause for abnormal corneal shape like keratoconus etc.
