Your baby have squinting eyes! What to do?

Some newborns have squinting or “crooked” eyes. While this often corrects itself, it is not always the case. This is why it is important to pay attention to it early on so as not to risk compromising their vision, as it is not simply a cosmetic problem.

Vision development:

Vision is the last sense to develop in the fetus. Its ability to perceive nuances of light appears from the 7th month of life in the womb. Vision is also one of the least stimulated senses at birth.

The peripheral vision of the eye evolves until the age of 9 years old normally and ends in some children at 14 years old. So even if the child can walk between 1 and 2 years old, he does not see laterally, he must activate his muscles and move his eyes from left to right to see what surrounds him.

Vision under 1 month :

A one-week-old infant sees in a tunnel in a beam of light of 1 to 2 degrees and only perceives variations in lighting, his vision is blurred, he recognizes you more by the sound of your voice and by the sensations of touch on his body (heat, caress, etc.)  

Between 2 and 4 weeks, the development of the retina continues and the tunnel of light increases to 5 degrees, the lens begins to correctly focus the images on the retina, but the baby can only see correctly in the distance of 10 to 15 cm.  Beyond this distance everything is blurred or in a blur of light. 

The newborn is able to fixate on an object and, even if his vision is still blurry, he has a clear preference for human faces. 

When you look at your baby, position yourself at a distance from where he can see you well, 20 cm to 30 cm from his face. These moments of visual exchanges constitute the first foundations of attachment.

After 2 months, an infant can see at a distance of 20 cm to 30 cm, just enough to focus on the parent who is feeding him. 

Vision continues to develop during the first months of life. Around 4 months, your baby's visual abilities have greatly progressed and are close to those of an adult for the vision in front of him.

The information that your baby gathers through his visual discoveries is essential to his development.

Why does a baby squint?

It is normal for a baby to squint, especially during the first 5 months of life, because their two eyes are not yet working together. In fact, newborns do not yet have the ability to see with both eyes at the same time.

This ability is generally acquired around 3 to 5 months. Before both eyes are able to focus and move together, it may be observed that one eye does not appear symmetrical to the other. This is said to be the case when the child is squinting or suffering from strabismus. Many newborns squint intermittently, and not always in the same eye.

Persistent deviation of one eye after 6 months of age, however, requires evaluation. Constant, sustained deviation of one eye gives the impression of seeing double, and the brain compensates by cancelling out the image from the deviating eye.

Simply press gently on the outer corner of your eye to see how perfect the eye alignment must be to reconstruct an image.

Seeing in three dimensions

The brain’s reconstruction of an image is very complex, and the ability to see with both eyes simultaneously is important to acquire three-dimensional vision. Indeed, the brain can perceive shapes in three dimensions because it calculates the difference in angle between the images sent by each of the two eyes.

This can only be done if both eyes send similar signals to the brain.

Screening for strabismus

Strabismus is caused by a fairly common weakness in the eye muscles and affects nearly 5% of children. Its causes are multiple and can appear from birth or during early childhood.

The earlier strabismus appears, the more important it is to have it screened. It is not always easy to determine if a child is squinting. This is why an eye exam is part of the basic exams that your doctor will do during routine visits in the first months of life.

When it occurs after the age of 2, strabismus is most often due to a difference in strength between the two eyes. For example, if your child does not see well up close and one of his eyes is more affected than the other, he may become lazier and will tend not to fixate on objects.

To correct strabismus, the recommended treatments are wearing an eye patch or corrective glasses, exercises to make both eyes work together or surgery to correct the position of the eyes, depending on the case.

If your child continues to squint after the age of 6 months, consult your doctor quickly, who may recommend an ophthalmologist to determine the cause and decide on a treatment.

Risks associated with strabismus:

When a child squints, they only look with one eye due to a visual adaptation of the brain that aims to avoid seeing double. The other eye then becomes lazier and no longer transmits the signal necessary for reconstructing the image.

This then does not reach the cerebral cortex, a region of the brain responsible for analysing information coming from the eyes. Consequently, strabismus can slow the development of this area of ​​the brain and cause a form of blindness, called amblyopia.

This is why it is essential to screen for strabismus in babies. Strabismus can therefore have long-term repercussions if it is not treated in the first years of life. Beyond the age of 5, it will be very difficult to correct amblyopia.

Does my child have strabismus?

If you shine a light on your baby’s face from a distance and when he or she looks at the light, it doesn’t reflect equally on both eyes, your child is probably squinting.

Similarly, if you take a picture of your child and only one eye is red (which is the reflection of light passing through the pupil and illuminating the retina), you might wonder if it’s strabismus.

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