When did you know your child was blind?

[~bookcase~]

My 4 week old doesn't seem to be registering anything with her eyes. I have older children and her responses don't seem as I would expect. Where do we go from here? She sees the Dr in 3 weeks and one of the questions is about if they are tracking objects or not, but I'd love some reassurance and advice now please...

[QueenOfTheMeadow]

I honestly wouldn't wait for 3 weeks if you are concerned.  I'd go ahead and call and tell them your concern.  Is she reacting to other sensory stimuli?

[Peggy O'Mara]

Oh, dear, what a hard thing to worry about. On the American Optometric Association it says this:

"Babies should begin to follow moving objects with their eyes and reach for things at around three months of age"

Here are some idesa for how to recognize blindness in an infant. It suggests you ask your doctor for a visual response test and also has some home tests you can try.

I really know little about this subject and agree with Queen that if mama is worried, it's time to call someone to ask for help. Mama always knows.

[Emmeline II]

I'd give your doctor a call now. If nothing else they may want to schedule her for an earlier or longer appointment than is necessary for a well-check.

[puzzlepeace]

I would call now as well to get an earlier appointment.  I think mom's intuition that something might be off is usually pretty accurate.  In the meantime, the link above has some pretty simple tests.
 

[~bookcase~]

thank you mamas. the link is super helpful Peggy - i wasn't getting any good sites with googling myself. i've tried some of these activities with her, and although she's still not responding as i would expect, she seems to be having some response (to yellow in particular, on my top and on a toy). she also seems to make little smiles in response to voice, but not whilst looking at me. i'm trying to work out if she is looking at me but her eyes are not in my direction (can't remember what that condition is called, but when the person appears to look in another direction, but is in fact looking straight at a person)

the light hits her pupils slightly differently, which is a check i remember a dr doing with one my older premature dc. i think it should reflect back at the same point on the pupil both sides.

anyway, i feel more armed with info to feed back to the dr so that he doesn't disregard my concerns. i will try to remember to update here when i know more.

i've now got to work through mommy guilt about my nutritional status and part to play in any eye problems

[KatWrangler]

Any update?  Were you able to get into the Doctor?
 

[~bookcase~]

thank you for asking

i have a health check tomorrow for her, but at 6 weeks now, things seem to have kicked in and she is sometimes tracking with her eyes. i've also had three big smiles, but never whilst looking directly at me - twice looking to my right, and once over the top of my head. i will ask for a referral because her older sister had a 'wandering' eye not picked up until she was about 5 (at the second or third sight test she went to)

here's hoping she settles into her body more comfortably over the coming weeks.