The Wonderful World Of Patching An Infant!

Oh Patching!!!!

We Entered The World Of Patching, When Elias Was 3 Months Old..  Because Eli's Right Eye Is Slightly Smaller Then The Left, And Also Has An Astigmatism, His Contact Lens Never Properly Fit... Constantly Having To Be Adjusted.. 
At The Same Time His Left Eye, Was Fine, Contact Fit Great, And Had A Clear View At All Times..
His Right Eye Wasn't Quite As Strong As His Left..
So We Began Patching His Left Eye, To Strengthen His Right. Otherwise, His Brain Would Start Ignoring The Poor Images Coming From The " Weak " Eye, And Begin Favoring The Other, Thus Making His "Weak" Eye To Turn In...
At First It Was Easy... He Was Still So Little, He Didn't Really Notice...
But In Time.. He Got Older.. And As He Got Older.. He Got A Little More Resistant..
But I Can Honestly Say ( As I Knock On Wood ) That As Resistant As He Can Be To Putting It On..
He Has Never Pulled One Off!
He's Eight Months Now, And We Currently Patch About 31 Hours A Month!
He's Pretty Doing Pretty Well, And His Vision In His Right Eye Has Improved Almost 100%!!!
His Right Eye Is Almost As Strong As His Left! 

Patching Is NO Fun! But It DOES Work!!! :)

Contacts Vs Glasses!!!

When My Son Had His Lenses Removed, He Immediately Began Wearing Contacts.... They Worked Fine For A While, ( If You Don't Include The Fact That His Right Eye Is To Small For The Contact To Fit Properly).( And Because Of That Fact The Left Eye Became A Little Stronger, And Elias Has To Wear A Patch On That Eye, In Order To Strengthen The Right..)
The Contacts Can Stay In For Up To 3 Weeks With Out Being Taken Out To Be Cleaned, So That's Nice! However, They Can Easily Be Popped Out, When Elias Rubs His Eyes.. Which Is Terrifying! Have You Ever Had To Find A Contacts Lens? Not So Easy!!! Especially When You Realize You Crawling Baby Could Have Rubbed It Out ANYWHERE!!! And You Have No Idea Where To Start!!! 
However Despite All The Scares, They Really Do Come In Handy, They Provide My Son With Great Peripheral Vision! And They Allow Him To See Without Any Barriers! Not To Mention, When He's Wearing Them,  He Looks Like Your Average Baby.. No One Stops Us At The Store, Or At The Park.. No One Pointing Their Stubby Fingers At Him... So I Guess You Could Say They Have Their Pros And Cons!

We Introduced Glasses When He Was About 4 Months Old.. At First They Were Only For When We Were Cleaning His Contacts... However, I Started Feeling Like They Were Helping Him  Little More Then The Contacts, For The Sole Reason That Regardless How Small His Eyes Are, The Glasses Fit! No Sliding Around, And Having TO Be Adjusted Every 5 Minutes... I Was Relieved That I Didn't Have To Poke At His Face All The Time! 

Because There Has Never Been A Study On Contacts Vs Glasses, I Don't Want To Stick To Just One.. I Really Want My Son To Grow Up With The Best Vision Possible! So Until They Can Tell Which Me Which Choice Is The Better Choice, We Switch, Back And Forth... Glasses For A Few Weeks, And Then Contacts... It Seems To Be Working Pretty Good!
Elias Is Growing, Developing, And Hitting All Of His Milestones Before The Average Baby, With No Eye Issues!!! So I Couldn't Be Happier! 

I'd Say That When It Comes Down To Which Option Is Best.. It Completely Depends On Your Child, And His/Her Specific Needs/Situation!

Wouldnt Have Him Any Other Way!

When You Have A Child In Glasses, It's Quite Common To Get Stares, Glares, Comments And Questions.. Most Of Which Are Completely Harmless, I Have No Problems With Answering Peoples Questions! I'd Rather Help Them To Understand, Than Leave Them To Come To They're Own Conclusions, And Raising Awareness Is Important..
However Sometimes, You Get That One Person That Knows No Bounds.. You Know The Ones Filled With To Much Ignorance For They're Own Good?   
So Far I've Had  Miss, " Tell Me Those Aren't Real! "    
Old Lady " Wow! Those Make His Eyes Look Huge! That's Gotta Be Hard For You... "
And Of Course Miss Crosses The Line With Her " So, Can He See As Good As A Normal Baby? "
And Lets Not Forget The Countless Times I Have Wanted To Yell " He's Not Blind!!! He CAN See You! So Put Your Dang Fingers Down! "  As They Bluntly Point And Stare At My Son...

I Mean, Do People Even Think Before They Speak? They Never Consider How They're One Crude Comment Or Action ( Unintentional Or Not ) Can Affect You.... 
I Totally Understand Their Curiosity, Who Wouldn't Be Curious! But I Don't Understand How Some People Can Be So Uncensored...

I'm Sure That As he Gets Older, The Stares, Glares, Comment And Questions Will Die Down, It's Not As Rare To See A 4 Year Old In Glasses! And Until Then, I'm Just Going To Have To Continue Practicing Patience!

I Love My Son! I Love His Glasses, And I Wouldn't Have Him Any Other Way!