We’re back at the ‘eye patching’ part of the program to treat Chip’s eye. After his cataract surgery he got to have some time off to heal and rest, but now we have to get back on the patching train.
Trade offs, trade offs. It’s all about balance.
He has some amblyopia (“lazy eye”) and the vision in that eye has been compromised by being covered up with a cataract. So, the treatment is to put an eye patch on the “good” eye to force the other eye to work really hard and catch up.
Imagine putting an eye patch on a 2 year old
He’s been doing the eye patch thing since he was about a week old. At first it was no problem. He’d complain, but there wasn’t much he could do about it. His only resort was to fall asleep, but then all I had to do was wait for him to wake up and, hey, the patch would still be there.
Then he turned one and the wheels came off. He figured out how to take the patch off. Sigh. We ended up having to get him these arm splints that keep him from being able to reach his eye. It felt barbaric to me, but we needed to be sure his eye didn’t get so bad that not even surgery would help.
Fast-forward to now. Post surgery. The doctor tells us that he needs to patch for 30 minutes a day and get up to 4 hours a day as soon as we can manage it. Well, I’m certainly not going to keep him in arm splints for 4 hours every day, and now that he’s older I don’t want to restrain him like that unless it is absolutely the only way.
So the doctor gave us a prescription for some eye drops. They dilate the pupil in his good eye so it can’t see very well, and are apparently as good as patching. I thought, “Great!!” Finally something that can be kind of non-intrusive in his life, and he won’t have to be held down by a team of monkeys for 40% of his waking hours.
However, our luck didn’t hold out as long as I thought.
The eye drops sting. Fan-fucking-tastic.
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And there is no amount of talking, hugging, pleading, playing that can convince a two year old of something THEY do not want to go along with.
And now he’s experienced stinging eye drops. Fun times for when the next time he needs to have them, even if it’s in 10 years.
Here’s a thought, and it’s a long shot at best: they do have “disposable” patches that are “glued” to the skin. The glue washes off. Again, it may open up a whole new can of worms…
Hey DD, here’s the drag. He needs the eye drops every morning! Ack! And I’ve thought of duct tape and other ways of securing the patches, but all he’d do is destroy his skin trying to get it off. He is nothing if not determined, my little Chedda…
I feel for you…trying to get eye drops in my toddler’s eyes was one of my most traumatic motherhood experiences.
Ah, the no-no’s (arm splints). I’m very familiar with those. My son had to wear those for each of his cleft lip surgeries. So I feel your pain. I wish I could offer some good advice, but I have none. Does bribery work? Ice cream for breakfast maybe?
Posybunny, I think I’d rather put eye drops in my cat’s eyes!
Christine, at our house they’re called ‘robots’ as in ‘NO WOBOTS! NO WOBOTS!’ because the ones in his size are made from cute robot fabric.
I’m trying to get him to remember/notice that IMMEDIATELY after he gets his drops I give him a skittle. But he’s 2 and this kind of connection is going to take a little time. Ask me again in a week ;)
OH, that is such a bummer. I feel for you!
Maybe since the drops sting, he will be persuaded to leave on the patch??
Jody, judging by the advice I’m getting, apparently other people’s 2-year-olds are much more reasonable than mine! He’s an in-the-moment kid, and reasoning with him is hilarious, but fruitless… I’m just hoping the eyedrops–>skittles connection gets made soon! Or maybe this will just make him hate skittles!
Tell him the eyedrops will turn him into a superhero with laser vision?
Oh Robin, that would totally work for his older brothers! I love it!!
You had me at: Imagine putting an eye patch on a 2 year old.
Hiya: My suggestion. Instead of a skittle, go and buy a HUGE, BEAUTIFUL lollipop. One of those insane flat ones that’s like six inches in diameter. Leave it where he can see it. After each eyedrop, he gets the lolly (yes, the same one – to hell with bacteria :-)) for a certain amount of time. Like 5 minutes. He has to eat it in the kitchen, of course, and can only lick!
Skittles are only transient.
:-)
good luck! Nice post on the mom’s site.
Kate (from svmoms)
Hi Kate, I’ll expect you here every morning at 7:10 to pry the lollipop from his slimy death-grip :)
Oh, you poor sweeties. I feel worse for you, definitely. Go read some Mary Kay Andrews (“Savannah Blues,” “Savannah Breeze”) and take a long bath.
WM, thanks for the book recos! I feel worse for Chip than myself because I at least know what is going on. He’s stuck trying to figure out why his weirdo mom is doing this to him! Toddlers…sheesh.
Hello! We started the eye drops with DD when she was two. It was a bit brutal at first, but then we fell into a routine. Hang in there!
I can’t comment on the eye drops but I did wear a patch from about age 2 to 5 due to “lazy eye” for several hours a day. Not a thrilling time but you learn to adapt.
Hi. Just wondering how the eye drops thing is going. I just started my 2 1/2 year daughter on them tonight. She has the same problem and drops were prescribed vs. patching. My doctor told me to put the drop in her eye when she is sleeping, and the blurring should still last through tomorrow.
My question is now — how do you get your child to keep the glasses on??
Hi RP. I do the drops in the morning and give him two Skittles as a bribe. It works pretty well ;)
FORTUNATELY, he doesn’t have glasses yet. I have no idea how I’ll be handling that one!
Where did you get the arm splints? My 23 month old needs to wear a patch for the same problem and up until a few months ago she did great. But now she can take it off. Help!
Hi Tracey, I got them here:
http://fresnelprism.com/PediWrap.html
I hope that helps!
Hi my daughter had a cataract too and experienced the same problems with taking off the patch as you. I decided to just concentrate on her keeping on the patch for one whole week and when she took it off I said “no no you need to wear your patch to make your eye better” and brought her for a walk then or distracted her with her favourite toys or sweets. I bought her a little play house also and is only allowed to play in there with all her favourite toys only if she wears her patch and glasses. It works thankfully and she just gave up after alot of hardwork and persistance so we manage to get 4 hours a day and building that up now where we were only getting 4 minutes per patch!
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