Hello 2-year-old, let me explain the long-term benefits, so then, of course, you'll agree to go along. What?

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.

armsplints.jpg

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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24 responses to “Hello 2-year-old, let me explain the long-term benefits, so then, of course, you'll agree to go along. What?”

  1. DD Avatar

    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…

  2. Plain Jane Mom Avatar

    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…

  3. Posybunny Avatar

    I feel for you…trying to get eye drops in my toddler’s eyes was one of my most traumatic motherhood experiences.

  4. Christine Avatar

    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?

  5. Plain Jane Mom Avatar

    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 ;)

  6. jody2ms Avatar

    OH, that is such a bummer. I feel for you!

    Maybe since the drops sting, he will be persuaded to leave on the patch??

  7. Plain Jane Mom Avatar

    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!

  8. Robin Avatar

    Tell him the eyedrops will turn him into a superhero with laser vision?

  9. Plain Jane Mom Avatar

    Oh Robin, that would totally work for his older brothers! I love it!!

  10. Oh, The Joys Avatar

    You had me at: Imagine putting an eye patch on a 2 year old.

  11. Kate Sanford Avatar

    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)

  12. Plain Jane Mom Avatar

    Hi Kate, I’ll expect you here every morning at 7:10 to pry the lollipop from his slimy death-grip :)

  13. Wacky Mommy Avatar

    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.

  14. Plain Jane Mom Avatar

    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.

  15. arizelda Avatar
    arizelda

    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!

  16. Eric Avatar

    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.

  17. […] As I’ve mentioned before, we’re now giving Chip eye drops instead of patching his good eye. For those of you who have asked, the drops are Cyclogyl 1%, also known as Cyclopentolate HCl. And just so you know, depending on your insurance, it may be cheaper for you to pay cash! […]

  18. Reesey Pieceyi Avatar
    Reesey Pieceyi

    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.

  19. Reesey Piecey Avatar
    Reesey Piecey

    My question is now — how do you get your child to keep the glasses on??

  20. Plain Jane Mom Avatar

    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!

  21. Tracy Avatar
    Tracy

    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!

  22. Plain Jane Mom Avatar

    Hi Tracey, I got them here:

    http://fresnelprism.com/PediWrap.html

    I hope that helps!

  23. Sharon Avatar
    Sharon

    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!

  24. here we go again Avatar
    here we go again

    my daughter had to have glasses when she was 1 1/2. we practiced with sunglasses first. she hated them and ripped them off and threw them. I thought it was going to be a horrible battle to keep glasses on her. as it turned out she realized she could see better with them on and never bothered them. yay! as far as eye patching went, it was really hard. i had to keep her busy the entire time we had it on. she was 9 months old when we started with the patch. someone told me to put her down for a nap with the patch on and when she woke up she would think nothing of it. if only she would take a nap!! she is a diehard. it worked when she napped which wasn’t very often. i had to put her in the swing, she couldn’t rip it off while being swung! when she was older i put her in the backpack. she thought she had to hold on so there were no arms going up to rip off an eye patch. i had to put her the stroller and walk down our bumpy road and “hit a bump” every time i saw an arm come to her face. then her coordination started getting better and she could rip them off in the blink of an eye. not cool. or cry big crocodile tears until her face was so wet they wouldn’t stick anymore. after strabismus surgery and a year of seeing how it goes we are back to patching (to strengthen the prescription in that eye). she is 2 now. here we go again. she is bigger, more coordinated, and way more ornery than she was the last time we did this. my plan is to take her to the park and she can only play if she is wearing the eye patch. we’ll see how it goes. wish us luck

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