Patching a 3 Year Olds Eye

My daughter was also patched at this age. We found patches that had adhesive and looked like a bandaid. The Junior size was the correct fit and since it stuck on, there was no cord around her head to bother her. She wore the patch for 4 years, so this had a good fit and was comfortable. She has sensory issues, so this was important.

Hi- I hope this isn't a repeat, but here's an idea. Get the plain band-aid type, and let him design it himself. If he doesn't want to color it, he could tell you what design he'd like and 'help' you color it.

Good luck! I wore patches for many years as a kid, and I'm not scarred or traumatized at all! :-)

my friend's son has a patch that goes onto his glasses on the side that he needs - not sure if there is any light that gets in or not, but i imagine this may be an option for you. i don't know if she got it at their eye doctor's office or if they were referred, but it may be something to look into if you'd like.

my daughter may require a patch in the next few months as well, so i think this is a great post for me to read as more people answer your questions.

thanks!

We had to patch our daughter's eye when she was 6 for 6 weeks full time and 6 weeks half time. We used 3M™ Nexcare™ Opticlude™ Orthoptic Eye Patch - Junior size (1537). On the web at: http://products3.3m.com/catalog/au/en005/healthcare/-/nod...

They are like band-aids and stick on really well and are actually quite hard to remove. (We had her soak it with a warm, wet washcloth to remove some of the "glue.")

We let her decorate the patches with stickers and draw on them, too, so they were a bit more fun.

We are so glad we patched because at the beginning of patching, she could only see 20/40 WITH glasses and now she sees 20/20 with glasses and no permanent damage was been done.
Good luck.

My son has been wearing an eye patch since he was 4 years old. He will be 9 next month. It wasn't too bad when he was younger--he didn't seem to mind as much. Now, he really hates it. He used to have to wear it basically all waking hours. Now, he only wears it for an hour each day.

We also like the Ortopads--they are the absolute best ones, and come in some fun designs. The best thing about them is that the adhesive is perfect--it sticks well while the patch is on, but is not hard to remove at all. My son goes to Primary Children's for his eye care (they are the BEST!) and the doctor's office sells them to us for cost--a really good deal.

I look forward to his patch therapy to be over soon, but I am sure he looks forward to it much more than I do. When he first started patching he was 20/400 (with his glasses). He is now about 20/20 with his glasses. I am proud of him for sticking it out.

M.,
I do NOT envy your position. My daughter was born with a condition called ONH(optic nerve hypoplasia) and a secondary part of that was a lazy eye. When she was 6 months old they asked us to patch and it was a nightmare!!!! We tried again when she was about 18 months old. It was also a nightmare. We went to a different doctor with a different approach(who I might add, we HATED) but at that point we'd try anything. He had us do arm splints. Which make it so they cannot pull the patch off. Its heart wrenching and I'd make my husband do it while I sat downstairs and sobbed. It was miserable. On the days that I had to go it alone, I bought new coloring books, puzzles, and any sort of game. I mostly held her all day long(harder as they get older) and just tried to occupy her. I've heard of parents taping or gluing the patch on. This is insane to me, but you have to also keep in mind what you're doing is proactive- he will be so thankful later when he's in school and doesn't have kids making fun of him.
Good luck! Its not easy!

Hi M., We patched my grandson till he was 9 years old. He started wearing his glasses at 9 months. We were not allowed to use the pirate patch because no light was allowed to get in from my understanding. But I could be wrong as I said I am the grandma not mommy. He cried everytime he had to put it on. It was a fight, we tried the sports patches and the army camo patches the white patches with the stickers and I even drew a beautiful eye on one of them and he would not wear it. Well, he did but not without a fight. Finally, I wore the patch with him. That way he was not the only one, he was not singled out and we never made him wear it out. Such as to school or a sports event. Have you ever tried it? Easier said than done, it is actually painful to loose the use of that eye for hours. But that is what we did and I am hoping it will help you too. Good luck, K. K.

My son had to wear an eye patch and I hated the adhesive ones because they were not reusable enough. So I went online and started looking around. I found Munchkins Eye Patch on Ebay!! Coolest things ever! They go right on the lens of the glasses, are soft on the child's face and come in really small sizes! Check it out http://stores.shop.ebay.ca/Munchkins-eye-Patches__W0QQ_ar...
Cheap and totally reusable, so worth the money. My optometrist actually got the name of the person from me and refers wants to order from her for his patients!! When the patch was on his glasses he was less opposed to wearing it and then you don't have to deal with adhesive. They come in all kinds of styles and themes too, have some fun with it, let him pick the one he likes, or call her and she can custom make one, thats what I did. Good luck.

S.

Hey eye patches are not fun for kids. I know this from first had experience. I as a kid about the same age, if not younger, would peak around the patch on the glasses.
My mom ended up making me wear a patch that went directly over the eye. I would still wear my glasses and did not like the patch, but it did the job.
good luck.

mom of a cute 2yo boy and one on the way.

We let our son pick out his patches. He chose army camo... He likes his eye doctor and just wore them because his doctor said to do it. I know that doesn't exactly help you, but make it as fun as possible and don't make him wear it where he will be questioned or embarrassed (if possible). I hope the patching works for him!

good luck!

www.thosecrazybeans.blogspot.com

Our daughter started patching at age 3.5 and continued until she was 8. She really disliked the adhesive patches even with cool markings. We ended up letting her pick two varieties of patches that went over her glasses. Her favorites were purchased from www.patchpals.com. Her doctor felt that these were quite appropriate and it helped to get her to patch the required amount of time. Best of luck to you.

I could never get my little guy to wear his, so I gave up....at least for a while. I do like the idea of a family member wearing them.

The thing that worked great for us was placing a patch on the glasses themselves. Or u can buy the patches that are like bandaids and those worked good too. Good luck

OH MY GOSH! We just got a similar diagnosis (amblyopia, from what I can tell from my own research at home) today. I'm trying to decide whether to patch or do the atropine eye drops. The doc recommended the drops, but my mom brought up a good point: what are the side effects of extended use? I can't find anything yet. I was dead set on the drops vs the patches (he's in school-kindergarten- & is already worried about the kids at school teasing him) but now that I'm reading more (possible hallucinations) I'm not as sure. The patches I've seen are more like bandaids. Would he tolerate one of those? They can do drops, but they (drug fact sheets I've found online) warn against using them in kids under 6. I'd ask the doc if he thinks it would be safe for your little guy. I read that it comes in drops & ointment-maybe you could measure ointment somehow & use less?
I had to wear an eye patch for a scratched cornea. I stuck a huge butterfly sticker on it-I figured if people were going to stare, I might as well give them good reason.

I'll be bookmarking this to see what responses you get.
Good luck!

M.,
I am am actually a 38 year old mom who was born with a lazy eye and had to eye surgeries to correct it. I HATED wearing my eye patch...not because of the way it looked, but because it hurt to use my other eye and actually made me somewhat nasiated. My mom used to set the timer so I could see "how much longer"! Try breaking it up into smaller incraments and see how he does. Be careful with "pirates patch" as he can look under it...took a while for my mom to catch on to that!

My 6 year old has had to wear a patch for 4 hours every day for about 10 months; it's only been for about the past 2 months that it's really started bothering her. Mostly it bothers her when people ask her what happened to her eye. It's worth it when we go to the eye doctor and she has improved by 1 or 2 lines on the eye chart. I would think the advantage of your child being 3 is that 3 year olds usually aren't as self conscious as an older child. We use patches that are like a band-aid and we buy them at the eye doctors, there are fun patterns on the patches. They are available online. http://www.ortopadusa.com/Fun-Pack Good luck!