seven month old with possible crossed eye/lazy eye/squint?

[Peevish]

I've made a GP appointment about this, but my surgery is crazily busy, so it's not for a fortnight, and I'm worried.

I'm not entirely sure, because he's so active that it's difficult to get him to look straight at me for more than a second, but my 7.5 month old baby's left eye doesn't always seem to follow his right exactly, giving him at times a slightly cross-eyed look. I only started to notice this recently, and my DH says he doesn't see it at all, and that I'm imagining it.

I know crossed eyes are common in younger babies, but should it have cleared up by the time a child is seven months?

I also know there is a thing called pseudostrabismus caused by babies having wide bridges on their noses - he does have a wide bridge and wide-set eyes.

Any thoughts or experiences?

[ZuleikaD]

No, it's perfectly normal at this age, and fact sometimes older. We were concerned about DD having what appeared to be a lazy eye at 20m or thereabouts but the GP reassured us and also sent us to the eye clinic to be on the safe side - it was all fine and now she's 3.6 and there's no hint of it.

[PrincessOfChina]

We were worried about this an we're referred for checks.

Turned out it was something called pseudo-squint which essentially happens when a child's face is kind of making it look like they have a squint when actually they don't at all.

DD is 21 months now and her face shape has really changed and it's not visible at all.

[QTPie]

DS was still "sort of" squinting at 7+ months and we saw the GP: were referred to the Opthalmology department at the local hospital - where they did tests. I also took DS to see a very good Eye Specialist in London (privately).

DH and I both have bad eyesight (DH is -7 and I am +7 and, no, they can' equal each other out...). I also had a squint as a child (patching etc, but no surgery), we think that DH did too. So eyesight is rather a worry with DS!

However, through thorough testing and over time, DS's squint stop showing any sign (definitely from 18 months, but quite probably quite a bit earlier) and his eye sight is still testing "within normal ranges for his age" (last tested at 2 years 3 months, he is now 2 years 9 months and can spot things that I can't when I have contact lenses in! (like airplanes in the sky etc))

I think that many babies have quite big eyes and quite a wide bridge, but DS is half Chinese (and has very rounded, yet Chinese shaped eyes) - so he has "what looks like a squint" (as the opthalmologist and the specialist said). As he has grown into his face, this has disappeared.

I think that you are doing the right thing, but I would say "do not worry": chances are that it will be nothing, but - if it is something - then it is caught early (and the earlier the better).. It also isn't a fast process: after you have seen the GP, you will need to wait for an Opthalmology appointment (and should expect this to take a month or longer - especially over the festive season). So if you worry about it now, you will have quite a long time to worry before you get much in the way of answers...

Good luck.