Why You Need to Get Your Babies' Eyes Checked

I got back on Friday night from my wild three-day, all-expenses paid blogger junket in New Jersey, where we were all treated like queens. Then I spent Saturday cleaning the house. What a comedown, no? (Fortunatly, I did have help from the hub and my niece, who showed up to supervise Megan's birthday slumber party festivities.)

You can read my account of "Camp Baby" here. Today, I want to share with you one of the things I learned there. It has nothing to do with baby products or skin care or personal lubricants. You see,one of the things the big, multi-national company wanted the bloggers to know about was a program they fund, which does a lot to keep our infants healthy.

Dr. Scott Jens is an optometrist (you know, a medical doctor who specializes in eyes) who is chairman of InfantSEE, a program devoted to providing free eye exams to babies in their first year of life. Now, if you are like me and your children haven't exhibited any problems in that area, you have probably relied on the quick exam they get at their annual pediatrician visits. After listening to Dr. Jens, I am thankful that my 12-year-old hasn't had any major medical issues. I had NO IDEA that a thorough eye exam was necessary for such young children -- after all, it was not included in our health plan, and don't health plans include EVERYTHING that is NECESSARY for our kids? (Yeah. I am that naive.)

Dr. Jens showed us some videos featuring case studies of children whose lives were saved because their parents were prescient enough to get their eyes examined. In some cases, the babies had conditions that could have led to blindness... in others, they had life-threatening tumors that could only be discovered with the kind of instruments used by doctors trained to examine eyes (most pediatric offices do not have this equipment).

The beautiful thing about the InfantSEE program is that it is offered nationwide, and it is FREE. If you are the parent of an infant between 6 and 12 months old, I urge you to visit here for a listing of optometrists who participate in the program.

In the meantime, I'm making my 12-year-old daughter an appointment for her first REAL eye exam. Because you never know...