Infantreflux.org | Eye patching

This topic has 16 replies, 1 voice, and was last updated 19 years, 5 months ago by Anonymous.

Viewing 15 posts - 1 through 15 (of 17 total)

1 2 →

Author

Posts
May 15, 2007 at 6:34 pm #33352

Anonymous
Inactive

Has anyone done eye-patching with their kids? If so, how did you get them to keep it on?? Bryce is supposed to wear his patch for an hour each day (which really isn’t bad). He did fine for the first few weeks, but the last few he will not keep it on. Distractions of any kind do not work. I pretty much have to sit with him and hold his hands the whole time, and by 30 minutes he’s really upset. I’ve been having to do two 30-min. sessions, but that’s hard too. Someone from another site told me that they have dilating drops that you can use to dilate the good eye instead of patching it, but they last too long for what Bryce needs.

Anyway, I’m just wondering if anyone has any more ideas of how I can keep it on him. I’ve even tried taping it on, but he just pulls the tape off too. He won’t keep his glasses on at all either. I’ve pretty much given up on those. I have to sit with him the whole time, which is obviously impossible to do forever. He’s far-sighted, so I assume he only needs to wear them while doing up-close things like playing with toys, etc. I don’t know. I wonder sometimes if it would be better to wait until he’s older for the glasses.

Sorry- I guess that was more a vent than anything! Just looking for ideas. I can’t imagine what else I could do though.

May 15, 2007 at 6:48 pm #33354

Anonymous
Inactive

We were supposed to do the same and we had no luck. Sorry for being the downer. Dylan now has the strabismus sp? surgery scheduled for June 26th and hopefully that will cure his issue.

It is really hard at these ages to get them to wear them and keep them on. One eye Dr. tried to get him to wear a pirate patch, and we would try to play pirates. I would wear one, too (nice visual, I know). That did work a little better than the tape patch, but still not very successful…..

May 15, 2007 at 6:56 pm #33358

Anonymous
Inactive

That was my suggestion, to have Isaac and Parker and yourself wear one too for the 1 hour or less so Bryce and see it is fun. Taylor likes to do everything Alexis does so it might work for a little while.

May 15, 2007 at 8:48 pm #33369

Anonymous
Inactive

I really don’t have much to add to this except that I was patched as a young child and it did not work for me either because I would always take it off too. I would hide behind the couch and rip it off whenever I could, then I would have a really raw red area all under my eye where the glue part stuck to the skin! I remember I did have a patch that clipped onto my glasses, but I would just looking up and over my glasses in order to see! My nephew had to wear a patch for a few hours a day several years ago, he was maybe 5 or 6, and it DID work for him (when I was younger I had to wear it much longer), so whatever you can do to get it to work, do it!

I did have strabismus surgery 3 times, once when I was 5, again at 15, and again about 2 years ago. I know the technique has improved greatly just from the 3 different experiences I had, so if you do ultimately have to go that route, the outcome should be a lot better than what it used to be!!

May 15, 2007 at 10:02 pm #33374

Anonymous
Inactive

Thanks, everyone for the suggestions. It really helps to know that I’m not the only one having trouble keeping a patch on my child. Thanks for sharing your experiences too. I’m going to try harder than ever to keep that patch on. I SO don’t want to go through anymore surgeries.

I really liked the idea of everyone dressing up like pirates, but I just don’t think it will work with Bryce right now. He’s 17 months, but really developmentally he’s just not there yet. To me he seems like a 8 or 9 month old baby, so if he saw me or his brothers with a patch he’d just try to take it off and put it in his mouth. I’ll keep that in mind for when he’s older, if he’s still going through the patching.

Thanks again.

May 15, 2007 at 10:27 pm #33380

Anonymous
Inactive

What would happen if you put really long sleeves on him, like one of his big brother’s shirts and then maybe strap him into his stroller and take a stroll, or into the car for a drive? An hour would be a long time to stroll or drive, but maybe he’d forget about the patch and when you got home you could find some more distractions. Maybe some time in a swing at the park, or if you have in your yard.

Another idea is to maybe gather some new toys that you think he’ll love, or something he’s usually not allowed to play with and then make a special time during the day when you put the patch on and then try to get him interested in the new toys or a special activity. A sensory experience would probaby be great, like finger paint in the highchair, or letting him play with ice cubes or something like that. If you find something unique that he really gets excited about he may learn to forget about the patch and enjoy himself.

I hope you figure something out and that you can avoid another surgery.

May 16, 2007 at 2:10 pm #33423

Anonymous
Inactive

Thanks for the ideas Christine! I’d never thought to put really long sleeves on him. That might help! I’ve tried socks on his hands and he just pulled them off with his teeth, but that would probably work better. It’s funny you mentioned swinging because for awhile that’s how we got him to keep it on longer. We’d put him in his swing out in the yard and he’d want to hold on while he swung so his hands were busy, but eventually he got to where he’d take it off anyway. I’ll have to try some of those things. Thanks again!

May 16, 2007 at 2:41 pm #33428

Anonymous
Inactive

Sorry to hear that he won’t keep it on! I can imagine what a challenge it is. I didn’t have patch-pulling, but we’ve dealt with hair pulling and we just could not keep her hands off no matter what we did. We also did mittens, socks, long sleeves covering her hands whatever… I think unfortunately, where there’s a will there’s a way. I hope that you can come up with something. I know this will sound harsh, and it’s only if you’ve reached rock bottom, but there’s something called “no-nos” that they use for kids having pH probes so they won’t pull the probe off. Basically they’re splints that keep the elbows in extension, and if they can’t bend their elbows then they can’t reach their face. They can still play with things in front of them, they just can’t bend. It’s kind of a total desperation approach, but just thought I’d throw it out there in case you’ve reached the point where there are no other options. I can imagine it’s not entirely pleasant for the child, but if its only for a short period of time, and if he can be distracted with TV or something during that time, then maybe it wouldn’t be as bad?

Here’s a copy of a picture of a child wearing no-nos for a pH probe, in case you were wondering. I’ve heard that they have them with different characters on them to make them more appealing to kids.

May 16, 2007 at 5:32 pm #33451

Anonymous
Inactive

You know, we have some no-no’s left from Bryce’s cleft surgery, and I did try that for the patching. The problem is, it made him SO upset having his arms restrained like that, and when he gets that upset, he pukes. I think I might try it again though… he might get used to them…

Thanks for that suggestion, Lori.

May 23, 2007 at 11:52 am #34211

Anonymous
Inactive

Well, I think we’ve finally found a somewhat tolerable solution to Bryce’s eye patching. We put long sleeves on him like Christine suggested, TAPE the sleeves closed (lol) and also tape the patch on so that he can’t just rub it off. So far he’s done pretty well with this combination. He’s not thrilled with it, but he’ll usually sit and play with some toys for most of the hour. Yay!

We took him back to the ped. opthamologist on Monday and he said that his eye seems to be improving – despite the “patchy” patching!

May 23, 2007 at 12:43 pm #34216

Anonymous
Inactive

Hooray for Bryce! Great news!

May 23, 2007 at 12:45 pm #34217

Anonymous
Inactive

That’s great! Glad something is working!

May 23, 2007 at 1:45 pm #34226

Anonymous
Inactive

Hooray!!! I’m glad to hear he’s at least tolerating the patch, even though he’s probably not happy with it. Hopefully he’ll get used to it and it won’t bother him at all soon.

Good news about his Opthamologist visit!!

May 23, 2007 at 2:46 pm #34244

Anonymous
Inactive

Oh, and I asked the doctor if he had any ideas on how to keep Bryce’s glasses on……… He said pray.

At least he understands how hard it is to keep glasses on a baby.

May 23, 2007 at 4:20 pm #34257

Anonymous
Inactive

LOL! That is so funny! And so much better than a doc who looks at you disapprovingly because you can’t get your kid to keep his glasses on.

I can’t even get Myles to wear a sun hat! The boy has a temper and he screams and screams and screams; over a stupid hat. If he had to wear glasses I’d need to pray day and night.
Author

Posts