It is important to develop healthy eye habits for your children at a young age to help protect their vision later on in life. Here are some things you can do as a parent to keep your children’s eyes healthy:
- When out in the sun, make sure your child is wearing sunglasses that offer 100% UV protection.
- Incorporate foods that are linked to vision health into your child’s diet, such as dark green vegetables, eggs, carrots, citrus and berries, fatty fish, almonds and vitamin-fortified milk.
- If your child is an athlete, make sure he or she is wearing proper eyewear, such as safety goggles, while playing sports.
- Limit your child’s time spent on the computer and other electronic devices such as cell phones and tablets.
- If your child likes to read, make sure he or she has adequate lighting, such as natural light or a reading lamp.
Children often do not complain when they have trouble seeing, so make sure you pay attention to certain signs that your child may have a vision problem, such as squinting, rubbing eyes or blinking excessively while reading, not being able to see things far away, or reversing or omitting words when reading.
UPMC Children's Community Pediatrics offers vision tests during 4 and 5-year-old well visits. If you feel your child may have a vision problem, contact your pediatrician.