4 Simple Tips for Protecting Your Child’s Eye Health

Our eyes are one of our most valued organs, but we often don’t take the right steps to keep them safe and healthy. This is especially true for children who often participate in more activities that put their eye health at risk. In honor of Child Eye Health and Safety Month, we’ve highlighted a few simple tricks for parents to keep in mind. Provide a Healthy Diet Nutrition is one of the most important things to consider when it comes to healthy vision, but many people don’t realize this. Ensuring that your child has the appropriate amount of carotene, vitamin C, vitamin E, and zinc can help reduce the risk of ocular damage. These nutrients are found in things like sweet potatoes, carrots, almonds, poultry, and more. If you’re unsure how to incorporate these into your child’s diet, check with your pediatrician. Limit Screen Time Children are spending more and more time in front of the television than ever. And with iPads and iPhones providing easier access to your child’s favorite shows and movies, it has become increasingly important to limit their device time. Make sure breaks are being taken at least every 30 minutes when your children are watching something on television or a mobile device. Stimulate Their Eyes In addition to limiting screen time, stimulating the eyes can help a child’s vision grow over time. This is important as early as infancy. Introducing colors, forms, and shapes is a great way to do this from the start. This is easy thanks to learning toys such as blocks, but you can also use things like crayons or colorful books to get the same impact. Be Proactive Lastly, be proactive about your child’s eye health by scheduling an eye examination each year. Don’t wait until you notice that your child is having an eye issue. Like many other conditions, vision problems are much easier to treat, and even correct, when they are discovered at an earlier stage. These days, close to 80 percent of teaching done in schools has a visual component. Make sure you’re giving your child every resource to succeed by helping him or her set up his vision health for success. To schedule an eye exam for your child or for more information, please visit Baptist's Pediatric Services page.