General Chat

For several years I child minded two little brothers before and after school and in the hols too. One had fallen ill with meningitis at the age of 3 and had lost the hearing in one ear. Occasionally you would notice him turning his head so he could hear better but most of the time, he was fine and was treated as fully hearing child with no problems for him or the teachers, his family or me looking after him. He is grown up now and still has no problem. Don't despair, your little one will be fine, but please don't let her see you upset, or she will feel threatened and guilty for making you sad. You have to be upbeat about this and let her see you take it in your stride. Be thankful it has been caught early and something can be done for her. Lots of luck Liz

Hi Lou I wouldn't worry if I were you. Both of my children had squints and one is short sighted and the other is long sited. They have to wear glasses, but that has helped correct their squints. You would never know now. And the eldest also had hearing problems in one of her ears. Both of them were/are near the top of their classes and it hasn't effected their school work or life in general. Wait and see what the specialist says and take each day as it comes Jeanette x

Lou, I understand that you don't want your pretty little girl to have to wear eye patches, I didn't want my son to wear them either, but needs were met and he wore them for a short while and now doesn't even need glasses, as for the hearing another of my son's had to have gromits fitted, and they fell out naturaly his hearing is now fine, so instead of looking on the dark side of things count your blessings there are mothers out there that wished that their children only had small minor things to worry about, now don't think I am trying to be-little your feelings, I'm not, instead I am trying to put them in prospective with other parents worries, good luck to your little girl, she will be ok, just try not to show how upset you are, as she will pick up on it. Bev

cannot advise you on the eye issue but the ears - i felt a really bad mother when my son was 4, the nurse took me to one side and said 'do you realise that your son is lip reading?' it turned out that he needed the grommit thing in both ears. when i thougth he was just being naughty and i told him off, he didnt take any notice of me. this was when i spotted it was when he wasnt looking at me, he was like this! he also missed the fronts of words off and also the last bits, we just thought this was normal baby talk (he was our first child), but it was because he wasnt hearing the whole word to repeat it correctly. he was sent for speach therapy for a few months and soon caught up. he is now 25 and still lip reads (clever lad) he says it comes in handy when he is in a night club or someone is whispering! so do not worry, it is good they have picked it up early. tina x

I was helping out in my sons class today (he is 5) 3 children have glasses - one with a sparkly patch. No one was nasty to them in fact they asked why one of them wasn't wearing them out of concern & then found them on the floor!! Grommits is also very common - a very quick op. Hope you are feeling a bit better this afternoon. It's the weekend Enjoy :-)

Lou, I work in a primary school and a number of children have patches for squints. Trust me other children are really caring towards these children and IF there are any issues class teachers and support staff will deal with them. The earlier this type of treatment starts the better for your daughter. Your health visitor does seem quite tactless, but don't let that get you down. Talk to your GP and tell them what has been said, hopefully they will guide and support you. Wishing you and your daughter lots of hugs. Anne in North London xx

Lou, my Good Fairy, I am sure she will be fine. Unfortunately, people can be so tactless. Take care ..... :-)

Your Health Visitor does sound very tactless, but I wonder if she meant was your Daughters hearing causing her to get behind with school at all - maybe she was trying to gauge how long it had been bad for? I had a lot of ear problems when I was very young - forever having earache and needing ear drops, then I had Grommits put in both ears - I can hardly remember a thing about it, but it certainly sorted my ears out and I have really good hearing now and no problems at all. I am glad I had it done. My nieces both have eye problems - their eyes flicker from side to side, it's everso slight and you really have to look closely to notice. The eldest has had it since very young and had to wear glasses, but she has grown up into a bright, confident young woman and now has a child of her own. The other one is so bright and bubbly that I don't think anything could get her down - kids are so resilient. I know you're really stressed right now, but at least you're on your way to getting your daughter sorted out and it shouldn't affect her too much - if you hadn't acted now her schooling may have started to suffer because she couldn't hear very well? She sounds like a lovely, bright little girl and I'm sure take all this in her stride. Good luck with everything Kaye x

Lou when i was younger i had a 'lazy eye' it moved slower and drooped....i also used to have to turn peoples heads around when they were talking to me so i could watch their lips! My eye sorted itself out and is now fine, i dont have a prob with it...i am 20% deaf in both ears but they wont fit me a hearing aid until it gets worse, it doesnt even affect my day to day living. I know shes your baby and it is bound to upest you but please understand that she is 3 and as she grows up she wont find it too tough to live with cos its always been that way. (((((hugs))))) to you though xxxx

Lou Of course your upset she,s your baby!! Please don,t be the ear is common, both my boys had grommets in their ears. As for the eye she may just have to wear glasses for a couple of years.. Best to get it all sorted out because she starts school, so she will beable to hear and see her lessons .

Hi Lou, My youngest son had to have grommets to drain his ear when he was four, he is now 28 and although he still gets the odd ear infection, it's usually cleared up with antibiotics. Many years ago, doctors thought my brother had a squint and attempted to correct it by having him wear patches over his eye, and doing eye excercises. After 9 years however, they discovered it was something else. I wouldn't worry too much Lou, I expect things have changed a great deal since then, and these will be outdated methods of correction. It might be that your daughter might be expected to wear glasses for a little while, to see if that helps but, I'm no expert. Jen

Lou'I am postive your little girl is going to be ok.Children usually all want to be the same at school.My youngest daughter is 16 now and always wanted a brace on her teeth as all her friends had them.My grandson is a diabetic and has to inject.When he was in infant school the amount of children that told the teacher they felt low,i should imagine so they could have a drink and a biscuit.All will be fine. Annie x

Hi Lou, I sympathise, my little girl had a squint in both eyes, but it wasn't one that could be corrected with glasses, so a year ago she had surgery to correct it, and all seems to be well at the moment. Hearing problems do sometimes account for a child's lack of progress at school, so maybe your HV was just tactlessly trying to find out if your daughter had had the problem for a while. No use saying try not to worry/be upset, but it can be sorted, and you will stress about it more than your little girl!! Good luck S xx

two of my children had all these kind of problems, at one point we lived at ear nose and throat clinics, gromets for one, and a little op for the other and his ears syringing, and things improved , as deafness runs in my family I know how worrying it is............just keep going it will be okay............. Barbara..xx

Id like to add that one little girl at school has an eye patch, and its very pretty ! But its good your little girl has had it caught quickly. However your HVs approach by asking if your girl was 'SLOW' is not on. If your girl had learning difficulties then it would be in her notes by now, or at least the school would have picked up on it. I think it was a tactless question and you should discuss this with your doctor. Elaine x

LOU IS YOUR HAIR FALLING OUT OR YOU PULLING IT OUT ;0) My nephew had a patch at about 3 and my son who was the same age stuck a sticking plaster over his eye to copy him boy did he cry when i tried to remove it......Not as much as my daughter when she tried to copy me by shaving hers legs though LISA XX

My grand daughter was 5 when she was told she had to wear glasses just for a few years. .. Her mum got her some trendy ones, and the teacher explained to the kids in her class why she had to wear them. .. She has never had any problems with other kids teasing her, and is still as popular as ever. .. Getting these small problems out of the way when they are young is much better. .. Do stay positive Jood in Oz.

Thankyou all.. am off for that cuppa now... will compose and start the day again... Thanks.. louXXXXXXXXX

Please try not to worry......my dau is in reception class at school and they have three children in the class with patches for squints. All the other kids are sooooooooo jealous - they all want them!! These three kids are everyones friends! The patches have pictures on them these days............. Merry

As said before, it's good they have detected this while she is so young. They can then work on correcting it. I'm sure it can all be sorted out. Good luck with it all. xxx