| OCR Text |
Show Infants' Eyes Should Be Carefully Protected For several weeks after birth the immature eyes of babies should be shaded carefully from strong light sources. Infants' eyes should not be unduly fatigued by hand and other maneuvers of neighbors and relatives rela-tives to attract attention. Mothers should not expose their young infants to dust in a room when cleaning the house, or to other conditions where irritant particles may lurk in the atmosphere. Muscles of young eyes need time and practice before they can function func-tion easily, just as the muscles of the arms and legs require long exercise ex-ercise and development before they can carry on their work. For this reason objects should not be held too near the eyes of infants, otherwise other-wise the muscles of accommodation may be strained in attempting to focus closely. For several weeks the eyes of most infants are of an indifferent grayish blue before taking on their permanent hue of pigmentation. Also, at first an infant sees everything every-thing in an indistinct monotone of gray. The ability to distinguish colors col-ors develops slowly. Excellent Use for Tears. Nature has provided the eyes with an excellent antiseptic wash in the form of tears, and usually eyes of infants take care of themselves in respect to infections. However, there is one important exception. Thousands of children have been blinded from infections arising from social diseases in their parents. Sometimes a child is born with good eyes and not until several years later lat-er do evidences of the infection appear ap-pear in the eyes, or elsewhere. Fortunately, For-tunately, a preventive against such infection of infants' eyes has been found by science in silver nitrate. Now laws of most states require doctors doc-tors to drop a small amount of silver sil-ver nitrate solution in the eyes of newly born infants. This practice has saved the eyes of countless children. |
