When you have a baby you go for routine well baby exams, if your child gets sick you immediately call the doctor. Is a vision exam also part that routine care. If not it should be.

We all take our vision for granted until something happens and we loose it. Most people feel if their baby is born healthy looks in their direction when talking to them their vision is fine. Oh, how wrong you might be.

According to the U.S Census Bureau about 4.02 babies were born in 2004. About 4% of those babies will develop Strabismus and 3% will develop Amblyopia. That's about 7% or 100,000 babies born each year at risk for eye and vision problems which may be serious.

Strabismus a eyes that aren't properly alligned. Crossed eyes is one type but the eyes can turn out or up and down. The eye muscles don't work together and this causes the mialignment. If left untreated Strabismus can lead to Amblyopia.

Ambylopia is the medical term for "lazy eye" If left untreated Ambylopia can lead to one eye becoming stronger and the weaker eye can become useless leaving that eye functionally blind.

In 2005 the American Optometric Association and The Vision Care Institute of Johnson & Johnson Vision Care Inc. launched InfantSee. InfantSee is a nationwide program to provide professional eye and vision care to infants. Infants between 6 & 12 months can be seen by an optometrist. This exam is free no matter what your income. Even at an age when the baby is unable to communicate verbally with the doctor or read an eye chart their eyes can be examined for serious problems and abnormalities. There are over 7,000 optometrists nationwide who volunteer their services to InfantSee. There is a Doctor Locator on their website. To find out more about Infant Eye Screenings and locate a doctor in your area visit http://www.infantsee.org.

Isn't it worth a free vision screening to insure your child's eyes will develop normally and he'll be able to enjoy all the beautiful things there are to see in this world.