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Us! Our twins were late-term preemies at 36w0d. They haven't had retinal issues, thankfully, but inherited both DH's and my eye issues! We started noticing that our DD's eyes were turning in, (her left eye, especially), at around 8 months.

The eye doctor will probably dilate your baby's eyes, which takes about 20-30 minutes, (i.e. prepare for a longer appointment!). Then they focus the baby's eyes with a picture or moving object in front of them, which keeps their eyes still.As your baby focuses on the interesting object, the doctor shines a small light into his or her eyes. (I just held DD in the chair while he did this). Using these weird prism-like objects, the doctor determines your baby's eyesight and, if necessary, their prescription. I didn't ask, but it appeared he was using the prism in the same way a regular/adult optometrist would use that fancy swinging glasses thing and ask you, "one, or two?"...if you have ever done this. I think he just looked at how the pupil responded under each prism he held up. Does that make sense?

For DD, her eyes were crossing because she was focusing too hard on close-up things. That meant she was far-sighted, (in her case, VERY far-sighted). Apparently this is extremely common. The other possibility -- also very common -- is that she had inherited my eye problem, called strabismus, where each eye sees its own image and the brain doesn't put those two images together.

For DD, the diagnoses meant glasses and a patch. We ended up buying a pair of Miraflex, which aren't nearly as cute as many other kids' glasses but are virtually indestructible and come in cute colors. (YEAH, VIRTUALLY...the lenses are/were still scratched after because she uses her glasses as a teether any chance she gets!). The Miraflex come with an elastic band that goes around the baby's head, but honestly it isn't a lot of help. It's frustrating. Also, as a PSA, they cost about $250. Good times, especially when your baby "strategically places" them, if you know what I mean.

For the patch, you can buy the cheap ones that look like Bandaids and freak out the general public, or invest in Ortopads, which are way cuter and buy you fewer crazypants looks from mothers and other kids (http://www.ortopadusa.com. As a bonus, they are WAY less irritating to the baby's skin, as well.

Let me know what happens! It's hard, but if you can find out what's wrong now, you may avert bigger issues in the future. GL, Mama!

LO has an appointment next week as part of the InfantSee program (doctors donate appts so that babies can get their eyes checked early, and FREE! no income basis). She's almost 10 months old.

@twoofeverything: thank you for this info! We have an appt on tues to have c evaluated for strabismus and I had no idea what to expect.