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Blindness

MissSunny42MissSunny42
in Special Needs

A girl I went to college with had a baby a few months ago. He was born, full term and totally healthy. They JUST found out that he is totally blind. I feel horrible about this, my friend is devastated, but mostly I am terrified! Has anyone heard of a baby being born completely blind with no other issues?? If so, what caused it?? I am now questioning everything I have done throughout this pregnancy. It is so scary when something like this hits so close to home...(even though we really are not that close)

 (the mother of the baby has a history of cocaine use, as does her husband, but I am sure this stopped after college, she is definitely not the type of person to continue using drugs while pregnant.) Could past drug use have caused this?

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Re: Blindness

  • JOEBunnyJOEBunny member
    I don't know about babies, but I worked with a man who was born completely blind.  He worked on computers and had a seeing eye dog.  If he had any other issues, they were not apparent at 35 years old.  I don't think you could trace blindness back to recreational drug use in college.  It is devastating to get such a diagnosis, but there are really good tools to overcome many things about blindness now.  A blind person can certainly lead a full, happy, productive life.  I hope the best for your friend and her child. 
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  • Florak8Florak8

    What Joebunny said is right. Being blind, or having other disabilities, means you will have a different life than most, but it does not mean you can not have as happy a life as most.



     

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  • lmorganlmorgan
    My baby girl is completely blind in one eye and has uncertain vision in her other eye.  She has what is called Optic nerve hypoplasia........which essentially just means that her optic nerves didn't form correctly.  It often means that part of the brain didn't form correctly also but so far she seems to not have any of those associated issues.  My girl is a super normal, happy kiddo and honestly I think the whole thing is harder on me than her.  Their kid will be just fine.............growing up will be different, but not worse.  These things happen, and I would say that past cocaine use is pretty unlikely to have anything to do with blindness.  It hurts my heart that your friend is devastated because I remember feeling so sad but when I look back now I realize how much worse it can be!  She too will realize that sight is not essential and they will find all kinds of support and resources for their little one too.  Good luck.
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  • cma1989cma1989

    imagelmorgan:
    My baby girl is completely blind in one eye and has uncertain vision in her other eye.  She has what is called Optic nerve hypoplasia........which essentially just means that her optic nerves didn't form correctly.  It often means that part of the brain didn't form correctly also but so far she seems to not have any of those associated issues.  My girl is a super normal, happy kiddo and honestly I think the whole thing is harder on me than her.  Their kid will be just fine.............growing up will be different, but not worse.  These things happen, and I would say that past cocaine use is pretty unlikely to have anything to do with blindness.  It hurts my heart that your friend is devastated because I remember feeling so sad but when I look back now I realize how much worse it can be!  She too will realize that sight is not essential and they will find all kinds of support and resources for their little one too.  Good luck.

    I feel like I could have written this myself. My daughter was diagnosed at about 6 1/2 months with ONH as well. She is completely blind in one eye and her vision is uncertain in the other. As far as I know it just happened. I didn't use drugs or alcohol, or even ANY medication (not even tylenol) throughout my entire pregnancy. She is happy and smart and normal so I count my blessings. 

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  • bmonkeysmommybmonkeysmommy
    my son turned 3 in september and was diagnosed with both ONH and SOD when he was 6 months old. i was originally told he may not walk or talk until he was about 3. he went through many types of testing and we immediately got him involved in services. he started with occupational therapy and started at a school for visually impaired children right after he turned 2. his progress is amazing. his vocabulary is advanced and he runs like a typical 3 year old only a little more wobbly. i have done a lot of research on this condition and they do believe that this is mainly caused by environmental. other factors can step is such as drug/alcohol use, but for the most part this is something that we could not have prevented.  i am new to this site, but joined while looking stuff up for ONH.  i have a support group on facebook with 205 people on it and would gladly give the information for other parents to join. even though our children may have delays along the way, they are still our children and they need us to be the ones to help them through their bumps in the road. if anyone has any questions, or just needs someone to talk to i am always available :)
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