Their eye only turns when they're tired. Does that still matter?

Yes. An intermittent squint is still a squint and still needs assessing. It often becomes more constant over time, and the treatment window does not pause in the meantime.

They passed their vision check. Should I still push?

If you have seen a turn at home, yes. Say so explicitly and bring a photo. A single normal examination does not rule out an intermittent squint, because it depends entirely on whether the eye happened to be doing it at the time.

Will they grow out of it?

Babies under about four months can look intermittently cross-eyed and that does resolve. Past that, waiting to see is not the right approach - the cost of assessing something that turns out to be nothing is very low, and the cost of missing it is permanent.

When it happens · 4 min read

An eye that turns or drifts

You have noticed one eye drifting — inwards or outwards, maybe only at the end of the day, maybe only in photographs. Or someone else mentioned it and now you cannot stop looking.

A handful of eye conditions turn up in this age group and they differ enormously in urgency. Most resolve on their own. One has a treatment window that closes.

Last updated August 17, 2026

The one that's time-critical

An eye that turns in or out — a squint, or strabismus — needs assessment promptly at any age past the first few months. Newborns can look briefly cross-eyed and that settles; a persistent or repeated turn after that does not.

The reason for the urgency is not cosmetic. When the two eyes point in different directions, the brain suppresses the image coming from the misaligned one to avoid double vision. Left alone, the vision in that eye simply fails to develop, and past a certain point the loss is permanent no matter what is done later.

Treatment is glasses, patching the stronger eye, or sometimes surgery, and every part of it works better the earlier it starts. The US Preventive Services Task Force recommends vision screening at least once between ages three and five specifically to catch this before the window closes.

An intermittent turn that only appears when they are tired or unwell still counts. So does a turn only you have noticed. Take a photograph when you see it — it is rarely obliging enough to do it during the appointment, and a photo moves the conversation along considerably.

The commoner, milder ones

Conjunctivitis: red, sticky eyes, usually viral, usually settling by itself. Very contagious, so wash hands and do not share towels.

Blocked tear ducts, causing a persistently watery eye. Mostly a baby problem and mostly resolved by the second birthday.

Styes and blepharitis, managed with warm compresses and lid cleaning.

Allergic eyes — itchy, watery, worse in a particular season or a particular room. These travel with hay fever and usually improve when that is treated properly.

Same-day, no waiting

Pain in the eye, sensitivity to light, or any change in vision.

Redness and swelling of the eyelid and the skin around the eye, especially with a fever. That can be an infection behind the eye rather than on the surface of it, and it is treated urgently.

Any injury, chemical splash, or something stuck in the eye. For chemicals, irrigate with running water on the way rather than waiting.

A white or absent reflection in the pupil in flash photographs, where the other eye shows the usual red. That has a small number of possible causes, some of them serious, and all of them are better found early.

Common questions

Their eye only turns when they're tired. Does that still matter?: Yes. An intermittent squint is still a squint and still needs assessing. It often becomes more constant over time, and the treatment window does not pause in the meantime.
They passed their vision check. Should I still push?: If you have seen a turn at home, yes. Say so explicitly and bring a photo. A single normal examination does not rule out an intermittent squint, because it depends entirely on whether the eye happened to be doing it at the time.
Will they grow out of it?: Babies under about four months can look intermittently cross-eyed and that does resolve. Past that, waiting to see is not the right approach - the cost of assessing something that turns out to be nothing is very low, and the cost of missing it is permanent.

If it's this, not that

Pink eye: is it actually contagious, and does daycare's rule make sense? →

Still not sure

This page is the general answer. Yours is a specific child.

The advisor can be. It has read everything here, and it knows how old your children actually are — which is the whole difference wherever guidance changes with age. Ask it anything.

She's got a temperature of 100. Is that something to worry about?
He's obsessed with space and galaxies — what toys are worth getting him?

Get the weekly note — and the advisor

Free. It comes with the note.

It answers from the same cited pages you are reading, and when the question is where to go, from the real clinician, hospital and childcare records behind this site — not a link to go search them yourself. It says so when we have not written about something, and it is not a doctor; for anything urgent it gives you the threshold and tells you to call.

Where this comes from

Every claim on this page traces to one of these. See every source we use →

Written from the sources named above, and it is not a substitute for your own doctor. If something feels wrong to you, that instinct is a good enough reason to call — you know yourself and this family better than any page does.