In a family where one of the parents or older children has had strabismus or lazy eye, the younger children should be seen by an eye doctor at an early age, i.e, usually before they are 8-9 months old. It may be possible to prevent the strabismus or the lazy eye from developing if the infants get glasses early enough. Also, some infants seem to have crossed eyes even though their eyes are straight because the distance between the eyes is small and the folds at the inner corner of the eyes are still prominent, so the eyes seem to be too close to the nose. Whenever the parents are uncertain whether the eyes of their infant are straight it is always better to let an eye doctor check the situation. After the age of 3 months the eyes are usually straight most of the time and after the age of six months all the time.
Constant squint is an abnormal situation at any age.
Hand regard is important and teaches spacial concepts and eye-hand coordination . Your hand coming from above is a better way of covering the eye. Observation on an infant's behaviour when crawling on the floor is a good near vision test. If an infant does not recognize small bread crumbs, etc. When a hyperopic infant gets glasses his vision can develop normally.