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The non-blink of an eye.

2006-08-07 - 7:58 a.m.

Okay, what is the deal with babies� eyes? Is Grommet the only baby that doesn�t seem to notice when there�s something irritating in her eye? Many, many times I�ve gazed adoringly into her eyes, trying to find the perfect description for their grey-blue colour (� with eyes like the sea after a storm.� Bonus points if you can tell me the movie that quote is from. But I digress�), only to see an eyelash floating across the surface of her cornea.

Now, such a thing would bug the crap out of me and I�d be rubbing my eye and heading for the nearest mirror to get it out. She just grins at me and seems blithely unaware that there is a huge pointy thing, sometimes encased in eye schmutz drifting across her vision.

So what do I do? If it�s not bothering her, do I try to get it out? Or do I take the largely successful (and doctor-endorsed) road I�ve opted for so far and try to ignore it, my eyes involuntarily watering in sympathy, hoping that it will work its own way out during the night? When it does start to seem like it�s bothering her (as I�m assuming it will one day), how do you get something out of a baby�s/child�s eye anyway?

And I want to know: why doesn�t it bother her? For that matter, when she�s tired and rubbing her eyes, it looks like she�s sticking her fingers right in them some times, and that doesn�t seem to bother her either? Why not? Do babies naturally have insensitive eyes? Do they not grow a lot of pain nerve endings in the eye until later in life? A protective coating? I know this may sound crazy but I swear to you that there are times I�ve looked at her eyes when the surface was reflecting light and seen this gold sheen on them, kind of like water with a drop of oil on its surface, or sunglasses with a slightly reflective coating. And no, it�s not that they�ve dried out (babies don�t blink as much as adults), because it�s still there just after she blinks. Am I the only one that�s seen this? Am I nuts and imagining it? What�s the story, internet?

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