The Subtle Baby Monitor Sign That Could Flag Hidden Eye Conditions

It turns out baby monitors aren’t just useful tools for keeping an eye on little ones while they sleep.

A former paramedic has shared how they can sometimes flag underlying issues with a child’s eye health “long before any other symptoms” might show up. 

Nikki Jurcutz, who runs Tiny Hearts Education, shared a video on social media where a baby’s eyes looked different – one glowed white, while the other was black – on the baby monitor at night. 

“This one sign can catch a childhood cancer long before any other symptoms, and every time we post this we have at least one parent reaching out to say it made them look, and what they found changed everything,” the Instagram post read.

The expert shared how a mother noticed one of her baby’s eyes looked black on the monitor screen at night, while the other reflected the light as normal. Her baby was diagnosed with retinoblastoma (a rare childhood eye cancer) and doctors were thankfully able to save his eye and his life.

“On the monitor at night, both eyes should reflect the infrared light back the same way. If one glows and the other stays dark, don’t wait, have your little one assessed,” explained Tiny Hearts’ post. 

The same goes for flash photos – if one eye appears white, instead of red, it can signal a problem.

Why might the eyes reflect differently?

In dim light, our pupils get bigger to absorb more light (so we can see better).

According to World Eye Cancer Hope, “flash photos capture a distinct colour of pigment epithelium and vascular layers supporting the retina, seen through the expanded pupil”.

This can mean eyes look a red or red-orange colour in photos – although this can vary depending on ethnicity. Darker eyes might appear yellow, orange, blue or off-white, said the organisation.

But when an underlying issue, like retinoblastoma, stops the retina from absorbing the light from a camera’s flash, it can make the eyes look like they have a white glow.

It’s not always a sign of cancer, but it’s worth getting checked

Tiny Hearts’ Instagram post caveated that an eye that reflects light differently is not always a sign of cancer: “It can be a cataract, or a handful of other things, and a lot of the time it’s something very treatable.

“But it always needs checking, because every now and then it’s the first sign of something where catching it early changes everything.”

In response to the post, one parent revealed their daughter had a congenital cataract, and they noticed it because of how her eyes appeared on the baby monitor, as well as when taking photos with flash enabled. 

They added: “In photos, one eye would appear red while the other looked black. If you ever notice this with your little one, either on a baby monitor or in flash photography, please have their eyes checked. It’s so important.”

Another commenter said: “I was diagnosed with retinoblastoma at 4 years old and my parents only discovered something was wrong from a photograph showing one eye with a white glow!

“I lost my eye but was only a few months off the cancer travelling up the optic nerve to my brain, so lucky mum and dad caught it early enough.”

If you’ve noticed a difference in how your child’s eyes are reflected on the baby monitor, you can also try taking a photo with the flash on.

Dr Jane Edmond, of Baylor College of Medicine and Texas Children’s Hospital, told the American Academy of Opthalmology (AAO) that there are certain conditions that can help parents get a good shot of their child’s eyes.

These include:

If you have any concerns, speak to your child’s GP or book an appointment at your local opticians.