Babies may enter the world with their eyes shut tight against the suddenly bright lights of a hospital room, but before long, they are looking around and exploring their visual world. Here’s what you can expect your baby to see in the first few months.
• At birth: A baby is born with the ability to see, but most of the world looks pretty fuzzy. At birth, a baby can see things that are between 8 and 15 inches away, but her brain has not learned how to take the images her eyes receive and make sense out of the pictures. A newborn’s eyes are not able to focus on objects right away. But within a few days, her ability to focus will improve and many babies will begin to react to their mother’s face. Researchers believe what the baby actually sees at this point is the division between mom’s face and her hairline rather than her actual facial features.
• 1 month: Babies’ eyes are not as sensitive to light during the first month as adults are, so having light on while they are sleeping is not likely to bother them. Within the first weeks of life, babies are able to see some colors including red, orange, yellow, and green. Blue and purple will be more visible later. Because colors are difficult to tell apart, many babies prefer high-contrasts, like black and white. At this age, a baby’s eyes may sometime seem to be looking in different directions. This is usually normal. But if your baby’s eyes never look the same direction, schedule an appointment with an eye doctor to have your baby’s eyes checked.
• 2- 4 months: During this time, your baby’s eyes will start tracking together and working as a team. This will make it easier for her to focus and follow moving objects, and help her follow movement by moving her eyes without moving her head. As her eyes work together better, she will develop better depth perception and will start reaching for things she sees.
• 5 months: At this age, babies can see the difference between bold colors and are starting to see the differences in pale or pastel colors. They are also beginning to recognize objects and can recognize the faces of people they know well.
• 6 months: By the time your baby is 6 months old, the vision center in the brain will be working better which will help her see more clearly and will allow her to track moving objects more quickly. At this age, her eye-hand coordination will have improved enough that she will be able to grab objects and direct them into her mouth.
This is the time when all babies should have their first visit to the eye doctor for a check-up. By looking into your baby’s eyes using special lenses and other equipment, the doctor will be able to check how well your baby can see. He will be able to tell if she has any vision problems and will make sure her eyes are working together and aligning the way they should.
• 8 months: At this age, your baby’s vision and depth perception will be almost completely developed. Her close vision may still be slightly better than her distance vision, but by now she will be able to see objects and recognize people from across the room. By 8 months, her eyes will also be close to their final color.
Taking care of your baby’s eyes at an early age can help ensure that her vision will continue to develop normally. To help with this, the American Optometric Association has developed the InfantSEE program which provides a free eye exam for all babies between the ages of 6 months and 1 year. For more information about this program, visit the InfantSEE website or call 888-396-3937.
An article to follow will share ideas of things you can do to help your baby develop good vision.
Sources:
All About Vision
Baby Centre
Smith-Kettlewell Eye Research Institue
InfantSEE website