I decided to write about baby vision development because early visual development is so critical! It is all I can do not to grab mommies on the street when I see they have a three-month-old and tell them how to optimize the changes that are going on in their baby’s eyes right at that very moment!
1. I can’t see you very well when you talk to me from across the room, but I can focus on your face while you hold me.
When babies are born, their vision is not entirely developed. The newborn’s visual acuity is approximately 20/600, developing to 20/20 to 20/30 at six months in most children.6,7 So their world is very near to them. Babies are all nearsighted and can best see about 8-12 inches from their faces.8 According to a study published in 2009, most visual development occurs during the first six months.1 We consider these first six months a critical period because it is challenging to make corrections after early visual development occurs.
2. I love to look at your face when you change my diaper.
Studies show that babies prefer to look at mommy and daddy’s, other children’s, and their own faces in a mirror more than anything else.2
3. I don’t know what pink or yellow looks like yet.
Scientists now believe babies only see in black and white for the first three months.3 Between two and four months of age, the cones in the eyes develop and grow longer, starting to perceive different colors.9 At first, they can tell red and green apart, and then a few weeks later, they can also tell apart yellows and blues. The colors need to be bold, though. That is why so many black, white, and red toys are on the market for newborns. I love to use a playing card for visual stimulation. Something as simple as a three of hearts or six of clubs is visually stimulating for a baby.
4. The world looks very flat to me.
At around four months, a baby’s eyes begin working together and their depth perception begins developing (binocular vision).10 Newborn babies have no depth perception, but it develops very rapidly around four months, within a two-week period. This is important to know because if a baby has an eye disease or visual delay, depth perception cannot develop appropriately within that crucial two-week window.
5. Sometimes I can see you better out of the corner of my eye.
When babies are born, their peripheral vision is more acute than straight ahead. We used to think that babies had no peripheral vision! If you look closely, you will notice that newborn babies will turn their heads away from you, then look at you out of the corners of their eyes. That is not due to a lack of control. They are doing that so they can see you better. Babies are so smart!
6. Don’t panic if I look cross-eyed. That is normal!
Along with visual acuity, visual motor skills (or coordination of the tiny muscles around the eyes) are developing throughout the first year, and both components need to be exercised simultaneously. Visual-motor skills are essential for scanning, reading, and catching a ball.4 You can help develop the tiny muscles around their eyes by moving baby in an arc in front of you while talking to her and encouraging her to keep her eyes on your face. You can also move a playing card in an arc horizontally and vertically 10 inches in front of her face, encouraging her to move her eyes to follow the card. When you feed her, give her the bottle for 10 minutes on one side and 10 minutes on the other side so she can gaze up at your face from both directions.
7. Tummy time and crawling will help my visual development.
This is the case for two reasons: First, babies are close to the floor where all their toys are and the proximity and movement stimulate their eyes. The second reason is the most fascinating. Because the left side of our brain controls our body’s right side and vice versa, the two sides of our brain need to learn to communicate and work together for us to have coordinated movements. As babies crawl and use their entire body reciprocally, the corpus callosum, or the part of the brain that connects the two sides, is very stimulated.
This stimulation strengthens the corpus callosum, building the connections between the two sides of the brain.5 Since both sides of the brain need to work together to perceive what your baby sees, crawling enhances visual skills and helps build a foundation for good lifelong vision and reading skills.
