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Your Infant's Visual Development
Your baby has a whole lifetime to see and learn. But, did
you know your baby also has to learn to see? As a parent,
there are many things that you can do to help your baby's
vision develop. First, proper prenatal care and nutrition
can help your baby's eyes develop even before birth. At
birth, your baby's eyes should be examined for signs of
congenital eye problems. These are rare, but early diagnosis
and treatment are important to your child's development.
At about age six months, you should take your baby to an
eye doctor for his or her first thorough eye examination.
Things that an eye doctor will test for include excessive
or unequal amounts of nearsightedness, farsightedness, or
astigmatism and eye movement ability as well as eye health
problems. These problems are not common, but it is important
to identify children who have them at this stage. Vision
development and eye health problems can be more easily corrected
if treatment is begun early.
Unless you notice a need, or your doctor advises you otherwise,
your child's next examination should be around age three,
and then again before he or she enters school.
Between birth and age three, when many of your baby's vision
skills will develop, there are ways that you can help.
First Four Months
Your baby should begin to follow moving objects with his
or her eyes and reach for things, first by chance and later
more accurately, as hand-eye coordination and depth perception
begin to develop:
| Use a nightlight or other dim lamp
in your baby's room |
| Change the crib's position frequently
and your child's position in it |
| Keep reach-and-touch toys within your
baby's focus, about eight to 12 inches |
| Talk to your baby as you walk around
the room |
| Alternate right and left sides with
each feeding |
| Hang a mobile above and outside the
crib. |
Four to Eight Months
Your baby should begin to turn from side to side and use
his or her arms and legs. Eye movement and eye/body coordination
skills should develop further and both eyes should focus
equally.
| Enable your baby to explore different
shapes and textures with his or her fingers |
| Give your baby the freedom to crawl
and explore |
| Hang objects across the crib |
| Play "patty cake" and "peek-a-boo"
with your baby. |
Eight to Twelve Months
Your baby should be mobile, crawling and pulling himself
or herself up. He or she will begin to use both eyes together
and judge distances and grasp and throw objects with greater
precision. To support development:
| Don't encourage early walking - crawling
is important in developing eye-hand-foot-body coordination
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| Give your baby stacking and take-apart
toys |
| Provide objects your baby can touch,
hold and see at the same time. |
One to two years
Your child's eye-hand coordination and depth perception
will continue to develop and he or she will begin to understand
abstract terms. Things you can do:
| Encourage walking |
| Provide building blocks, simple puzzles
and balls |
| Provide opportunities to climb and
explore indoors and out. |
| There are many other affectionate and
loving ways in which you can aid your baby's vision
development. Use your creativity and imagination. Ask
your eye doctor to suggest other specific activities. |
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