HOW DO BABIES SEE?
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Newborn babies and infants have developing vision, and their visual ability improves over time. Perhaps we have wondered: how do babies see? At what age do they see well? Do they recognise our faces?
Babies are known to react to light during pregnancy from the 30th week of gestation, and after birth their vision develops as follows:
- Newborn: they see shadows and lights. They recognise their parents mainly by smell and voice.
- Second month: they recognise faces (distinguishing mum and dad), fix their gaze and follow objects. At this stage, it is therefore helpful to show them objects at a distance of 20–30 cm and move them slowly.
- Third/fourth month: they see further away (beginning to perceive depth) and distinguish basic colours.
- Fifth/sixth month: they recognise objects and look for them, can distinguish objects further away and see a wider range of colours, detecting more shades.
- Seventh/eighth month: they can judge the distance of objects.
- At one year: their vision resembles an adult's, although it does not reach the same level until the age of 6–7.
Points to consider about how babies see
Another point to consider is that babies' nasal retina is more developed than the rest of the retina. This results in a smaller visual field, which develops very rapidly during the first month of life and reaches an adult's size at around one year.
At Clínica Castellote, we always recommend a first ophthalmic examination for babies from around 18 months of age. However, an earlier examination is advisable if there is constant watering, an inability to fix the gaze from 4 months, uncontrollable oscillating eye movements or a permanent deviation of either eye. The purpose of this examination is to detect conditions such as squint, lazy eye or refractive errors that need early treatment.
If you would like to ask us about our children's ophthalmology services, please get in contact with us.