Just as your baby starts to talk, sit up, and walk, theyโll also learn to fully use their eyes ๐๐ฅฐ๐ฅฐ.
In fact, your babyโs eyes are capable of seeing properly at birth, but their brain is not yet ready to process and interpret such complex information.
A babyโs eyesight develops over time. At birth, babies can see up to 9 inchesโthe distance from a motherโs ๐๐ฏ๐ข๐๐ฐ๐ฑ to her face. In fact, within a few days of birth, babies prefer an image of their motherโs face over any others.
While healthy babies are born with the ability to see, they havenโt yet developed the ability to focus their eyes, accurately move them, or even use them together as a pair ๐. The color that babies see at birth is very rudimentary, and their capability to process different shades of a color is limited ๐คทโโ๏ธ.
By the end of the first month, a baby can make eye contact and focus on objects about 12 inches away. Through your babyโs second and third months, her vision will continue to improve ๐ช๐ช. Her eyes will begin to work together as a team, and she will be able to follow objects. Donโt be alarmed if you see your babyโs eyes cross during the first month. From birth until about 4 months of age, it is considered normal for the eyes of infants to wander or cross ๐๐. Babies have an adult-like perfect color vision by the end of the ninth month, and it refines by the end of the first year ๐๐.
Here is the process of vision development in babies ๐๐๐:
๐ Your babyโs sight: 5 to 8 months
๐ธ Usually, a babyโs eyes donโt work well enough together until about 5 months. At that age, their eyes can form the 3-D view of the world.
๐ธ During these months, babies will begin developing new skills, including depth perception, including:
+ Ability to determine how close or far away an object is based on objects around;
+ Improved hand-eye coordination helps your baby spot something interesting, pick it up, turn it around, and explore it in many different ways.
๐ธ During this time, your babyโs color vision will also improve ๐ช๐ช.
๐ Your babyโs sight: 9 to 12 months
๐ธ By the time your baby is 1 year old, theyโll be able to judge distances well. They can also throw things with some precision, so watch out!
๐ธ By now, your baby can see things very clearly, both near and far. They can quickly focus on even fast-moving objects. Theyโll enjoy playing hide-and-seek games with toys, or peek-a-boo with you.