When your baby is first born, his or her eyes will be relatively uncoordinated and incapable of seeing more than about 8 to 12 inches from his or her own face. That's just enough range to allow your baby to watch your face while breast feeding. In the next several months, your baby's eyes will go through many dramatic changes. As a parent, you'll have many opportunities to help your child develop good visual acuity. To encourage good visual development in your baby, follow these tips.
Provide High Contrast Visual Stimulation
Babies see primarily in black and white until they're about three months old. To encourage your child to use his or her eyes, provide your baby with high-contrast visual stimulation. Hang a black-and-white mobile over your baby's crib, and put black-and-white pictures on your baby's walls. Give your baby black-and-white toys to play with. By providing visually interesting objects for your baby to look at, you will encourage your baby to use and strengthen his or her eyes.
Spend Time Up Close
For the first month or more, your baby's vision will continue to be very limited to a very short range. Keep your face close to your baby's face to give him or her plenty of visual stimulation. Hold toys and other objects close to your baby's face so that he or she can see them clearly.
Move Objects Back and Forth in Front of Your Baby's Face
Babies won't start to track objects with their eyes until they're at least a month old, and until they're about three months old, they track by moving their entire head. You can encourage your baby to start tracking by holding high-contrast objects in front of your baby's face and then moving them slowly from side to side.
Learn to Recognize the Signs of Vision Trouble
Many young babies eyes will go crossed from time to time, because their eye muscles aren't as strong and coordinated as adult eye muscles. However, your baby's eyes should not be crossed all the time. If your baby's eyes are crossed more often than not, this could be a sign of vision trouble. Luckily, many vision problems are correctable if they're treated at a young age. It's never too early to take your baby to an optometrist for an eye exam. If you've begun to notice signs of vision problems in your baby, contact an experienced optometrist in you area. Visit sites like http://arizonaeyes.net for more information.
Share20 May 2015
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