Did you know a newborn's vision goes through many changes in their first year of life?
Newborn's Visual development
At birth, your baby's retina is not fully developed yet and they are very sensitive to bright light can only see black and white and their vision is blurry! They can perceive shapes from 8 to 12 inches away and they begin to familiarize themselves with their main caretaker that way.
They can see movement and difference between light and dark.
At about 1 Month Old
Your baby may focus on you briefly and may be able to recognize objects up to 3 feet away
2 to 4 months
Your baby is practicing their focus and ability to track moving objects. They may turn their eyes and follow you around the room!
5 to 6 months
Your baby is likely developing their depth perception more fully and are trying to understand the world around them. They may get better at reaching for objects near and far, and also have a good color vision at this point.
How to encourage their natural visual development?
During this newborn phase, your baby is refining their visual development and you could do some "awake time" activities that you can offer to enable to naturally work on their visual refinement.
Because they can only see black and white for a period of time, providing them high contrast images and objects will help refine their vision. Black and white are very contrasted, think of black in white spaces, or in the reverse.
High contrast images are very beneficial to your baby's visual development at this stage.
- It can capture your baby's attention
- It will stimulate brain development
- It will help them develop focus and concentration
- Overall - help stimulate your baby's visual development
How to use high contrast cards?
There are so many ways and so many moms have came up with creative activities for their little ones. Some examples are:
- Print the cards out on thicker paper if you can. If you have a laminate machine, you could do that to protect it from all those sweet drools and milky spit ups :). Paper Protector sleeves also work fine, or just old fashion..tape!!
- Hold the card out about 12 inches from your baby, sit back and observe how they decide to interact with them! See which one (or two) they gravitate to :)
- Slowly move the card left to right / up and down / in circles - watch to see if your baby will start do some visual tracking!
- During tummy time, place the cards down on the ground, slightly ahead of them. If it draws their attention, they'll practice strengthening their neck and back muscles and eventually able to support their own heads in few more weeks/months!
- Make it into an accordion and use it on the go or set out during tummy time.
- Place a few small ones by their crib/bassinet for a little bit of eye stimulation while they doze off to sleep
- Talking to your baby is so beneficial for them and they LOVE hearing your voice. Use the high contrast cards as a way to tell a story, or describe an object, it. it will all be beneficial to help your baby expand their vocabulary!
Babies are so amazing and they will continue to inspire and teach us to be curious everyday!
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