Babies can already "see" in their mum's womb: they can at least distinguish between light and dark. And they can see one particular colour in particular: red! Because whenever light shines through the mother's abdominal wall, the baby is surrounded by reddish light. When they are born, they see the many-coloured world. For newborns, however, it is not yet quite as colourful and sharply contoured as it is for us adults, because the baby's sense of sight has yet to develop.
Being able to see is a complex interplay between the eyes and the brain. In simple terms, this means that when light stimuli hit the sensory cells of the retina, they trigger electrical impulses there, which are then transmitted along nerve pathways to the brain. Here, the stimuli are perceived as images through complex processing. However, baby's brain still has to learn to process the many new impressions. In addition, the nerve cells required for this ability have yet to develop.
How vision develops
At the beginning of life, babies can already distinguish patterns and shapes and, above all, contrasts between light and dark. However, they are not yet able to see as clearly as adults, but perceive their surroundings rather dimly.
But nature has organised this perfectly: Even very young children can see clearly at a distance of 20 to 30 centimetres. Quite "coincidentally", this distance is also exactly the distance at which parents intuitively turn towards their child, i.e. approach the little face with their face. And when breastfeeding, this also corresponds roughly to the distance between the mother's and baby's faces. This allows the baby to see its closest carers well - and loves to study their faces and facial expressions at length.
Newborns are also not "colour-blind", as was previously assumed. Although most babies can only recognise blue in particular after a few months, and it takes a child years to distinguish between pastel shades, a child reacts strongly to red from day one. This was discovered by British scientist Dr Anna Franklin in a colour study with babies. Apparently, red reminds the little ones of the familiar security of their mother's womb.
What you should also know: Your baby will remain very sensitive to light for quite a while. So if you take photos of your little one, please do not use a flash! Because the high sensitivity to glare lasts until the sixth month of life, you should never expose your child to direct sunlight.
The fact that newborns see distant objects out of focus in their first few weeks is due to the fact that their visual muscles and optic nerve still need training. It takes effort and coordination for the little eyes to focus on an object. In many cases, a baby is already able to follow an object with their eyes at the age of one month. It often happens that babies squint during this phase (known as physiological squinting). This is because they are not yet able to move their eyes synchronously and the eye muscles are often still a little too weak to coordinate the eye movement "correctly". However, this regularly improves by the time the child is three months old.
At three to four months, the child can recognise different colours better. Now they also like bright orange and bright purple. But according to the British colour study, only a third of babies are interested in green - and only a quarter in yellow. Never mind, that will come too!
From around the 12th week, the child also develops spatial vision. This is because the brain is now able to recognise the two images that it receives with the left and right eye. one only picture together. This also enables the baby to reach for objects that it sees. They begin to enjoy training their hand-eye coordination. Now the little ones are even starting to recognise things. Colourful pictures, a mobilé above the changing table or cuddly toys in bright colours with clear colour contrasts attract their attention.
Tip: A first Baby feeling book not only promotes vision, but also feeling, hearing and the Language development . Later on, the famous "peekaboo hide-and-seek" games become increasingly popular. Your child will be thrilled when mummy or daddy's face, hidden behind a cloth, suddenly reappears.
The following finding by the Max Planck Institute is also interesting: by the age of four months at the latest, children can recognise the direction of another person's gaze. If you show them a picture in which someone is turning their head and looking to the side, the child will automatically direct their attention there. In this way, the baby uses this social signal to find its way around the world and concentrate on important things, according to the research team.
If your baby has previously enthusiastically examined objects with their mouth, sucked, licked or sucked on them (oral phase), they will now increasingly explore things with their eyes. At around seven to eight months, children also recognise objects or toys beyond their reach. This awakens their interest in their wider environment. Babies enthusiastically stretch out their little hands to get that exciting "thing over there". This curiosity in turn mobilises their desire to somehow get hold of the object. independent whether sliding, crawling or crawling. Your child also trains their motor skills in the process.
By their first birthday, your child has about half the visual acuity of an adult. They can now also recognise people further away. The ability to see clearly increases again during the second and third year of life. However, it is not until the age of nine that spatial vision is developed to the point where it corresponds to that of an adult. This is why most first to third graders, for example, still have difficulties reliably estimating the distance between cars of different sizes. This should not surprise us, because it is only at the age of 10 to 12 that the area that the child can see with both eyes (the field of vision) is as large as that of us adults.
As you can see, learning to see is a lengthy, complicated process. And the ability to see is much more than just perceiving or recognising something. This ability has a holistic effect on your child's development on all levels: physically, mentally and socially. After all, people absorb 80 per cent of all information that reaches them through their eyes.
Eye tests from the beginning of life
The earlier a visual impairment is detected in children, the better it can be treated. You may now be wondering how you find out that young children have a visual impairment. After all, they don't know any different and don't know what "normal" vision is. And very young children are not yet able to articulate themselves properly anyway. Parents may also think that poor eyesight isn't that bad, it certainly doesn't hurt - unlike a sore tummy.
But already at the U1 the newborn's eyes are examined externally. A few days later at the U2 the paediatrician will already have examined your child's pupil and cornea using a special eye mirror. During the U4 to U7 a special fluoroscopy test (Brückner test) is part of the "compulsory programme" to detect visual disorders in babies. And shortly before the third birthday at the U7a various methods are used to test whether the child's vision is equally sharp in both eyes and whether spatial vision is developed according to age. All results are always analysed in the yellow child examination booklet registered. For this and many other reasons, it is important that you and your children attend all preventive medical check-ups!
There are also special methods and devices for testing babies' vision. When testing using the preferential looking method, for example, the child should turn its head in the direction of a striped pattern shown to it on cards. An automatic refractometer, a high-precision measuring device, can be used from around six months of age to detect any defective vision. If there are any abnormal findings at the paediatrician's practice, the next step is to see an ophthalmologist.
Tip: If you notice anything unusual about your child, such as a drooping eyelid, conspicuous pupils, no reaction to light or reaching past objects, then don't hesitate to seek medical advice!
If necessary, there are glasses for babies that are specially designed to fit the needs of the youngest. These models are not only extra light, but their special narrow shape also allows the child to lie on its side without the glasses pinching. And the nose bridge is specially reinforced with plastic for a comfortable fit.
What parents can try out
The Kuratorium Gutes Sehen e. V. has published on its website (www.sehen.de) has published a "vision check for babies" that parents can carry out themselves. But please note: This vision check does not replace a preventive medical check-up or other medical examinations! The ages given can also vary and are only average values, as every child develops at their own pace!
Parents can keep an eye on the following things:
In the 1st month of life: If you switch a lamp on and off next to baby's head: Does the baby then curiously move its eyes towards the light?
In the 4th month of life: If you direct your baby's attention to a colourful object (ball, cuddly toy, etc.) and move it back and forth in front of the child's eyes at a distance of 50 to 80 cm - does the baby look attentively at the object?
In the 7th month of life: If you hide behind a cloth in front of your child and draw attention to yourself by shouting "peek-a-boo", will your child start looking for you with their eyes and body movements?
In the 8th month of life: If your child shows curiosity and interest in objects that are reasonably accessible - does he or she reach out for them?
In the 12th month of life: If your child is sitting on the floor and you roll a ball to them from two to three metres away - will they grab it properly?
One Response
Many thanks for the article. I didn't realise why the retina is important and what you have to look out for. My mum has been poorly for a few days, perhaps she should have a retinal screening.