our little girl will be 2 weeks old on thursday and i was just wondering how much she can actually see.. my mom read somewhere that right now she can only see about a foot in front of her and can only see in black and white .. when she is awake her eyes are all over the place, she never focuses on anything longer thhan a second.. and it seems like even when you are less than a foot away from her shes still looking all over the place.. its like her little eyes dont ever stop moving.. i made a comment about it last night and my dad was like well what do u expect she can barely see anything at all .. is this true/normal?.. i wasnt really worried about it but i said something to my fiance like look her little eyes are always moving and he was like yeah youre right i hope theres nothing wrong with her vision..so of course now its in the back of my head that maybe this isnt normal .. as most of u know this is my first so i really dont have a clue
At this point, she is just trying to "take in" everything that she can....
I don't know when their vision sharpens, but bold patterns with high contrast (like black and white patterns) will most likely catch her attention the most....
Read this article for more information about vision development.....
http://www.allaboutvision.com/parents/infants.htm
She's 10 days old - stop worrying! It's so hard when we are new moms because everything the babies do is a "first" for us! She doesn't have any muscle control yet, not of her legs, her arms, her head or her eyes. So stuff moves around randomly. She can see you when you hold her, which is why you always see new parents right in their baby's face. She'll learn who you are, in time. She can see black & white or sharp contrast - that's why you see a lot of mobiles and baby "books" in very distinguishable shades. She isn't going to focus on anything yet because she doesn't know what anything is. Enjoy watching her. Your instinct will kick in soon and you will have a sense of what's really a problem and what's just normal activity while the brain and all the senses are developing. There's are books on the first 12 months of life that might help you learn about GENERAL milestones at 1 month, 2 months, etc. but that doesn't mean you should panic if you don't see one particular thing. Usually children with serious delays are behind in a whole bunch of areas, not just one. So try not to worry about her eyes, her ears, etc. -- spend time learning who she is and what's she's going to become. It's all a miracle, and 99.99% of the time there is nothing to worry about. She's going to cry and not be comforted, she's going to run a fever someday, she's going to get a heat rash at some point, and so on -- meantime, while you're worrying, you will miss her first smile, her first tooth, and so on. What you're feeling is NORMAL, don't get me wrong - but you and your baby will be happier when you can get past it. And if your parents are giving you a lot of advice and not much support, or acting like you should know everything on Day 1, take a break from them.
Before I brought my baby home, they tested his eyesight by checking if all the muscles and nerves were fully developed behind and around the eye. I'm assuming all hospitals do that...if so, then if your hospital wasn't concerned about what they saw, then nothing is wrong.
This is a great question to ask your pediatrician, who you should already have an apppointment with. I suggest making a list of additional questions and concerns and have them ready to ask as well.
If the ped clears your baby's vision, one thing you can do is hold large different objects of solid colors in front of her face and move it around in her line of vision. I can't remember at what age babies can track objects, but still, that exercise might help.
Right now she can see your face clearly when you are holding her. that about as fas as she can see right now. well myour feeding her see if you can get her to make eye contact with you. If you are really concerned say something at her next appt.
Yes, this is absolutely true! The rods and cones of the eye don't really come together for another few weeks.
When I was in undergrad (pysch major) I remember my Development Psych professor joking that an infant's nursery is really for the parents because they can't see a damn thing! If we designed nurseries to be developmentally appropriate, they would be black/white and high contrast. BORING!
Around the time she starts to really interact with you, her eyes will come into focus (not a coincidence). This is one of the reasons for nursing a baby (aside from nourishment)- they prefer to look at faces and if you are nursing you are holding your baby very close and looking right at her little face!
Her little world will slowly come into focus and she will start staring at people in the near future! Research has proven time and agacin that when given the choice between a human face and an object, a baby's gaze will consistently go to the face.
