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From All About Vision
Your heart skips a beat when your newborn baby opens his eyes and looks at you for the first time.
Don't worry if this doesn't happen right away. In newborns, the visual system develops gradually.
In the very first week of life, a child sees the world differently: unclearly and in shades of gray.
Only a few months after birth the baby’s visual system will work at full capacity. Knowing the key stages of newborn vision development (and how to encourage them) will help you know that your baby is developing normally and enjoying life.
Baby's eye development begins during pregnancy
Your baby's visual system begins to develop before he is born. Therefore, how you take care of yourself and your body during pregnancy is important and affects the development of your baby's body and mental abilities, including the eyes and visual centers in the brain.
Be sure to follow the nutritional recommendations your doctor gives you. Be sure to take prescribed supplements and vitamins, and get enough rest.
During pregnancy, you should not smoke or drink alcohol, as toxins can cause numerous health problems for the baby, in particular, vision problems.
Smoking is especially dangerous during pregnancy. Cigarette smoke contains about 3,000 different chemicals (such as carbon monoxide or carbon monoxide) that can cause harm to humans.
Even regular aspirin can be dangerous: taking it increases the risk of having a low birth weight baby and complications during childbirth. Low body weight, in turn, can contribute to vision problems.
Before you start taking any medications during pregnancy, be sure to consult with your healthcare provider. This also applies to over-the-counter drugs, herbal supplements, and other over-the-counter medications.
Amblyopia in children
The disease usually develops in children under eight years of age. In amblyopia, the visual cortex suppresses the image coming from the weaker eye. The visual system develops normally only when the brain receives clear, focused images from both eyes simultaneously.
Amblyopia in children is often asymptomatic. Pathology is usually detected during a routine ophthalmological examination. Children do not understand that the vision in their right and left eyes is different. Therefore, if parents notice that the child is closing one eye or looking sideways, they should immediately consult a doctor.
An ophthalmological examination is recommended for all preschool children. One of the screening methods is a light test. In older children, visual acuity is determined using drawings or Snellen visual cards (tables). Additional testing is performed to identify the cause of the disease. The diagnosis of anisometropia is made after refractometry. Strabismus is determined using a simple eye-closing/opening test. Read more about strabismus in children on our website
The degree of the disease is determined depending on the decrease in visual acuity. Amblyopia – degrees:
- very weak (0.8–0.9);
- weak (0.5–0.7);
- average (0.3–0.4);
- high (0.05–0.2);
- very high (below 0.05).
Condition of the visual organs at the time of birth
Soon after birth, your pediatrician or neonatologist will examine your baby's eyes for congenital cataracts or other serious neonatal eye conditions in newborns.
Although such diseases are the exception, it is better to detect them and begin to treat them at an early stage in order to reduce the pathological impact on the development of the infant's visual system.
To protect the child's eyes from pathogenic bacteria and microorganisms that could enter them during passage through the birth canal and cause an eye infection, antibiotic ointment is placed in them. Early prevention of possible eye infections is very important for the normal development of the visual system.
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At birth, your baby sees objects only in black and white and shades of gray. This is because the nerve cells in the retina and brain that are responsible for color perception are not yet fully developed.
A newborn baby cannot yet focus vision on nearby objects (impaired accommodation). Don't worry if you notice that your baby can't “focus” his vision on any objects or on your face. It will take time for him to acquire this ability.
Despite all these features, studies have shown that within a few days after birth, the baby is able to distinguish the mother's face from the face of a stranger.
Scientists believe that a baby recognizes its mother's face due to the contrasting hairline. (During the study, women covered their hair with a scarf or swimming cap, and the child could not distinguish the face of the mother from the face of a stranger.)
Therefore, to encourage eye contact, do not change your hairstyle or appearance during the first weeks of your baby's life.
You can also notice that babies have rather large eyes. This is because usually a child’s head grows first, and then the rest of the body. At birth, a child's eyes are 65% the size of an adult's eyes!
Causes
The causes leading to myopia can be hereditary or acquired.
In many cases, the development of myopia due to the elongation of the eyeball is facilitated by high visual load (uncontrolled TV viewing, prolonged sitting at the computer, use of a smartphone, tablet).
If myopia is noticed in a child during preschool age, in the vast majority of cases it can be argued that the cause of its occurrence is heredity. It happens that signs of myopia begin to appear in middle school due to a growth spurt and hormonal changes in the body.
Baby's eyes in the first month of life
In the first month of life, a child's eyes are not highly sensitive to light. By the way, in order for a child who is 1 month old to understand that there is light in the room (threshold of sensitivity to light), the light must be 50 times brighter than normal.
Don’t be afraid to leave a light on in the nursery, because it won’t disturb your child’s sleep, and will allow you to avoid tripping over the furniture when you go to check on him at night!
Very quickly the baby acquires the ability to distinguish colors. A week after birth, the baby can see red, orange, yellow and green. A little later he will be able to distinguish between blue and purple. This is because blue light is the shortest wavelength, and in the retina of the eye there is only one type of receptors that can “see” blue light.
Don't worry if you notice that your baby's eyes are looking in different directions. One eye may sometimes be slightly pulled to one side or the other. This is fine. But if your baby's eyes squint too much to the side, immediately consult an ophthalmologist.
Tips: Paint your baby's room in bright, cheerful colors to stimulate his vision. Furniture or interior details should be of contrasting colors and shapes. Hang a bright, colorful hanging item above or next to the crib. It is important that it be multi-colored and consist of different geometric shapes.
Development of the visual organs: 2nd and 3rd month of life
In the second and third months of life, significant changes occur in the baby’s visual system. During this period, visual acuity increases, functional strabismus (if it existed) disappears. Now your child is able to follow moving objects and tries to fix his gaze on them.
A bright, bright room with lots of colors and shapes helps stimulate your baby's vision development.
Moreover, the baby learns to move his gaze from one object to another only with his eyes, without moving his head. Also, the child’s eyes become more sensitive to light: at the age of 3 months, the threshold of sensitivity to light decreases. Therefore, the lights should be dimmed during sleep.
Tips: To stimulate your baby's vision at 2-3 months:
- Add new objects to the room or change their arrangement frequently to enrich your baby's experience.
- Leave a night light on to stimulate vision when your baby is not sleeping in the crib.
- When sleeping, you should place your baby on his back to reduce the risk of sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS). However, when your baby is awake and supervised, place him on his tummy. This pose stimulates the development of visual perception and motor skills.
How to treat amblyopia
Treatment for amblyopia is aimed at eliminating the root cause of the disease. They correct refractive errors, correct strabismus, remove cataracts, and so on. It is important to know that amblyopia will not disappear as the child grows older, therefore, the earlier treatment is started, the more successful it is. In children over 10-12 years of age, treatment no longer gives the desired result.
Conservative therapy for anisometropic amblyopia includes vision correction, as well as drug and optical penalization - artificial deterioration of vision in the dominant eye. To do this, use specially selected glasses and a solution of atropine sulfate. At the same time, the visual acuity of the healthy eye decreases, as a result of which the work of the amblyopic eye is activated. During the period of using penal glasses, the “lazy” eye should be loaded. Invite your child to put together puzzles, draw, watch cartoons, etc. This method of treating amblyopia is a rare case when modern gadgets become assistants: the child is passionate about playing or watching cartoons and is not irritated by special glasses. Amblyopia therapy is carried out until the visual acuity of both eyes becomes approximately the same.
For obstructive amblyopia, cataract surgery is the optimal treatment method. In the case of dysbinocular amblyopia, surgical correction of strabismus is indicated. Excimer laser refractive surgery (LASIK) is a safe and highly effective treatment for amblyopia in adults.
Visual development: Months 4–6
By 6 months, the visual centers of the baby’s brain are quite well developed. The child sees more clearly and can follow moving objects with quick and precise eye movements.
Visual acuity improves from approximately 20/400 (6/120) at birth to 20/25 (6/7.5) at 6 months. Color perception reaches adult levels; a child can distinguish all the colors of the rainbow.
At the age of 4-6 months, the baby's hand-eye coordination becomes more advanced, which allows him to quickly find and grasp objects with his hands, as well as accurately guide the bottle (and more!) into the mouth.
Six months is an important stage of life, since it is at this time that you should carry out the first preventative eye examination of your baby.
If necessary, a qualified optometrist will examine the child at 6 months of age. But routine eye examinations are usually recommended once children reach kindergarten age (3–4 years and older).
If you have any concerns, you can also consult your doctor, who will give you further advice.
For a thorough eye exam for your six-month-old baby, see an optometrist who specializes in childhood vision and visual development.
Prevention
What to do if a child develops myopia?
Preventive measures are of great importance. First of all, this concerns visual loads: they must be dosed correctly. Children under 7 years old cannot spend more than 40 minutes in front of the TV; schoolchildren are allowed to watch it up to 3 hours a day. The same conditions must be observed for the computer.
It is equally important to provide good lighting at the child’s desk and monitor posture when writing.
These simple measures and a well-balanced diet will help maintain your vision at the proper level.
Visual development: Months 7–12
Your baby now moves a lot, crawls and covers distances you never dreamed of. He is getting better at assessing the distance to objects, more accurately grabbing and throwing them. (Carefully!)
This is an important period in your child's development. At this stage, the baby has a better sense of his entire body and learns to coordinate vision and movements.
Now you will have to pay more attention to your baby to protect him from danger. Bumps, bruises, eye injuries and other serious injuries are common as your baby explores the world around him.
Lock cabinets with household chemicals and place special barriers in front of stairs.
Don't worry if your baby's eyes start to change color. Most babies are born with blue eyes because there is not enough dark pigment in the iris at birth. Over time, there will be many more of them, so your baby's eyes may change color from blue to brown, green, gray or become a marsh color.
Tips: To stimulate your child's hand-eye coordination, you can lie down with him on the floor and encourage him to crawl to an object. Place your baby's favorite toy away and encourage him to reach for it. You can also offer to disassemble and assemble various objects and toys.
Problems with squint
Pay close attention to how your baby's eyes move, together or separately. Strabismus is a term for abnormal eye alignment. It is important to identify and treat it early so that your child's vision develops properly.
If left untreated, strabismus can lead to amblyopia or lazy eye.
It may take months for a child to achieve joint eye movement. But if you notice that one of your baby’s eyes is squinting or moving separately from the other, immediately contact an ophthalmologist.
Reasons for the development of amblyopia
As a rule, amblyopia develops in one eye (cases of bilateral amblyopia are much less common). The immediate cause may be any obstacle in the optical system of the eye, leading to sensory deprivation (stimulus deficiency), severe asymmetric refractive pathology (myopia, farsightedness, astigmatism), accommodation disorders, etc. However, the most common cause-and-effect relationship is amblyopia and strabismus. It is noteworthy that this connection can be both direct (amblyopia develops in the initially squinting eye) and reverse (the “lazy” eye, along with degrading visual functions, loses motor coordination with the movements of the healthy eye and begins to squint).
The main clinical characteristics of amblyopia include:
- decreased visual acuity and clarity;
- loss of binocularity (the ability to perceive stereoscopic space);
- disturbance or, less commonly, absence of central gaze fixation.
Vision problems in premature babies
The average length of a normal pregnancy is approximately 40 weeks (280 days). According to WHO, a baby born at less than 37 weeks is considered premature.
Compared to full-term babies, premature babies are at greater risk of developing visual pathologies. And the shorter the period, the more serious the complication.
The following vision problems associated with premature birth are typical:
Retinopathy of prematurity (ROP)
This is a disease in which fibrous changes and blood vessels develop in the thickness and surface of the retina. ROP is often accompanied by retinal scarring, poor vision, and retinal detachment. In severe cases, retinopathy of prematurity can lead to blindness.
All premature babies are at risk of developing ROP. Extremely low birth weight is an additional risk factor, especially in cases where immediately after birth the baby is placed in an incubator with a high concentration of oxygen.
If your baby was born prematurely, ask your obstetrician for a referral to a pediatric ophthalmologist for an eye exam to rule out ROP.
