When Can Babies See Color? Understanding Vision Development
After you’ve counted your newborn’s fingers and toes and gazed lovingly into their eyes, at some stage, you might think about the visual development of your little one. When can newborns see? What can infants see? Are newborns able to see you or the larger world around them? Read on to learn more about newborn baby eyesight, understand your baby’s visual development in the next months, and find answers to your FAQs.
When Can Newborns and Babies See?
Newborn babies open their eyes and see when they are born. But they have pretty bad eyesight, and they can’t focus well, especially on anything beyond 12 inches. But this will change soon for your baby, who will be able to see increasingly clearly in the coming months.
(For example, babies who are born prematurely might have slightly different developmental patterns.) Depending on their degree of prematurity, preemies can be born with closed eyelids or fused eyelids. A preemie’s eyes typically open within a week or two if they’re closed at birth; many preemies will have eyes that are sealed shut or fused at birth.
When Do Babies Start Looking at You?
Your face is your baby’s favorite thing to look at. So at what age can babies see faces? Newborns in particular tend to gaze at their parents’ faces, and in particular their eyes, when they are being held.
Over time, sometime between 1 and 3 months old, they’ll be able to take in more of your face — not only your eyes. And they’ll likely be more attuned to facial expressions that might include your mouth, jaw or cheeks.
How Far Can Newborns and Babies See?
Your baby’s far sight gradually develops starting at birth. Your newborn baby has a very limited field of view at birth. Your baby can see something that’s only about 8 to 12 inches away from them — like your face when you’re holding them or the corner of their crib. They will look very closely within this range. Beyond about 12 inches, everything is just a fuzzy blob — the same, something like an adult who wears glasses to see far away.
Most infants can see things that are 30 to 50 centimeters away, but this range slowly widens. As early as 3 months you may find your baby notices you even when you are halfway across the room — and may even smile at you! Your baby may also be able to see an object lying just a few feet in front of him or her, like a toy.
As your baby approaches 4 months old, their distance vision has developed enough that they can gaze out the window or watch something on the wall with interest, and by 7 months, their distance vision is vastly improved.
What Can Newborns and Babies See?
So, what do infants see? Initially your baby may not be able to look at you or focus on your face, but they can sense light and shape as well as movement. Soon enough your newborn’s eyes will catch yours; this happens best in lower light, as their eyes are still very sensitive after emerging from the warm and dark womb. You might also see your newborn’s eyes wander or even cross. This is normal behaviour and usually subsides at around 2 or 3 months, when the eye muscles develop.
Your baby’s ability to perceive pattern and color develops by about the same age. Your infant, however, will be able to see patterns more easily before they can tell hues of colors apart from each other. As your newborn baby’s retinas — these are the light-sensitive tissues in the eyes — continue to develop, he or she will start seeing and recognizing patterns as early as the first month. You may find that they are attracted to simple black and white designs and those with high contrasting colors. By the time they reach about 3 months old they may get if there are several objects in a photo.
The more contrast in a pattern, the more likely it is to capture your baby’s gaze, with black-and-white patterns like checks and stripes (at about 1 month) and bull’s-eyes and spirals (by 3 months old) likely the most enticing.
When Do Newborns and Babies See Color?
Newborns, as it turns out, see mostly in black and white, but it doesn’t take long before babies can tell one color from the next. Newborns are sensitive to light (and don’t perceive color variations), but by the time they’re 2 weeks old their pupils widen and they can sense a broader spectrum of dark and light colors.
So, how long do babies see black and white only? By around 1 month, your baby can see the brightness and intensity of colors, and will gradually start to see several basic colors over the next few months, including red. By around 4 months, your baby’s color vision is fully developed and they will be able to see a lot of colors and even shades of colors.
When Can Babies Focus on Objects?
At birth, your baby can not focus on things and follow moving objects. Do not fret — these competencies are built over time.
Newborns have peripheral vision, or the ability to detect things in their surroundings around the edges of their field of vision. However, the ability to concentrate on an individual object is a gradual process. They slowly are able to fixate on one point in the center of their visual field. By 1 month they can focus on objects up to about three feet away for a little while.
Around 2 to 3 months of age your baby’s ability to focus is probably developing well. Your baby may be able to converge both eyes, or turn them inward, at something close by (like their hands), so they can see it. At the same time, they will learn to direct both eyes outward, a movement called divergence, in order to focus on distant objects.
When Do Babies Start Tracking Objects with Their Eyes?
Tracking, or the ability to watch or follow a moving object with their eyes, is another aspect of your infant’s visual development. At 3 or 4 months of age, your baby will be able to follow moving objects. Here’s how it develops.
At first, your newborn will have a hard time following a rattle that you shake in front of her face, but in another two months, she will have more coordination and (hopefully) focus in both eyes, which will track the rattle as it moves.
Before long your baby will be able to follow even smaller things, such as a piece of yarn — and react to it more quickly. During this process you may even notice that your baby will gaze at your eyes to determine where you’re looking — this is known as shared attention.
By the time your baby is about 3 months old, they will probably be able to bat at things in front of them with their arms and hands (although they will miss more than they hit). For them and for you as well, practicing this hand-eye coordination is lot of fun!
Depth perception begins developing around 5 months of age, after your baby has had some practice tracking things coming toward them or going away from them and can piece together a three-dimensional understanding of their environment.
Newborn and Baby Eye Development
So when do babies gain a full sense of vision? Eyesight develops quickly in very young infants, and you should see a lot of progress during the weeks and months ahead. Development will occur throughout toddler and preschool years. By ages 3 to 5, a child with normal vision will see clearly as an average adult, with their visual system fully matured by age 10.
Here are some key early markers you may want to keep an eye out for:
- your baby can differentiate red, blue and yellow colors and prefers red
- your baby enjoys complex patterns and shapes (you can test this with well-known children’s picture books)
- your baby tracks quickly moving objects with their eyes.
Newborn and Baby Visual Development
Check out our baby vision development chart below for an easy reference timeline detailing how your little one’s eyesight develops as they grow.
Your baby’s vision begins developing the moment they’re born and rapidly matures during the first four months of life. Here are some landmark dates to look out for:
- Your baby will gaze up into your eyes as a newborn, especially in skin-to-skin contact and during feedings
- By 1 month old your baby will see your whole face
- At 2 to 3 months old, they can better focus.
- Around 3 months they will enjoy looking at high-contrast black-and-white patterns
- They can track the color and the paths of the objects at 3 to 4 months old and follow the direction you are looking in
- At 4 months of age they can tell different colors apart, even colors that are similar
- And although they could probably only see 12–14 inches away when they were born, after 4 months old they will be able to see very well into the distance.
At the end
Your baby’s vision is only one of the several areas of development your little one will undergo. Love seeing how your baby develops and that you share the joy of their new skills and achievements as the months pass by.
When your baby gazes at an object, follow up by holding a high-contrast toy or book nearby to engage their visual attention. Play peekaboo or use a mobile filled with bright objects − this, too, will improve their tracking ability. Moreover, it helps them to explore their environment and strengthen their eye muscles.
Infants Enjoy Playing With Brightly Coloured Toys Playing peek-a-boo or keeping a mobile above their crib can also help them practice focus and recognition. Moreover, spending time outdoors in natural light can help promote their comprehensive visual development.
Find out more about normal growth and development for 4 month olds. If you have any questions or concerns about your baby’s eyesight, make sure to bring them up to your baby’s healthcare provider.
FAQS
> How to develop your baby’s eyesight from 0 to 4 months?
Your baby’s eyesight is still developing from birth to 4 months. You can assist by keeping your face up close in interactions with your baby — she best sees close-up. Provide them with high-contrast toys, like toys with black-and-white patterns, to stimulate their visual development. Help them track by moving objects from side to side.
> How to encourage your baby’s eyesight development from 5 to 8 months old?
By 5 to 8 months, your infant’s vision becomes crisper and clearer, and they start seeing more color and depth. This is their first opportunity to work on developing their eyesight and encourage them with colourful, different toys or games that involve their eyes, reaching and grabbing. Play peek-a-boo to teach them about object permanence and provide safe mirror play to encourage self-recognition.
> How to support your baby’s eyesight development from 9 to 12 months?
At around 9 to 12 months of age, babies improve their hand-eye coordination and visual depth perception. Do this by playing games that require rolling a ball back and forth and offering stacking or sorting toys. Books with big, colorful pictures help their eyes focus and follow images, which supports visual tracking, too.
> How to support your baby’s eyesight development from 1 to 2 years?
Big changes happen between 1 and 2 years, as toddlers grow more mobile and move through their environment more vigorously. Foster visual development through activities such as block-building, large-crayon drawing, and outdoor play, where they practice with different textures and the color spectrum. Great detail in the images in a book builds focus and encourages them to recognize the items in the pictures.
