What do babies see in the first weeks after birth? Does their vision develop bit by bit, or is it fully formed from the start? Can babies recognize objects, or do they only see colors? Here's a closer look at what babies see and how they see the world, because once you can look at it through a baby's eyes, it suddenly becomes much easier to understand what's going on for your little one.
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How babies see in the first weeks after birth
Babies open their eyes in the womb at around week 28 of pregnancy. For the first time, the vague impressions behind closed eyelids turn into an actual image. Of course, the view inside the womb is limited to a very small world, so the sense of sight has plenty of time to get used to the world and develop at its own pace.
Babies still see the world as a blur
You've probably heard people say that the very old sometimes become quite childlike again. Usually that's meant figuratively, but there's a grain of truth in it. When it comes to “sharp vision,” at least, the generations are surprisingly close. In the first weeks after birth, a baby's visual acuity isn't as developed as an adult's. Babies see their surroundings as a blur during this time, because in these weeks they are nearsighted and farsighted at once. That means they can only “focus” within a tiny range, about 20 cm to 25 cm away. Parents often move to exactly this distance without thinking when they're playing with their baby. At this distance, your baby can see you especially well.
How babies train their vision
Right after birth, our senses aren't fully developed yet. We learn to trust them over time, because, like the rest of our body, they grow bigger and stronger every day. Seeing becomes more complex as children slowly get used to how wide and deep the world is. Focusing at different distances also gets better over the months, so babies are soon able to see in three dimensions. More on that below.
Soon your baby also learns to recognize things and people and tell them apart. Training the eye muscles nonstop is hard work. It can be so tiring that some babies look cross-eyed at times, a bit like how we feel after overdoing it at the gym.
Babies love contrast
Imagine for a moment what the world looks like to a baby before birth. The light is dim, and it filters through the skin in soft shades of brightness that blend into each other. The baby lies safe and snug in the womb, which also shields them from too many sensory impressions. So it isn't surprising that newborns are extremely sensitive to light in the first weeks. The brain first has to get used to taking in so many impressions all the time. This happens fairly quickly, though, because the nerve cells of the brain and the retina develop rapidly. The brain needs these cells to see in high contrast.
So the first thing babies see is contrast. They're almost magically drawn to black-and-white patterns. Very early on, they also pick up their first impressions of color. Red, orange, yellow and green are among the first colors they can perceive. Still, in the first weeks a baby's world revolves around contrast.
When we can see things clearly and tell them apart, the world becomes much easier to understand.
By around 4 weeks, a baby's optic nerve is much more developed. Your baby can now see contrasts well and starts following interesting objects with their eyes.
Babies see double
You can see how complex vision really is by watching all the skills that go with it develop. Until about three months of age, babies see double. Both eyes send the same image to the brain, and the baby can't yet merge the two images into one. In the third month, children develop the ability to see in three dimensions. Other developments are happening in the body at the same time: sensitivity to light decreases, and the sense of touch develops too. This is when hand-eye coordination begins. Your baby recognizes an object, can reach for it and soon learns to hold on to it as well.
From black and white to full color
Babies pick up their first impressions of color quite early, alongside contrast, but the real ability to see colors only develops after a few weeks. That's when vague perception turns into a clear sensory impression.
From the second month, the black-and-white film turns into an increasingly colorful world. Current studies show that strong colors such as red and green, yellow and blue are among the first colors babies see and tell apart. Every child is different and has their own pace, so the timing can vary, of course. When a baby is surrounded by lots of bright colors and strong contrasts, they take in many visual impressions and learn through play to connect eye and brain.
Vision plays a central role in developing many human abilities. Through seeing, little ones begin to understand the world, and visual perception stimulates their motor, mental and verbal development. Interesting things naturally spark a child's curiosity about their surroundings. Your baby starts reaching for exciting objects, holds them and keeps practicing how to coordinate movement and eyes. Eventually toddlers start moving around on their own, and their now well-trained vision still drives them to explore the world.
Summary:
The stages of vision development
| Age |
Vision |
| Weeks 1 and 2 |
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Weeks 3 and 4 |
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Weeks 5 and 6 |
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Weeks 7 and 8 |
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Months 3 and 4 |
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Up to one year |
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