Babies Can See??

Newborn babies can see at birth. They cannot see very clearly but they can see. Their vision is approximately 20/200 which allows them to see outlines and high contrast. They see most clearly, ironically, from the mother’s breast to her eyes, about 12 inches. This helps the baby bond with their mother and other caregivers.

Babies are attracted to human faces, black and white and highly patterned things. When babies look at you, they seem to look above your eyes at your forehead but what they are really doing is looking at the contrast of your forehead and your hairline. Eye contact and smiling will come later.

Play some vision games with your baby. Get a few magazines that have pictures with faces on them that are at least 6 inches tall. Lay your baby on their back and hold the picture about 6-8 inches from the baby’s eyes. What you will see is the baby opening their eyes wide as they look at the picture and becoming really still. Their attention span is not very long, usually 30 seconds, but they can go longer if they are really interested. Change pictures to keep your baby interested and include pictures that include different facial expressions, those wearing glasses and faces of people with different ethnicity. Babies are attracted to all of these differences!