Ladies and gentlemen, can I ask you something – have you ever wondered what a baby sees as soon as he or she is born? Yes? No?! Well, the answer to this question is very simple – not much.
According to the experts, they can differentiate between light and dark — something they learn in the womb — which they use to make out shapes and lines. Everything is hazy and entirely black and white. The first time your baby sees you, you’re likely just a big gray blob.
Babies’ optical nerves aren’t fully formed right away and their brains need time to mature, a process that is actually pretty cool to think about, but hard to conceptualize. But, we have some good news for you – the famous UK eye surgeon Dr. Romesh Angunawela, of Clinic Compare, made a GIF that helps us see what babies see during their first year. Take a look at the article below and find out more about this.
This GIF actually shows that children cannot really focus on their parents’ faces, even close up, until they’re around three months old. And, even then, their vision doesn’t fully mature until they’re almost 2-years-old. Dr. Romesh said that from the moment a child opens their eyes for the first time, the visual cortex of the brain begins to learn to process the flood of visual information it encounters.
Dr. Romesh Angunawela stated:
“At birth, a baby sees things more clearly at eight-10cm, but their range of vision extends as they grow. Vision continues to develop steadily and by two years old, a child’s sight is nearly fully developed. This coincides with increased interest and exploration of the world around them.”
Watch the GIF below to see how a newborn starts to focus on the world around them.