Give them plenty of time to focus their eyes on the object and remember to give them lots of down time to avoid overstimulation. Hold toys and others stimuli within 8 - 10 inches from your baby’s face so they are able to focus on it.Supporting vision development from birth to four months: You can also try gluing a high-contrast infant stimulation card to a paper plate and encouraging your child to track the image. If your baby loses the object, try shaking it to get their attention again.

Watch to see if your baby follows the object with their eyes. Once they look at your toy, slowly move the toy to the right or left towards the floor. To practice tracking with your baby, place your baby on their back and try to get their attention with a rattle, bell or other toy held above them in midline (the center of their body). You can post these cards throughout your home where your child can see them or even create a mobile with them.Īt about three months, babies should be engaging in visual tracking, this refers to the ability to follow an object with their eyes. Black and white photos with contrasting patterns or images, also called infant stimulation cards, are easy for your infant to focus on and can encourage their vision development.

Around three months, their range of vision begins to increase but they haven’t yet developed the ability to move their visual focus from one object to another.īabies have an easier time focusing on high contrast objects during this stage of development. Until around three months of age, infants cannot focus on objects that are more than 8-10 inches away from their faces. To help you understand this important year of development, Michigan State University Extension has information about how vision changes during the first year of life and ways you can support it. Your baby will go from being nearsighted and having difficulty focusing their eyes to being able to imitate movements, recognize faces and play peek-a-boo. Being that vision is the least developed sense at birth, a lot happens during the first 12 months. During the first year of life, your baby is experiencing rapid growth, physically, cognitively and emotionally.

Dream catcher baby milestones