Tips For Boosting Your Baby’s Visual Ability

The sense of sight is one of the least developed at birth. Stimulating the baby’s visual capacity is of major importance.

Children are born with difficulty concentrating. However, in a few months of intense learning, they will learn to do well by imitating movements, recognizing faces and interacting with others.

The baby is attracted to objects with high contrasts, shapes, movements and warm voices. Early stimulation provides security, helping him position himself and recognize his caregivers. Visual communication provides comfort and connection. Undoubtedly, stimulation is necessary for reasons that we will explain below. In the first year of life, the pace of cognitive experiences is dizzying.

What is the sight of a newborn like?

Newborns come into the world with poor eyesight. In the foreground, I see my mother who, at about 20 or 30 cm, looks at them, smiles at them and breastfeeds them. Blurred vision frees them from understanding what is going on around them, so that they can focus only on what is close and vital.

The gaze of children at birth is directed to the mother, to the rounded shape of her face, to the contrast of the eyes and to her loud voice. Babies also see the dark color of the areola. It is a first look that creates a connection.

Pediatrician Marc Pilliot, in the article “Looking at the newborn”, refers to this as a protective or founding look. It is a bridge to life that begins. Due to the dark heat of the abdomen left behind, babies do not like light. If I follow something with my eyes, I do it from the side, not from top to bottom. He looks at the edges and not the center.

Tips for stimulating the baby’s visual capacity

But from the womb, the mother has a close and intimate relationship with the baby. The fetus hears the mother’s voice, and at birth meets it again. That excites him. Numerous investigations show that the prenatal relationship is crucial in the development of the mother-child condition.

As soon as the eyes open and the initial intersection of the eyes that establishes the maternal relationship appears, it becomes possible to stimulate the visual capacity. Smells and colors, plus the warmth and softness of the skin are the beginning of the instinctive adventure of existence.

The mother-child visual relationship is intense and will be the common element of the other stimuli. The relationships that the eye establishes with objects will mobilize the hands and body.

Hand-eye coordination is structural and will determine progress in neurodevelopment. If the mother does not look at the baby when breastfeeding, the baby will lean forward trying to re-establish contact. If he can’t, he may cry.

Another element that strengthens contact is the way it is. In this sense, sensitive mothers have a greater inclination to adapt their behaviors to the stimulation, regulation and communication needs of children.

There is no doubt that the engine of knowledge is curiosity. The area the little one sees involves survival and protection. From a biological point of view, the baby is attracted to the faces.

Then he is attracted to light forms that reproduce organic sequences and rhythms. You would arouse his curiosity, make him follow objects, make them appear and disappear is part of the training of his ability to search and memorize. These are exercises in the field of neuroplasticity.

Stimulating the baby’s visual capacity: benefits

Visual acuity occurs at about 3 months and increases up to 6 months. Then, it approaches the values ​​of the adult’s visual field. From birth, it is possible to stimulate a child’s visual ability.

A vital element in stimulation is the possible early detection of vision problems. In fact, they can be diagnosed before 1 year. For example, in the first 30 days you will see if it can track a moving object of interest. However, the test will not be conclusive until the third month of life. But if the baby does not have this ability, it should be taken to a specialist.

Finally, stimulation generates body awareness, which is the basis of spatial awareness. In turn, it is based on auditory and tactile development and information received at birth.

Stimulating the baby’s visual capacity: the faster, the better

In the 25th week of gestation, the fetus has 100 billion neurons, but only some of them are connected at birth. Then, from birth to 3 years, they will be integrated into networks and connections.

Therefore, early stimulation with music therapy is very important until the age of 6 years. The use of exercises and games that activate sensory, intellectual, motor, affective and social development is essential. Voices and sounds, caresses, colors and movements are also elements that generate nerve connections in the brain.

In conclusion, sight is one of the senses that must be stimulated as soon as possible. It should be borne in mind that in the first four months of life the appropriate neurological circuit develops.