When your baby is born, their vision isn’t quite developed. In fact, it will likely be 20/400 which means they can see at 20 feet what a person’s normal vision ability is for 400 feet. Their nearsightedness will quickly fade as they not only develop the physical ability to see closer to 20/20 but also start to understand the visual cues from the world around them.
“Infants don’t have much idea of what they’re seeing and don’t have much context to understand the visual information they receive,” Dr. Benjamin Ticho of Ticho Eye Associates told Mom.com.
This is normal as it is a whole new world for your baby and it will take time to associate even something as familiar as you with your face.
Baby vision development week-by-week
Your baby's developing vision
By the time your baby turns one month old, they should be able to move their eyes and head toward light sources and track you or an object across their midline. As they approach their second and third months, they’ll track objects vertically and circularly. They should be able to recognize the faces of those they see frequently. It’s around this time that your baby will spend time studying hands, feet, and your mouth (as you talk).
As the months go on, your baby will spend more time studying their own hands and feet. They’ll be very attentive to their own image in a reflection and can start to pick up and track objects and people across a room. Their eyes will start to move independently from their head, so they can track objects without moving their head. They’ll be obsessed with looking at toys and pictures.
Remember, the more you can talk to your baby to help them process what they’re looking at, the better they’ll translate the visual world in their mind. And along with that, they’ll develop stronger language skills, too.
