Common question: Can babies see when they're born?

Babies are not born with much eyesight. Instead, the sense of vision develops in stages over the first two years of life.

There are four distinct stages for vision. Infants learn how to focus, develop depth perception,

discover hand-eye coordination and learn how to recognize objects and people.

Babies learn to see over time, just as they learn to walk and talk. They do not have visual

abilities at birth because a baby must discover how to move their eyes accurately, focus and

use their eyes together as a team. It also takes a baby time to learn how to use the information their eyes are sending to the brain in order to understand the world they live in.

A baby’s exploration of the world begins at birth, long before they learn how to reach for and

grab with their hands.

This journey occurs before they learn how to crawl or sit up as their eyes provide them with

stimulation and information as an important piece to their development.

If you would like to learn more about this topic, you can take a look at the guide provided by

MyVision: https://myvision.org/guides/infant-eye-vision-development/

Written and Submitted By:

Sheri Rowen