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Parentpedia
Seeing
What Experts Say
Babies can see from birth -- things are just a little fuzzy at first and are in black and white. For newborns, the optimal distance for their vision is between 8 and 15 inches (it's no surprise that this is about the distance between you and your baby's face when you're holding and feeding her!).
For the next few months, this is the ideal distance to also hold toys from your baby's face when playing with her. Moving a toy back and forth within her line of vision also allows your baby to practice visual tracking -- watching an object at it moves -- which allows her to learn about her world.
Your infant's vision will quickly develop from birth. "Between 4- and 6-weeks old, right before your baby starts smiling, she usually starts making eye contact with you," says Howard Reinstein, M.D., a pediatrician in private practice in Encino, California. "However, some babies lock on to mom's face earlier than that, and others are later."
By 3 months, if there's no eye contact you should discuss it with your pediatrician to rule out either a visual or behavior/attachment problem.
"By 3 months, your baby will also see several colors, and by 4 months his color vision is fully mature," says Tanya Remer Altmann, M.D., F.A.A.P., editor-in-chief of "The Wonder Years: Helping Your Baby and Young Child Successfully Negotiate the Major Developmental Milestones."
Come her first birthday she'll be able to spot you from 20 feet away or more, says Dr. Altmann. That's a lot of visual growth in one year!
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