A newborn baby does not have good eyesight, and sometimes even throws parents into shock that his eyes are squinted, they cannot focus, they are clouded. Questions about whether a child is healthy and whether he sees are quite common reasons for contacting pediatricians. In this article, we will tell you what the features of the visual function in babies of the first year of life are and how to determine if the baby sees.
Features:
A kid sees the world around him in a completely different way from adults. This is easily explained primarily by physiological reasons - the child's eyes differ significantly in their structure from those of an adult. Children are not born with organs of vision that are fully adapted to this world and sufficiently formed. In all crumbs, without exception, in the 1st month of life, visual acuity is extremely low. Everything that is a picture of the world around us for a newborn is a set of spots of different illumination and intensity. Its eyes are in a continuous process of formation.
The eyeballs of a newborn are much smaller in proportional terms than the eyeballs of an adult, and therefore the image of the baby is received not on the retina, but into the space behind it.
This explains why all babies suffer from physiological hyperopia, which is completely normal for them. In the early days, the baby does not focus at all. He sees mainly black and white spots, only outlines and at an average distance - about 40 centimeters. But from perfectly distinguishes between light and darkness. In response to a bright source of light, he may begin to blink, close his eyes, try to close with a pen, shudder with his whole body, to too sharp and bright light, the baby may react with angry crying. These reflexes are called unconditioned visual. They must be checked even in the maternity hospital.
There is a myth that a newborn's vision is inverted. This is not true. If there are no pathologies of the brain, gross congenital defects in its development, then the baby sees in the same way as all other people. The inverted image is not typical for babies.
But many completely healthy babies, who were born just a couple of months ago, are characterized by a wide variety of eye movements, which parents sometimes take for strabismus, and for nystagmus, and for other signs of poor vision. In fact, newborns and infants have very weak eye muscles, and therefore it is not surprising that one eye of the baby is looking at you, and the other is slightly to the side, no. This is a temporary phenomenon, which with the normal development of visual analyzers will disappear on its own in a fairly short time.
In the first three years of life, the baby's organs of vision undergo huge cardinal changes. This process requires a reverent attitude on the part of adults, the elimination of all negative factors due to which vision can form with problems. To act correctly, moms and dads need to know about what processes and at what stages of development occur, this will help maintain the health of the child and notice deviations in time, if any.
Stages of development
The eyes of the embryo begin to form at 8-10 weeks of gestation. It is important that at this moment the mother is healthy, and no negative factors affect the correct laying of the organs of vision, the optic nerve. Pathologies that arise during the period of stay in the womb are quite difficult to correct, if at all.
In the mother's belly, the baby distinguishes between light and darkness, demonstrates unconditioned visual reflexes, but he does not see bright light, getting used to the darkened and dim atmosphere. After birth, the toddler needs to adapt to new living conditions for himself. The baby begins to distinguish something else besides light at about 3 weeks after birth. It is at this stage that object and color vision begins to form.
By the beginning of the second month of independent life, the baby can already hold his gaze for a very short time at large, bright and large objects that are no more than 60 cm away from him. By 3 months, the baby is able to follow a silent toy with his eyes much longer. Moreover, the toy itself can now move left and right and up and down. The child repeats similar movements with his eyeballs, turns his head towards a bright object of interest to him.
By six months, children develop stereoscopic vision. The kid easily focuses on objects, follows them with his eyes, can reach out and pick up toys.
Color perception is formed gradually - at first, babies begin to distinguish between red and give preference to it. Then they see yellow. Green and blue are the last to be comprehended and realized.
After 6 months, toddlers learn to see distant spaces. Stereoscopic vision allows them to see the world as voluminous, full-fledged, and the improving capabilities of the body (he learns to sit, crawl, walk) gradually stimulate the development of the cortical part of the brain, which is also responsible for the accumulation of visual images. The kid learns to estimate the distance between objects, to overcome it, the color range in the second half of life also becomes more saturated.
Congenital physiological hyperopia, which is common in all babies, usually resolves by 3 years. During this time, babies' eyeballs are actively growing, the eye muscles and the optic nerve develop and improve. The child's organs of vision become as similar as possible to adults only by the age of 6-7 years.
At no other age stage does a child experience such dramatic changes and transformations in the organs of vision as in the first year of life.
Surveys
Children undergo the first examination by a neonatologist in the hospital. It allows you to establish with a high degree of accuracy most of the congenital pathologies of the organs of vision. These include neonatal retinopathy, congenital cataracts and glaucoma, optic atrophy, and other visual ailments. Serious congenital pathologies are often accompanied by manifestations of such external signs as nystagmus (twitching and twitching of the pupils) and ptosis (drooping of the eyelid). However, examination at the hospital cannot be considered 100% reliable, since many diseases, including genetically inherited ones, develop only over time.
That is why it is so important that babies, especially premature babies, are examined by an ophthalmologist in a timely manner. The first examination is always at the age of 1 month. At this age, the doctor is limited to the assessment of visual reflexes, including a light test for the pupil, as well as a general examination of the eyes - the shape and size of the eyeballs, pupils, the clarity (clarity) of the lens.
The next check for premature babies according to the plan should be at 3 months, and then at six months. For babies born on time, one check every 6 months is enough.
In six months, the doctor will be able to get an idea of the baby's visual function in more detail. He will not only visually assess the condition of the eyes with the help of devices, but also check their motor activity, focus on objects, synchronization of reaction, accommodation and refraction. The doctor will tell the parents of a six-month-old child with a high degree of accuracy whether a slight squint in their child is functional and harmless or is it a pathological change that needs correction.
If the parents have doubts that the child can see well, the doctor may try to examine the vision of the baby with a special tablet. One half of the leaf in it is covered with black and white stripes, the other is white. Mom closes one eye to the baby, and the doctor brings this sheet to his face. If the baby automatically starts looking at the striped part of the table, then he sees, and there is no reason for worry.
The ophthalmologist can carry out the same research at the next scheduled examination, which must be held in 1 year. After a year and a half, Orlova's diagnostic table is used to assess visual acuity; in case of violations, the degree and severity of the problem is checked using special techniques and devices. After a year and a half, it is recommended to check the child's eyesight 2 times a year.
How to check it yourself?
It is quite difficult to check the eyesight of a newborn and an infant at home on your own. However, there are symptoms that parents must pay attention to and consult a doctor as soon as possible, who will help carry out a full and detailed examination in the clinic:
- The child was born into a family where close relatives have vision problems. With a high degree of probability, the baby will inherit the pathology, it should be observed by an ophthalmologist as often as possible.
- The baby was born prematurely.
- At 1 month, the baby does not respond with pupil constrictionif you shine a flashlight in his face.
- After 3 months, the baby does not focus on bright large toys, reacts only to "sounding" rattles and tweeters, not noticing toys and objects that do not emit any sounds.
- Does not follow the toy at 4 monthsthat moves.
- At the age of 5-7 months, the baby does not recognize the faces of relatives and does not distinguish them from the faces of strangers, does not reach for toys, does not try to grab them with his hands.
- If purulent or other discharge appears from the organs of vision.
- If the child's eyeballs are of different sizes.
- If the pupils move up and down involuntarily or from side to side, shaking finely.
- If the baby significantly "squints" with one eye.
- By the age of one, the child does not pay attention to birds on the street, to other sufficiently remote objects.
All these signs cannot independently speak of a possible pathology of visual analyzers, but they are a very convincing reason to visit an ophthalmologist unscheduled.
Development
Anatomical and physiological features of the development of vision in children of the first year of life (AFO) will tell parents what and how to do in order to contribute to the development of the baby's visual function. If the baby was brought from the hospital and placed in a darkened room where there is little sunlight, then all stages of vision formation can go with a significant delay. It is very important for newborns that the room is bright, so that there are no bright sources of light and mirrors near the crib. The crib should be accessible from all sides so that the baby gets used to looking at people and objects from both the right and left sides.
In the first days and even weeks, the child does not need any toys, since he will not really see them anyway. But already by 3-4 weeks of life, you can attach a mobile to the crib or hang rattles. The main requirement that will help keep your baby's eyes healthy is the distance from the face to the toy. It should not be less than 40 centimeters.
For the development of visual function, it will even be useful if the toy or mobile is lifted from the face of the crumbs at a distance of 50-60 centimeters.
From one and a half months, a child can be shown black and white pictures consisting of simple geometric elements. They can be found on the Internet and printed on sheets of A 4. Such simple activities contribute to the development of the optic nerve, eye muscles, the child learns to perceive contrasting images.
At first, it is better to use sounding toys, by 3 months it will be possible to switch to soundless toys. The first rattles should not contain too many elements of all colors of the rainbow. It is better to place elements of red and yellow in the center, and move the blue and green ones as far as possible to the sides, the baby will learn to distinguish them much later. The size of one element, which the baby's eyes are able to distinguish more or less clearly, should not exceed 5-6 centimeters.
Toys must be safe, because starting from 4-5 months, the baby must pick them up in order to make stable connections in the brain between tactile sensations and the shape and color of objects that are seen with the eyes. Once the baby learns to crawl and sit, you need to give him freedom of movement. Stereoscopic vision will develop more quickly if the little one can easily comprehend the space around him. In this case, it is imperative to take all safety measures so that the crumb is not injured.
Walking is important not only because the child breathes fresh air outside, but also because sunlight is very beneficial for the formation and development of eyeballs and other structures of the organs of vision.
Prevention of vision problems
From the first days of a child's life, it is important to ensure that he does not injure his eyes. The nails of newborns and babies are very sharp even with a slight regrowth, and therefore the mother needs to make sure that they are not scratched every day. Older children should not be given sharp and small objects for play, with which they can damage their eyes. The kid must be taught not to rub his eyes, not to touch them with dirty hands. The child should not be in a smoky and dusty room, since smoke and dust negatively affect not only the respiratory system, but also the organs of vision.
If the eyes are festering, inflamed, in no case should you treat them yourself - to bury breast milk or saliva. It is with such actions that serious bacterial complications begin, which often lead to partial loss of vision.
In all cases of redness or puffiness of the eyes, the baby should be immediately shown to the doctor.
A child under one year old does not care at all about what is happening on the TV or in the computer. Therefore, there is no point in giving him gadgets or turning on cartoons. In addition to the load on the organs of vision, cartoons at this age will not bring anything. Careful parents of babies under one year old should play with a child in a sandbox and with soap bubbles. It is these games that most often cause inflammatory processes in the organs of vision, caused by mechanical irritation or chemical burns. Often, inflammation affects the decrease in visual acuity.
This video is an indispensable tool for developing vision in infants.
