[blparent] Your baby and how much light they need

Tue Jan 10 05:15:03 UTC 2012

Interesting article.  Thanks.

Sarah had an eye exam a couple of months ago because when she gets tired, 
one of her eyes tends to drift a little.  The doctors said it isn't any big 
deal, just something to monitor once in a while, and that she may grow out 
of it along with her far-sightedness in a few years.  But what I thought was 
interesting was that instead of letters on an eye chart, the doctor used 
pictures for Sarah to identify.  Good idea, except one of the pictures was a 
rotary phone with a cord, and she had no clue what that was.  So maybe the 
children's charts need updating.

Jo Elizabeth

"How far you go in life depends on you being tender with the young, 
compassionate with the aged, sympathetic with the striving, and tolerant of 
the weak and the strong.  Because someday in life you will have been all of 
these."--George Washington Carver, 1864-1943, American scientist

--------------------------------------------------
From: "Veronica Smith" <madison_tewe at spinn.net>
Sent: Monday, January 09, 2012 10:04 PM
To: "'NFBnet Blind Parents Mailing List'" <blparent at nfbnet.org>
Subject: [blparent] Your baby and how much light they need

> Vision Development at Birth
> Soon after birth, your doctor will briefly examine your infant's eyes to
> rule out
> signs of
> congenital cataracts
> or other serious
> neonatal
> eye problems. Though such eye problems are rare, they must be detected and
> treated
> early to minimize their impact on your child's vision development.
> Your infant's vision development starts well before birth. Get prenatal
> care, eat
> well and get plenty of rest while pregnant.
> Also, an antibiotic ointment is usually applied to your newborn's eyes to
> help prevent
> an
> eye infection
> from bacteria present in the birth canal.
> At birth, your baby sees only in black and white and shades of gray. Nerve
> cells
> in their
> retina
> and brain that control vision are not fully developed. Also, a newborn
> infant's
> eyes don't have the ability to accommodate (focus on near objects). So 
> don't
> be concerned
> if your baby doesn't seem to be "focusing" on objects, including your 
> face.
> It just
> takes time.
> Despite these visual limitations, studies show that within a few days 
> after
> birth,
> infants prefer looking at an image of their mother's face to that of a
> stranger.
> Researchers believe this preference depends on large, high-contrast 
> stimuli,
> like
> the boundary of the mother's hairline to her face. (In studies, if these
> boundaries
> were masked with a scarf or bathing cap, the infants' preference of 
> looking
> at their
> mother's face went away.)
> So to encourage visual interaction with your newborn child, keep your hair
> style
> the same, and avoid altering your appearance.
> One thing you may notice about your newborn son or daughter is how large
> their eyes
> are. This is because normal infant development proceeds from the head 
> down.
> At birth,
> your baby's eyes are already 65 percent of their adult size!
> Your Baby's Eyes in the First Month
> Your baby's eyes are not very sensitive to light in the first month of 
> life.
> In fact,
> the amount of light required for a 1-month-old infant to be aware that 
> light
> is present
> (called the light detection threshold) is 50 times higher than that of an
> adult.
> Keeping your appearance consistent helps your baby recognize and interact
> with you
> after birth.
> So it's OK to leave some lights on in the nursery - it won't affect their
> ability
> to sleep - and it may help keep you from stubbing your toes on furniture
> when you
> go in to check on them!
>
> Infants start to develop the ability to see in colors very quickly. At one
> week after
> birth, they can see red, orange, yellow and green. But it takes a little
> longer for
> them to be able to see blue and violet. This is because blue light has
> shorter wavelengths,
> and fewer color receptors exist in the human retina for blue light.
> Don't be too concerned if your baby's eyes sometimes don't appear to be
> working together
> as a team early on. One eye may occasionally drift inward or outward from
> proper
> alignment. This is normal. But if you see a large and constant 
> misalignment
> of their
> eyes, notify your
> eye care practitioner
> right away.
>
> Tips:
> To help stimulate your infant's vision, decorate their room with bright,
> cheerful
> colors. Include artwork and furnishings with contrasting colors and 
> shapes.
> Also
> hang a brightly colored mobile above or near their crib. Make sure it has 
> a
> variety
> of colors and shapes.
> Vision Development: Months 2 and 3
> Many advances in vision development take place in months two and three.
> Infants develop
> sharper
> visual acuity
> during this period, and their eyes are beginning to move better as a team.
> Your
> child should be following moving objects at this stage and starting to 
> reach
> for
> things he sees.
> A bright, cheerful room with many colors and shapes helps stimulate your
> infant's
> vision development.
> Also, infants at this stage of development are learning how to shift their
> gaze from
> one object to another without having to move their head. And their eyes 
> are
> becoming
> more sensitive to light: at three months, an infant's light detection
> threshold is
> only 10 times that of an adult. So you may want to dim the lights a bit 
> more
> for
> naps and bedtime.
>
> Tips:
> To help stimulate your 2- to 3-month-old child's vision development, the
> American
> Optometric Association (AOA) has these recommendations:
> Vision Development: Months 4 to 6
> How quickly they grow!
> By age 6 months, significant advances have taken place in the vision 
> centers
> of the
> brain, allowing your infant to see more distinctly and move his eyes 
> quicker
> and
> more accurately to follow moving objects.
> Visual acuity improves from about 20/400 at birth to approximately 20/25 
> at
> 6 months
> of age. Color vision should be similar to that of an adult as well, 
> enabling
> your
> child to see all the colors of the rainbow.
> Babies also have better eye-hand coordination at 4 to 6 months of age,
> allowing them
> to quickly locate and pick up objects and accurately direct a bottle (and
> many other
> things!) to their mouth.
> Six months of age also is an important milestone because this is when your
> child
> should have his first
> children's eye exam
> .
> Even though your baby doesn't know the letters on a wall chart, your eye
> doctor can
> perform non-verbal testing to assess his visual acuity, detect
> nearsightedness
> ,
> farsightedness
> and
> astigmatism
> , and evaluate his eye teaming and alignment.
> At this exam, your eye care practitioner will also check the health of 
> your
> baby's
> eyes and look for anything that might interfere with normal and continuing
> vision
> development. For the most thorough eye exam for your 6-month-old, you may
> want to
> seek the services of an eye doctor who specializes in children's vision 
> and
> vision
> development.
>
> Vision Development: Months 7 to 12
> Your child is now mobile, crawling about and covering more distance than 
> you
> could
> ever have imagined. He is better at judging distances and more accurate at
> grasping
> and throwing objects. (Look out!)
> When your baby starts crawling, play with him on the floor to help develop
> his eye-hand
> coordination and motor skills.
> This is an important developmental period for your child. At this stage,
> infants
> are developing a better awareness of their overall body and are learning 
> how
> to coordinate
> their vision with their body movements.
> It's also a time that requires greater diligence on your part to keep your
> baby from
> harm. Bumps, bruises,
> eye injuries
> and other serious injuries can occur as he begins to physically explore 
> his
> environment.
> In particular, keep cabinets that contain cleaning supplies locked, and 
> put
> barriers
> in front of stairwells.
> Don't be concerned if your infant's eyes are beginning to change color. 
> Most
> babies
> are born with blue eyes because darker pigments in the
> iris
> aren't completely developed at birth. Over time, more dark pigment is
> produced in
> the iris, which will often change your child's
> eye color
> from blue to brown, green, gray or a mixture of colors.
>
> Tips:
> To stimulate the development of your child's eye-hand-body coordination,
> get down
> on the floor with him and encourage him to crawl to objects. Place a
> favorite toy
> on the floor just out of his reach and encourage him to get it. Also 
> provide
> plenty
> of objects and toys that he can take apart and put together.
> Eye Alignment Problems
> Be sure to pay close attention to how well your baby's eyes work together 
> as
> a team.
> Strabismus
> is the term for a misalignment of the eyes, and it is important that it is
> detected
> and treated early so the vision in both eyes develops properly. Left
> untreated, strabismus
> can lead to
> amblyopia
> or "lazy eye."
> Though it takes a few months for an infant's eyes to develop eye teaming
> skills,
> if you feel one of your baby's eyes is misaligned constantly or does not
> move in
> synch with the other eye, contact your pediatrician or eye doctor as soon 
> as
> possible.
>
>
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