One of the questions parents ask themselves when the baby is born is what their child sees and how it sees . Some teach them colorful toys, believing that this will attract their attention, but the newborn can barely distinguish them.
The truth is that at birth, the child’s vision is very underdeveloped. This will evolve during the first months of life until it can distinguish shapes, distances and colors. Today we will focus on how the newborn sees colors: does he see the world in color or in black and white?
When opening his eyes for the first time outside the mother’s womb, the baby is faced with a nebula of images in the range of gray , as if we were looking at an old and blurred photo. He does not see clearly, he only distinguishes light and shadow and perceives movements.
You can see only objects that are at a distance of 20 to 30 centimeters , the same distance that separates you from the face of the person holding you in their arms. In fact, one of the first visual stimuli that the baby is able to interpret is the mother’s face.
What colors can the baby see?
When it is born, the baby cannot differentiate the range of colors that we adults see. You perceive poorly defined colors that intensify as the eye matures.
In the first weeks he begins to show interest in black and white patterns. Straight lines, stripes, squared designs attract him. The more contrast there is, the more it will attract your attention. That is why mobiles that create contrasting light and shadow and black and white graphics are recommended to stimulate the sense of sight.
Little by little, as your visual perception develops, you will begin to be attracted to the most vivid and intense colors . If we place a baby in front of three objects: one red, one blue and one yellow, he will look at red for the longest time, as it is the brightest .
After two months, all color-sensitive receptors in the eye are fully functional. The first color that distinguishes it is red , then green , after three months blue and yellow .
At four months they can distinguish most colors, while after six months their visual perception already recognizes a wide range of colors and various shades .
Photo of Anna Shvets in Pexels
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