Visual Development Milestones in Infants and Young Children: What to Expect

It takes time for your baby to achieve developmental milestones, including milestones regarding vision development. Vision development happens over time, and it’s helpful to know what to expect. Your pediatrician can help. Dr. Joshua Yell, Dr. Jeff Couchman, Dr. Susan McMahon, and Dr. Nicole Abdy at Mesquite Pediatrics provide comprehensive medical services for children, including vision and hearing services, in Tucson, AZ.

What You Need to Know: Visual Milestones

There are several factors that need to come together for your child to see normally. The ability to focus, move the eyes correctly, and use them together properly all take time. Vision is also critical to your child’s overall development. If your child doesn’t see properly, it can cause delays developmental delays. According to the American Optometric Association, these are normal vision development milestones for you to look for as your baby grows:

• From birth to 4 months your baby will focus on objects 8 to 10 inches from their face. The eyes begin to work together and eye-hand coordination develops. By 8 weeks your baby will focus on your face or nearby objects. At 3 months, your baby should begin to follow moving objects with their eyes.
• From 5 to 8 months your baby’s eyes will work together to see objects in three dimensions, and depth perception improves. Color vision becomes more refined.
• From 9 to 12 months your baby will be able to judge distances. At this age you should encourage crawling rather than walking too early. This helps develop better eye-hand coordination.

Your baby’s first eye examination should happen when your child is about 1 year old. During the eye exam, your pediatrician will check for astigmatism, near sightedness, far sightedness, and other vision problems.

You should bring your child to visit the pediatrician for vision and hearing services in Tucson, AZ, if you notice these vision issues:

• Excessive tearing, which may indicate a blocked tear duct
• Red or encrusted eyelids, which may indicate an eye infection
• Constant eye turning, which may indicate an eye muscle control problem
• Extreme sensitivity to light, which may indicate elevated eye pressure
• Development of a white pupil, which may indicate eye cancer

Stay on Top of Visual Milestones in Infants and Young Children

To find out more about visual development milestones in infants and young children, call Dr. Yell, Dr. Couchman, Dr. McMahon, and Dr. Abdy at Mesquite Pediatrics for vision and hearing services in Tucson, AZ. Call (520) 648-5437 to schedule an appointment or discuss your vision milestone concerns today!