Depth Perception and Focus in Babies
In newborn babies, apart from the inability to perceive colors, they also lack the ability to focus on things. Their vision is usually blurry at birth but it gets better as the baby develops. They only focus on things that are about 8-10 inches away. Objects farther away appear blurry to them.
During this period, their eyes do not work together. Both eyes move differently and it appears to be crossed. This makes it difficult for them to focus on objects, especially those that are far away from their eyes. If your child’s eyes get crossed constantly, you should take them to an optometrist for assessment.
Between the second and third month, there is increased ability to control both eyes and make them work together. This allows them to focus on objects. They also develop the ability to track objects that are moving.
Depth perception [3] is also less developed in newborn babies. They lack the ability to perceive the distance of an object. This improves when they are five months old.
Improved depth perception, focus and color vision helps the development of the child. They begin to recognize and remember things. They are also able to focus on objects far away from them.