Ever wonder about what your baby is seeing? Is their vision as good as a baby as it is when they grow up? Trying to figure out what someone else is seeing is difficult, but then to throw in the fact that they cannot even tell you what they are seeing just adds to the equation. This is why taking care of your child’s eyes is something that a parent needs to be pro-active about and not re-active!
When in the womb, a baby’s eye structure begins forming early on during the pregnancy, at only seven weeks! Around week ten, the eyelids form and will stay shut through week twenty-eight. During this time, the eyebrows and eyelashes form and the child is able to see light through their eyelids. Once the eyelids and eyes are fully formed, the baby will be able to see light outside of the womb.
Immediately after birth, a baby can only see about a foot in front of their face, but by three months they will be able to recognize familiar faces and follow objects in a 180 degree range! After about six months, the baby should be able to focus, see color, and have depth perception. This is when the parent should look into getting the baby their first eye exam. The doctor will be able to check to make sure that the baby is developing normally and whether they are near or far sighted, cross-eyed, or if they have a lazy eye.
These days, most parents will take their babies into the doctor without any symptoms for check-ups, shots, etc., yet 24% of parents wait to take their child to the eye doctor until they see any symptoms. It is recommended that children have a minimum of three eye appointments by age six, think of all that can be missed by not having an eye appointment for SIX years!? Having vision issues can be a cause for children not to develop as quickly as other children and can also contribute to behavioral issues. In fact, 60% of students that were identified as “problem learners” have an undetected vision problem.
The statistics surrounding visual health can be quite surprising, but it creates an awareness that we need to make sure that we are taking care of our eyes on a regular basis instead of waiting until there are symptoms of a problem. At Hi-Tech Optical, we truly care about your vision and the vision of your loved ones. We urge people to be pro-active and bring children in for a yearly eye exam with our Doctor, we have a large variety of frames for the whole family to choose from!
*Statistics were found from http://thinkaboutyoureyes.com