Infants Should Have Their Eyes Checked
Healthy eyes and good vision play a critical role in how infants and children learn to see, and if there are vision problems in infants then developmental delays can occur as a result. An eye and vision assessment is an important step in making sure your baby is learning to see properly, and detecting problems early can ensure that your baby has the opportunity to develop the visual abilities they need to grow and learn.
The InfantSEE program provides a no cost eye and vision assessment for babies 6 to 12 months old. The American Optometric Association founded this public health program in an effort to encourage early eye examinations for infants and stress the importance of early vision checks in the development of children. Call today to schedule an eye exam for your infant and take a critical step in ensuring the correct development of your child.
There are many significant milestones that you can watch for in your child’s vision development. Keep in mind that not every child is the same and some children reach these milestones at different ages. The following milestones are given by the AOA:
- By 8 weeks, babies begin to focus their eyes on the faces of a parent or other person near them.
- Babies should begin to follow moving objects with their eyes and reach for things at around 4 months of age.
- It is generally believed that babies have good color vision by 5 months of age.
- By the age of 9 to 12 months, babies should be using their eyes and hands together.
- By two years of age, a child’s eye-hand coordination and depth perception should be well developed.
For more information about infant vision, visit www.aoa.org.
For more information about the InfantSEE Program, visit www.infantsee.org.