Your Baby – July 2019

38 | JULY & AUGUST 2019

Image: Gallo Images/Getty Images

EYE FACTS

• Your baby’s eyesight is 70 percent
  that of an adult’s.


• If your baby’s eyes seem
  “misaligned” at first (drifting inward
  or outward), it’s normal. It takes
  three months for your baby’s eyes to
  align properly, but if they don’t, see
  a doctor.


• Exposing your newborn to
  a variety of colours and shapes will
  stimulate his eye development.
  
  
  • Your newborn’s visual acuity
    (sharpness of vision) is 20/400. It’s
    equivalent to seeing only the big
    letter “E” on an eye chart.
  
  
  
  

YB BABY FILES: NEWBORN

NEWBORNS ARE ABLE to see light and
dark, large masses, and bold, contrasting
patterns. Your baby will enjoy looking
at your face up close – focusing at about
20 to 30cm – but can probably only make
out the outline.
This is also about the distance
between mom’s face when baby is
looking up at her during breastfeeding.
Bright colours may catch your newborn’s
eye. In terms of colour vision, your baby
will be able to see red first and the rest
of the colour spectrum by the time he’s
three months old.
Your baby will start to follow
movement of objects and recognising
things like a toy or mobile in his cot.
Black-and-white geometrically patterned
pictures can hold your newborn’s
attention more than those with many
similar colours.
Your newborn’s eyes are not able to
focus on distant objects. It is only by six
to eight months, once his eye muscles
have strengthened and matured, that he
will be able to focus better.
At birth your paediatrician will
routinely examine your baby’s eyes and
look for any sign of defect or infection.

Your baby’s sight is an important sensory tool.

Here’s what you should know

Infant vision

All eyes on Africa

Our continent has the highest prevalence

of blindness, reports advocacy group

Orbis (orbis.co.za). Roughly 9 000

children in Ghana are blind – and Orbis

estimates more than half of these cases

were avoidable. If you have any doubt,

get your child’s eyes tested. Pronto!

Also, your newborn will receive

antibiotic eye drops to prevent an

infection after birth. Eye problems are

usually picked up if obvious or extensive

eye tests are done early.

Early eye screening should be done

if infants are born prematurely, have

a family history of genetic disorders

or a history of intrauterine infections

(contracted while in the womb). This

will ensure immediate treatment and

limit harmful effects on the overall

development of your baby’s vision,

should there be a problem.

Your newborn’s eyes need proper

care. Be sure to use a cotton ball or soft

facecloth dipped in cooled-down boiled

water to cleanse the delicate eye area.

With your baby’s eyes closed, wipe with

the damp cloth or cotton ball from the

inside corner of the eye to the outside

corner. Use a new cotton ball for each

eye or a different part of the cloth each

time you cleanse.

Sometimes your baby develops a

blocked tear duct. This is when baby is

not crying but tears well up in the eye

and roll down the cheeks.

Blocked tear ducts usually clear on

their own within your baby’s first year

of life. However, if an infection sets in,

see your paed. Symptoms of infection

include redness, swelling, crusting and

mucus or pus discharge. YB