Pay attention to the visual development of infants and young children

After the baby is born, the vision also develops over time. The anatomical development of the fovea matures within a few months after birth. Within 12 months after birth, the light perception ability reaches the adult level. Three weeks is the critical period for vision development. At one year old, the vision is slightly hyperopic. Between 4 and 8 years old, the vision basically reaches the adult level. From the expression point of view, the baby can start to fixate for a while at 5-6 weeks, and start to pay attention to familiar faces between 3 weeks and 5 months. At around 4 months, the baby starts to touch things with his hands, indicating that he has a certain sense of gaze direction. At around 6 months, he has a certain depth angle.

Since infants and young children cannot cooperate with vision tests, parents need to pay attention to observation in daily life. You can use familiar things to lure them and observe whether they can focus or track their gaze. You can use the following methods to roughly monitor their vision:

1. Red pompom method: Use a large red pompom and move it 20 cm away from the baby's eyes to see if it can attract the baby's attention. This method is generally suitable for newborns who are one month old.

2. Blink reflex: This method can be used after the baby is 2 months old. Move an object suddenly close to the baby's eyes and observe whether it will cause the baby to blink.

3. Following movement: At 3 months old, babies can look at or follow toys at will, and their heads will move accordingly; at 5 months old, they can distinguish people's faces. If the baby cannot look at the target steadily, or looks aimlessly, or just moves his eyes rhythmically, it means that there is a problem with vision.

4. Cover experiment: Cover the child's eyes alternately and observe their movements. If the baby can see, he will refuse to be covered.

5. Directly locate and take objects: You can let the baby directly locate and take objects. Those with poor vision will randomly grope for things they are interested in, while those with normal vision will directly take action. The above simple methods can be used for a rough screening. If abnormalities are found, you should seek medical attention in time.

Parents should pay attention to their children's daily actions that are different from other children, such as rubbing their eyes, blinking frequently, tilting their heads to look at things, squinting, and being afraid of light, etc. They should check and find out the causes of these habits. In addition, they should pay attention to each vision examination in kindergarten. If the vision is found to be lower than that of children of the same age, they should be checked in time to find out the reasons to avoid missing the best time for treatment.

(Lv Tianbin, deputy chief physician of the Optometry School of Henan Provincial People's Hospital)