From the moment a baby opens their eyes to the world, their visual abilities undergo a series of rapid and remarkable transformations. As optometrists, and parents, we want to highlight the importance of understanding the developmental vision milestones of your child, as they may provide valuable insight into your child's overall growth and health. Outlined below are the visual developments that children will undergo up to school age:
Birth to 3 months: Newborns have limited vision, with a preference for high-contrast patterns and faces. By the end of this period, most babies can follow moving objects with their eyes and recognize familiar faces.
4 to 6 months: This is a period of significant development. Depth perception starts to emerge, and hand-eye coordination begins to improve. By six months, many babies have established better colour vision, comparable to that of an adult.
7 to 12 months: Crawling and exploring become a central theme. Exploration will help improve your child's visual-spatial understanding and depth perception. At this stage, they can grasp objects with more accuracy and throw things, indicating an improvement in hand-eye coordination.
1 to 2 years: As your toddler walks and engages with their environment, they sharpen their depth perception and fine motor skills. Starting to recognize familiar objects and pictures in books, they can point them out upon request.
3 to 4 years: Preschoolers experience an explosion in visual recognition. They can match and sort objects based on shape, colour, and size. Evolving drawing skills, move from scribbles to more recognizable shapes and figures.
5 to 6 years: As your child readies for school, their visual abilities are more refined. They will focus on near and distant objects smoothly, essential for classroom activities like reading from the board or a book. Also, hand-eye coordination is sophisticated enough for activities such as writing and sports. 
If you notice obvious deviations from these milestones, make a booking to see us, as it might indicate vision problems. Our optometrists, at Burleigh Waters and Tweed, can carry out vision check-ups with children from 6 months old, and then schedule a visit every two years from age 3. It is recommended that children have a full eye examination before starting school, and then regularly as they progress through their school years. Always remember that timely intervention could make a significant difference in ensuring the optimal vision of your child.