Baby’s vision and hearing

Super excited about the baby advances in the first months, the mother is not always interested in monitoring the improvement of vision and hearing performance. These two senses are fundamental for the child’s progress. It is through them that the little one receives the stimuli that will allow him to express himself and relate to the surrounding environment.
In the first few weeks, the newborn’s vision it’s still not clear. It perceives patterns (such as stripes) and contrasts (such as black and white), but does not distinguish colors or shapes. In addition, the eyes do not perceive images that are more than 30 or 40 centimeters away. “Vision is one of the senses that develops the most in the first few months, when there is an accelerated maturation of the connections between the eye cells and the part of the brain responsible for translating captured information into images. It is only around the sixth month that the three-dimensional vision is ready”, says pediatric ophthalmologist Célia Nakanami, from São Paulo.

Hearing works fully from birth. “The baby listens like an adult. The difference is that, over the months, he learns to identify the origin of sounds and relate them to situations”, says otorhinolaryngologist Fernando Veiga Angélico Júnior, from São Paulo.

still in maternity

The success of these acquisitions, however, depends on care that should start in the maternity ward, such as testing the eyes and ears. Free in almost all public and private maternity hospitals, they are simple and investigate the risk of congenital diseases that could threaten the development of vision and hearing.

If any abnormality is detected, the neonatologist advises the parents to look for a specialist. After all, the earlier the problem is diagnosed and treated, the greater the chances of minimizing losses. “When there is a cataract, for example, it is possible to have a surgery to replace the lens before the third month, so that the baby does not suffer interference in visual development”, says Célia. In the case of hearing problems, correction can be made with the use of a hearing aid. “Thus, we ensure that the process of speech and language acquisition takes place without prejudice”, says Júnior.

Stimulating is essential

If everything is in order with the sight and hearing of your little one, just provide the right stimuli for those senses to improve. Standing very close to the baby when talking to him, offering toys in bright, contrasting colors, and hanging mobiles in the crib are all ways to help him train his visual aids. After the 3 months, encourage your child to explore, with their eyes, different environments, inside and outside the home. Playing hide and seek and slowly moving an object around so that the child can follow its trajectory are other good visual stimuli. To ensure an accurate hearing, talk a lot with your baby, sing to him, tell stories and let him listen to music of varied styles, including instrumental ones.

Know that the investment in those first months turns into future progress🇧🇷 “The child who sees well concentrates on playing and explores the environment better”, says Célia. Good hearing, in turn, favors the development of language and, consequently, socialization. “It is believed that, by the eighth month, the baby has already learned all the basic sounds of its native language, which is fundamental so that, soon, it is also able to reproduce them”, says speech therapist Maria Cecília Marconi Pinheiro Lime.

Signs that require attention

Some signs of the baby deserve a consultation with the pediatrician, as they may indicate vision or hearing problems. Discover the most worrying signs.

· Indifference to loud noises. From the first weeks, the child wakes up, cries or blinks his eyes to express his annoyance when the noise is excessive.

· Inability to fix the look on the mother’s face or on an object placed very close after the fifth week of life and also, around the second month, the lack of coordination between the two eyes.

· Enlarged eyeball, lack of brightness or change in eye color, whitish pupils and tearing.

· Lack of interest in looking for sounds and voices by moving the head and looking to the sides between the third and sixth months.

· 3 Absence of vocalizations and rudimentary sounds (such as “bá-bá-bá” and “bu-bu-bu”) from the end of the sixth month.

· Talking closely with the baby is an excellent way to stimulate both the vision and the hearing of the little one. Take the opportunity to talk to him, in a soft tone, while changing his diaper or breastfeeding