Development of Baby's Vision in the womb

It was thought that before the babies were born, their senses were undeveloped and their reactions were purely random and reflex movements. Thanks to ultrasonography and other examination methods, we now know that the baby's five senses begin to develop at the earliest stages of pregnancy and their responses are actually very meaningful.

The most evolving sensory system during life in the womb is seeing. It was observed that the fetus gave strong responses to visual stimuli such as light from this week, when it was not sensitive to visual stimuli  before the 25th week. Eyelid movements also begin in this period. The eyelids of the baby are closed until 26 weeks.

Unlike the sound, the uterus acts as a strong barrier to light transmission and prevents the baby from being affected by light. The baby's eyes are closed until the 26th week, but respond to a strong light source applied on the mother's abdomen. In fact, the uterus is not absolute darkness. Just like the sounds, he spends the light. Therefore, the baby can easily distinguish between day and night.

It is impossible to test the visual function of a baby in the womb. However, when babies born between 28 and 34 weeks of age are examined, the objects of these babies are found in horizontal and vertical plane 31-32. It shows that they can follow from the week. 33-34. If the week, this ability to follow is the same as that of a baby born on time. From week 33, infants' pupils can grow or shrink by responding to light.

Babies in the womb, like us, cannot keep their eyes open in water for a long time. Although the baby does not sleep, it opens and closes its eyes to protect the eyeball. The unborn baby reaches only one percent of the outside light. However, this amount is sufficient for the unborn baby to detect colors and record them in his memory. Especially red tones are better perceived. Infants' weaknesses to red color can be explained in this way. As a result, the fetus is not a less developed creature. On the contrary, from a very early stage, their senses begin to develop and they store information in their memory by recognizing their surroundings. In other words, when the baby is born, unaware of all, a defenseless "" puppy "", but has little experience of stimulants that may be harmful to itself and is born with various memories of fetal life. For this reason, it is useful to apply the stimuli, such as sound, light and touch, to the baby.

What is the anotomic development of the eye in the newborn baby?

In a 30-35-week-old infant, the pupil is small or small. Retinal vein development continues. Therefore, the newborn eye, especially the retina layer is sensitive to external factors.

In premature infants born prematurely, the development of retinal development, especially when exposed to oxygen, may halt or cause new abnormal vessels. This condition is defined as premature retinopathy.

Vascular development of the retina layer continues until 41 weeks. It reaches adult characteristics at the 43st week. However, the central part of the vision center called fovea layer still continues its development after this week.

Is a neonatal baby eye examination necessary?

Early diagnosis and treatment are important in pediatric eye diseases. The development of children's eye tissues continues after birth. In this period, any situation that would prevent vision can cause irreversible losses in vision even when the disease is treated.

These can be cataracts, strabismus, anisometropia, glaucoma, corneal turbidity. Or structural problems such as optic nerve, retina, macular, vascular anomalies and may be a symptom of other systemic diseases. Early diagnosis and treatment is therefore very important in newborn infants.

Unfortunately, in a new-born infant, families may not think that they may have any eye disease, and sometimes pediatricians can skip this issue. However, the eyes of the newborn may be disturbed as the eyes of an adult and often require more immediate treatment than an adult eye condition.

Routine examination, vaccination, hearing test, etc., as well as routine eye examinations for newborn infants are now routinely performed. referring the pediatricians and 1st step health care services to the ophthalmologist during certain control periods will cause us to improve many eyes and healthy babies will help us to develop healthy future.

Frequently Asked Questions:

1- Is there a newborn baby eye examination?

Answer: Of course, children may have eye examination from birth.

2-Question: Do you have eye impairment in children?

Answer: Children may have eye diseases such as adults. These can be cataracts, glaucoma, strabismus, retinal disease, eye tumors, myopia, hyperopia or astigmatism.

3- Question: If there is no problem in the eyes of the child, do you have eye control?

Answer: Yes, children should be subject to eye check. A neonatal infant should undergo an eye examination even if it is not a problem, especially until 12 months of age. Diagnosis and treatment of some eye diseases are very important until the age of two years. The success of these diseases is low when the diagnosis is over 2 years. For this reason, an infant should be evaluated by an ophthalmologist before reaching a maximum age of 2 years.

4-Question: Does the family have a blind eye or a child with no eye disease?

Answer: There are no eye problems in the family and eye disorders in children without a disorder. They may not give symptoms until school age. Sometimes, even in one eye, heavy amblyopia may emerge with lazy eye. Although these conditions cause great confusion and sadness in families, diagnosis before age 9 is very important. Because the lazy eye treatment should be done before the age of 9 years. The smaller the child's age, the higher the success of the treatment. Therefore, early diagnosis is very important.

5-Question: Is it necessary to have an examination in the eyes of the child?

Answer: Hypermetropia is quite common in children. Occasionally, when the eye is accompanied by muscle laziness, there may be difficulty in seeing, tics in eyebrows and eyelids, indifference to classes and failure in exams. Hypermetropia in this period generally decreases as the age of the child grows, and in the following years it will be able to leave the glasses completely.

6-Question: Is watching TV closely spoiled?

Answer: Watching the television is sometimes caused by the habit and the liking of the child. But watching the TV closely does not spoil it. In fact, most of the time the child chooses to watch the television closely, this is caused by the child can not see the television clearly. For this reason, parents should undergo eye diseases examination to test an eye disease and visual impairment if children tend to follow the television closely. As a result, watching the television closely does not disrupt the blind child, the child goes near the television. However, we do not recommend long-term TV viewing for child development.

7-Question: Does wearing glasses blink?

Answer: If we wear the right goggles it won't spoil the eye. Glasses is a tool. It is a device that allows us to see the outside world more clearly. When fitted, the image becomes clear, disrupted when removed. However, some people are not disturbed by the fact that they do not realize what they see less before they see the glasses, but they are uncomfortable when they get used to the glasses and see the clarity that the glasses provide. They refer to this as ler ’my glasses blinked Bunu Bunu.

8-Question: Is it unnecessary to have a glasses examination or to buy new glasses?

Answer: It is absolutely necessary to have an examination every 6 months until the age of 15 years and 15 years after the age of 15 years. As the children are in the growth stage, the eye numbers are also changing frequently. Regular checks are therefore essential. Sometimes we recommend glass renewal even if the glasses number does not change. Because children are very mobile because they are very easy to draw glasses. These scratches can also adversely affect vision and increase eye impairment.

source: https://www.kidschildrenshealth.com/visual-impairment-causes-and-treatment/