Helping Your Baby to See

Ophthalmologists will advise parent's to stimulate their baby's vision and loving, involved parents will instinctively do the right thing. Below we list some ideas that this can be achieved.

1. Brightly coloured mobiles directly over the cot.

   
   

2. Bold primary colours in pictures, curtains and wallcoverings but be aware that some visually impaired people do not like looking at patterns or stripes.

   
   

3. Different coloured lights, eg. Spot lights - aimed away from baby, fibre optic lamps or strings of fairy lights (but not flashing lights).

   
   

4. Large picture books: rag books or old catalogues are ideal for young babies, encourage enjoyment of books and “reading” as soon as possible, you will be amazed at the amount of detail a baby can detect.

   
   

5. Bright, bold toys. The Early Learning Centre is an excellent source for stimulating toys as is the RNIB Toy catalogue.

   
   

6. Bright coloured stickers on everything.

   
   

7. Let your baby look right into your face and study you closely: he/she can practice this with siblings and friends too.

   
   

8. Use good clear lighting in all rooms in the house.

   
   

9. Show your baby everything, even everyday objects such as hair brushes, and let him/her really look at it, taking his/her time.