A baby at 8 weeks needs your attention around the clock. This loving commitment certainly takes its toll. Moms and dads who literally have to go out day and night to feed their little offspring or change its diapers sometimes feel overwhelmed.

But then, in the end, the close bond between parents and child prevails. So right from the start, it’s a real pleasure to witness how splendidly your baby has developed at eight weeks.

That’s How Far Along Your Baby Is At Two Months

When your baby is almost two months old, he can already see well and follow certain things at a short distance with his two eyes. This is completely different from the way it was immediately after birth. A baby at this stage of its life is particularly attracted to bright colors such as red, yellow or blue.

Eight up to its next developmental stage, the 12-week stage, it is even able to distinguish these primary colors visually from one another.

Vision And Hearing Improve – The 12-Week Stage Is Imminent

Vision improves relatively quickly, and a two-month-old baby already “selects” colors independently. For example, if you show him a red ball, a blue ball or a yellow ball, he will certainly direct his gaze to the ball in his “favorite color” because he will already be able to tell them apart shortly before his 12-week push.

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At the same time, the question consequently arises:“From when can babies see“? What you should know about the growth spurts in the baby and what it has to do with a baby at eight weeks with the so-called 12 weeks thrust – this and more you will learn in this article.

When Can Babies Start To See?

After birth, a baby can initially hear better than it can see. While the sense of hearing develops relatively early and becomes more and more refined through almost constant listening, it is different with the sense of sight. This develops only gradually in an infant. It is true that babies can already see in the womb.

But even when they “see the light of day,” they still recognize things very blurrily at first. It has been found, for example, that they can only see objects relatively sharply from a distance of 30 cm.

Newborns can recognize contrasts and bright colors very early on. Specific color nuances, on the other hand, they do not yet perceive. It takes a lot of concentration, and they also have to exert a great deal of eye muscle power to focus on objects.

As a result, it sometimes appears as if an infant is squinting. If you have noticed this with your baby, there is no reason to worry. By the time the baby is two months old at the latest, this conspicuousness will have regulated itself again.

Note

Already at the age of four weeks, babies can track objects with their eyes for a short time. However, this is only possible if you hold a conspicuous colored object at a distance of about 10 to 20 cm in front of their eyes. At greater distances, they will not be able to see the object or will only be able to see it very blurrily.

At Eight Weeks, Your Baby Will Be Able To Recognize Color Nuances Better And Better

At what age can babies see or distinguish colors? With regard to the growth spurts in babies, researchers have found that a baby can already perceive color differences at eight weeks. Babies at 8 weeks will also be able to grasp colored objects with their hands by the time they are 12 weeks old.

Hand-eye coordination matures during this phase of their lives, so it’s up to parents to support these growth spurts in their baby.

Tip

It is not until around the end of the fourth month that your baby will actually be able to hold these objects with their hands.

This Is How You Can Support Your Baby’s Sense Of Sight At Eight Weeks Of Age

Moms and dads who are intensively involved with their offspring can use educational toys to support or accelerate their baby’s developmental thrusts. According to experienced midwives, the following “aids” are particularly suitable:

• Toys with bright colors are now very important with a view to good development of vision.
• Touch toys in bright colors made of different materials support the formation of synapses in the brain.
• Colorful graspers are ideal for babies at this age.
• Colorful mobiles attract the eyes of the dear little ones – and stimulate their imagination.
• Music boxes in bright colors appeal to the sense of hearing and sight.
• Most babies in this phase of life find play bows extremely exciting.
• Rattles in bright colors awaken the little ones’ enthusiasm for colorful and noisy things.

It’s not just the question of”When will babies be able to see? You should also know the following about the developmental stages in babies.

The Eight Growth Spurts In Babies

During the first 12 months of life, your child “goes through” a total of eight growth spurts. The first takes place around the fifth week of life, the second around the eighth week. The 12th week growth spurt occurs about three months after birth, and the fourth occurs in the 19th week of life.

It is not until seven weeks later that a baby undergoes the fifth growth spurt, while the sixth occurs in the 37th week of life. The seventh occurs on average from the 47th week, and the eighth takes place from the 55th week of its young life.

The 12-Week Thrust – And The Question, “At What Point Can Babies See?”

When we talk about the 12-week surge, it certainly doesn’t mean that your baby will suddenly grow faster or gain weight. Not at all. Rather, the term “growth spurt” means that a kind of further development is taking place in the brain of the little earthling.

Your baby will therefore acquire new abilities and refine its individual sensory perceptions with each further development or growth spurt. However, the baby’s growth spurts are not continuous, but – as the name suggests – “spurt-like”.

For most moms and dads, the question: “When will babies be able to see?” is just as relevant as the question about the other sensory perceptions. What is special about this phase of his life, however, is that he can now link what he sees in different situations with sounds, smells and feelings and store them in his memory.

At around eight weeks of age, your child will be able to listen to you attentively and remember the sound and melody of your voice very well.

Tip

This interesting ability also refers to other people with whom your little treasure is in direct contact in his everyday life.

Unexpected sounds or suddenly occurring noises, it tries to locate with the eyes or to determine. This is also an indication that your little one is now better and better able to link visual impressions and acoustic stimuli.

More About The Physical Development Of Two-Month-Old Babies

The fontanelle is the area on the baby’s head where the skull plates meet. It consists almost entirely of connective tissue and provides the baby with the flexibility it needs to pass through the birth canal during birth. Consequently, it can adapt to the anatomical conditions of the mother’s abdomen.

A second fontanel is located just above the forehead area. It is larger than the main fontanelle, which is found on the top of the skull, and grows together much more slowly. It will not have largely closed until the end of the second year of life. Around four weeks before the 12-week push, the fontanelle at the back of the head will begin to gradually close.

If your baby looked very wrinkled and “crumpled” shortly after birth and in the days that followed, this changes significantly in the baby at 8 weeks. Now you can gradually see that practically every day he will gain another tiny bit in size and weight.

When your baby is lying on his belly, he may already be able to lean on his little forearms for a few seconds. At the same time, he will be able to lift his head. Such growth spurts in the baby are the prerequisite for it to soon be able to roll from the stomach to the back and back again.

Note

In view of this development, you should never leave your baby unattended on the changing table at 8 weeks.

Every day of your baby’s life, as he grows and thrives at 8 weeks, the grasping reflex weakens. Accordingly, your baby will no longer form his fingers into fists as forcefully and almost incessantly as he did before. Instead, he opens his little hands more and more frequently from now on and begins to grasp.

Note

Your little darling may even be able to hold his favorite toy in his hand for a short time. This is not only a great progress in growth, but it is also a signal that the child has now understood that he can use his little hands consciously and purposefully.

From this stage of life, your baby can already hold himself relatively straight when you get him out of bed. In this respect, the question “from when can babies see” is also answered in this context. This change in posture shows that the baby is not only seeing its environment, but is also becoming more and more aware of it.

Conclusion

If you ask yourself the question “from when can babies see”, you will certainly get the first impressive answers from your now 2-month-old offspring. From a parent’s point of view, it’s a real pleasure to see how quickly babies develop during this phase of their lives, and the mental and physical progress they make.

When can babies start to see – an exciting question, the answer to which is a real pleasure for loving moms and dads in the course of the baby’s growth spurts, because the dear little ones are now becoming more and more aware of their surroundings.

Sources

https://www.swissmom.ch/baby/woche-fuer-woche/ihr-baby-im-8-12-monat/9-monat/

https://www.netdoktor.at/familie/baby/baby-8-wochen-6915237