Visual perception ability

Directly after birth: here the eyes of the baby are usually still glued together. However, the baby can already distinguish between light and dark. Even close outlines and movements can be recognized.

The vision is altogether still blurred. Even if the baby’s vision is not yet fully developed, he or she can compensate for different smells early on. So it finds in the beginning especially the maternal breast.

Newborns are able to fix light or faces. 1st month of life: Slowly, objects can also be fixed. In the first two months of life it often happens that babies squint.

This should not lead to uncertainty, but is quite normal, as the baby is not yet able to control eye movements properly. 2nd month of life: Now it begins to be able to distinguish faces from each other and to follow objects with its eyes. 4th month of life: At the end of this month, babies can fix objects and faces at a distance and also learn to estimate distances.

Eye movements are now more controlled and strabismus gradually disappears. 5th month of life: From now on a baby can see about as well as an adult. However, the baby continues to use the mouth to explore the surroundings. 6th month of life: From now on the baby gets a three-dimensional impression of the world. Understanding and coordination are now at a stage where the baby can reach for objects.

Acoustic perceptiveness

The unborn child perceives and reacts to voices, sounds or music already in the womb. After birth, the voice of the mother is familiar to him. Between the third and 10th day of life, a hearing screening is carried out as part of the U2 preventive child examination.

If this is conspicuous and a hearing loss is detected in the child, hearing aids will be fitted early if possible, as hearing is essential for language learning. In the second month of life, hearing is not yet fully developed. Nevertheless, it perceives sounds and can turn to them or even make sounds of its own. By the fourth month of life, it can distinguish the directions from which the sounds are coming. By the end of the 5th month of life, the baby will ultimately hear just as well as adults.