Why black & white is such a big deal

Showing your newborn a simple black-and-white pattern encourages them to focus and coordinate their eyes—two important skills they’re working on right now. This also helps their brain learn to receive, interpret, and respond to visual stimuli.

In this post:

• Activity: Develop visual skills with slow play
• Article: Why black and white is so riveting to your newborn
• Ask & Learn: What does my baby actually see when she stares at me?
  

Develop visual skills with slow play

At birth, a baby’s vision isn’t fully developed. Right now, your baby is learning how to focus their eyes on an object right in front of them. Since they see best in black and white, you can use the Silicone Rattle With Removable Ball to get their attention. 

• Hold the rattle about 8 to 12 inches away from your baby and wait until they are able to focus on the plaything. 

• Slowly turn the rattle so that your little one can see it from all angles. 

• While they don’t understand that this is a 3-dimensional object yet, the slow, subtle movements give your baby an opportunity to develop their visual skills. 

Why black and white is so riveting to your newborn

Imagine everything around you looks blurry. All you can see are shades of black, white, and gray, with just a hint of muted color. This is how your newborn experiences the world.

In the womb, your baby had a lot to hear, taste, and smell, but there wasn’t much for them to see. When they were born, the part of their brain responsible for visual perception—receiving, interpreting, and responding to visual stimuli—began to develop more actively.

Babies tend to look at high-contrast shapes and patterns longer than they do low-contrast ones. This is because their eyes can more clearly distinguish the differences between light and dark areas. Showing your baby the Black & White Card Set can help them focus and coordinate their eyes.

Here are 6 things to know about your baby’s vision right now:

1. They’re near-sighted. Your newborn’s eyes can focus most clearly at about 8 to 12 inches away—the perfect distance to see your face while in your arms ❤️

2. They may be slightly cross-eyed. In the early weeks, your baby’s eyes may look slightly crossed or misaligned. This will improve as their oculomotor skills develop and they get better at coordinating their eyes. 

3. Your baby’s eyes are slow to adjust to light. Your baby’s “pupillary reflex” helps constrict or expand their pupils based on the amount of light. If your baby closes their eyes in brightly lit spaces, try to keep overhead lights dim and window shades down. Slowly add light to help their eyes adjust. 

4. Following a moving object takes time. Starting around week 5, your baby may be able to follow a high-contrast object as it moves across their field of vision—known as visual tracking. They’ll get better and better at this with practice over the next few months. 

5. They don’t have much depth perception yet. Binocular vision develops around 3 months of age. Once this happens and your baby’s eyes are working well together, they’ll be able to see the dimensions of objects more clearly.

6. Like you, they enjoy a change of scenery from time to time 🙂 Simple high-contrast images are interesting to newborns, but your baby may get bored with them over time. This could be a sign that their fovea—the part of their eye that helps them see more intricate patterns—is getting stronger. Try switching to the Complex Black & White Card Set after a month or two. 

What parents are asking our experts…

“My baby looks at me a lot but I’m wondering what she actually sees when she’s staring at me. Can she see my face?”

Answer: She doesn’t see your face as well as you see hers—but she does see you. A newborn’s vision is blurry and it takes up to four years to become as clear as an adult’s. But research shows us that even though their vision is fuzzy, newborns are drawn to human faces. And by 2 months old, babies show a preference for their caregiver’s face compared to an unfamiliar face.  The neural pathways in your baby’s brain that support vision need experience to develop. Every time your baby looks at you, her brain takes in information that refines her vision and allows her to see you more clearly. Young infants focus best at a distance of approximately 8 to 10 inches—just about the distance between your face and your baby’s when you are holding her. 

Answered by:

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Learn more about the research

Chen, J. S. (2021). Beyond black and white: heibaika, neuroparenting, and lay neuroscience. BioSocieties, 16(1), 70-87.

Fantz, R. L. (1963). Pattern vision in newborn infants. Science, 140, 296–297.

Hainline, L., & Lemerise, E. (1982). Infants’ scanning of geometric forms varying in size. Journal of Experimental Child Psychology, 33(2), 235-256. 

Johnson, S. P. (2011). Development of visual perception. Wiley Interdisciplinary Reviews: Cognitive Science, 2(5), 515-528.

Staso, W. (1999). Neural Foundations: What Stimulation Your Baby Needs To Become Smart (2nd ed., Vol. 1). Great Beginnings Press.