How can newborns be trained visually?

A newborn baby spends most of the day sleeping and wakes up for relatively little time on average each day. According to the pattern of his work and rest, at the time of his awakening, the baby will be able to see and hear. Loves to look at faces, but is somewhat nearsighted and sees most clearly at a distance of 20 cm. Can recognize the color red and likes to look at moving things. How can you attract your baby to look at faces? The mother uses loving words while moving her head to attract the baby’s gaze. When the baby looks, try to slowly move the position of the head and the baby will turn his head to catch up with the gaze. Talk to your baby with kind eyes and gentle language when your baby is awake, especially when your baby is breastfeeding, and have face-to-face communication with your baby. If you tease often, the child is amused by the performance of early appearance. Newborns like to see red and active things, with a red ball about 20 cm from his eyes gently shaking, when the baby gazes at the red ball, slowly move the red ball, the baby’s eyes can follow the red ball. Look at pictures, babies like to see contrasting patterns, most like to see black and white pictures, such as; black and white concentric circles, checkerboard or simple human face pattern. If the newborn or 1-2 months old baby can not gaze how to train? The rapid visual development of infants is concentrated in the first few months of life, therefore, special attention should be given to the visual function of infants at this stage and it is very important to intervene early if abnormalities in visual function are detected. When a baby is found to be unable to gaze at or track faces, or to respond only to bright light stimuli, a thorough ophthalmologic examination and visual testing should be performed. If it is determined that there are no abnormalities in the fundus opticus and that the problem may be a disorder in the higher visual pathways, rehabilitation intervention should begin immediately. To enable maximum visual development, in our experience, the earlier the intervention, the better the results. Visual stimulation methods are as follows: 1. Light reflex stimulation In a dark room, with the child lying on his back, use a flashlight to irradiate the child’s left eye, right eye, below the right eye, below the left eye (or right first, then left), under the eye is to have a gap time, each point of irradiation time to maintain 1 second, 5 times in a row as a group, 20-30 groups / day (in the child to find the light source, chasing red light does not respond and weak response 2. Red light stimulation In a dark room, with the child lying on his back, place a flashlight wrapped in red cloth about 20 cm above the child’s eyes, that is, shine red light into the child’s eyes to attract the child to look at the red light, and then move the flashlight horizontally to allow the child to look after it. Repeat for 1 minute each time, 10-20 times/day. (This method is used when the child’s response to finding a light source is weak and does not respond to red light chasing) 3. black and white pictures, toys stimulation In a well-lit room, the child lies on his back, with black and white pictures, red balls, toys, etc. placed 20 cm above the child’s eyes, you can slightly adjust the picture distance, so that the child look at the picture, and then move the picture horizontally, so that the child chasing. The size of the pictures and toys can be adjusted according to the child’s gaze and chasing. (This method is used when the child can find the light source and chase the red light but has poor gaze and chasing of pictures and toys). 4. Bio-visual stimulation: 1) Look at the speaker’s face, the tester makes a soft and beautiful voice and exaggerates the smile to attract the child’s attention. The child is prompted to look at the face for a longer period of time through eye contact and voice communication, repeated for 1 minute each time, 10-20 times/day. 2) Follow the face of the speaker and make a beautiful sound to attract the child’s attention, while moving the face of the speaker to attract the child’s eyes to follow, to improve the child’s ability to perceive visual multi-directional stimulation, repeat for 1 minute each time, 10-20 times/day. The specific operation should be carried out by professional rehabilitation personnel for an appropriate time each day for visual stimulation, so that the quality can be ensured. Parents should be instructed to do it repeatedly during their baby’s waking hours. Active parental efforts in visual stimulation play a decisive role in restoring vision because parents have the longest contact time with their babies and can use any waking hours of their babies to do visual stimulation, which can maximize the effect of visual recovery.