Whether your nursery is a separate room or a space in your bedroom, you want to decorate it with a cute and charming theme. Many parents instantly fall in love with accessories in sweet pastel colors, mixing hints of pink and blue with touches of green and yellow. And who can resist a wallpaper featuring baby animals? But it turns out that adorable color palette and décor choices may NOT be helping your baby’s vision.
According to Ask Dr. Sears, “at birth, the nerve cells in baby’s brain are disorganized and not well connected. While baby grows, the brain receives input from all five senses. This input causes nerve cells to multiply and form a multitude of connections with other nerve cells. This is why visual stimulation is so crucial.
“For example, if a baby is kept blindfolded, the visual center in his brain would never develop, the optic nerve would shrivel up, and baby would never develop vision. On the other hand, if you provide continuous visual input into baby’s eyes, the retina thrives, the optic nerve grows, and the visual part of baby’s brain thrives and develops by leaps and bounds.”
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Welcome your bundle of joy in a visually stimulating space with these tips
Decorate the nursery with black and white stripes or light and dark contrasting colors
ADVERTISEMENT - CONTINUE READING BELOWAn article on Parents states, “Just after birth, your baby sees only in black and white with shades of gray. As the months go by, your baby will slowly start to develop his color vision. Because of this, baby loves to look at contrasting colors in bold geometric patterns.”
Ask Dr. Sears suggests surrounding your baby’s bed with stripes, from wallpaper and linens to accessories and other essentials, and go for dark and light stripes.
The second best thing about working with stripes? Whether it’s horizontal or vertical stripes, it can help make the room look bigger or taller respectively.
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Choose black and white or light and dark contrasting toys
CONTINUE READING BELOWwatch nowPick rattles, mobiles, and plushies in black, white, and contrasting hues to grab his attention. Aside from black and white, Parents mentions primary colors like red, orange, yellow, and blue as also ideal.
You might be wondering why black and white play a big role in stimulating your child’s vision. According to Ask Dr. Sears, “research has proven that black and white contrasts register powerfully on baby’s retina and send the strongest visual signals to baby’s brain.”
Take into consideration the right distance
“Your newborn can see clearly about 8 to 12 inches away. Whenever you interact with baby, whether it’s with a toy, your hand, or your face, try to stay within 12 inches,” says Dr. Sears.
An article on Parents adds that the aforementioned 8 to 12 inches distance is about the distance of your baby’s face from yours while feeding. “To encourage strong visual development in both eyes, try alternating sides while feeding. That way, both eyes will be visually stimulated equally,” the author suggests.
ADVERTISEMENT - CONTINUE READING BELOWWhat other parents are reading
Wear stripes!
Stripes play a big role in the development of your child’s vision. Commit to it by wearing striped shirts often.
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