Does your baby notice when you wave across the room at them? No? Well, the thing is, they probably can鈥檛 see you!
Babies are very short-sighted at first and can鈥檛 focus on anything much further away than they can reach. So it鈥檚 good to stay close when you鈥檙e playing and talking with them. They鈥檒l soon start making eye contact.聽 And after about three months, they鈥檒l begin to look wherever you鈥檙e looking too. They鈥檒l find it easier if you make it super obvious.
Using computers to track where babies are looking, scientists found that young babies will look where you鈥檙e looking, if you actually turn your head to look at it. It鈥檚 an amazing skill. You see, by looking where you鈥檙e looking, your little one is actually learning about language!
Here鈥檚 why. People tend to talk about what they鈥檙e looking at. So, if you look at a toy and say 'wow, look at that rattle' and baby looks too, you鈥檙e helping your baby connect the word 鈥榬attle鈥 with the actual toy! So, to help your baby, make eye contact with them (nice and close, remember) and help them to look where you鈥檙e looking!
Look at different objects and talk about them using simple, sing-song sentences. Don鈥檛 forget to make it really obvious what you鈥檙e looking at. All this means they鈥檒l start to link the word you鈥檙e using with the thing you鈥檙e looking at. You see, babies are clever little detectives ,using everything they can to learn!
Babies' vision is a bit different to adults' - they can't see things unless they're nice and close. But eye contact does play a key role in their learning.
By making eye contact with your baby and looking at the things they're talking about, you can help them make connections between your words and the world around them.
Image caption, Babies are very short-sighted at first. They're unlikely to see much further than they can reach. So it's good to stay close when you're playing and talking with them.
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