InfantSEE®

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Nova Vision Center doctors are proud to participate in the InfantSEE® program. 

Through InfantSEE®, our doctors provide a one-time, comprehensive eye and vision assessment to babies in their first year of life, usually between the ages of 6 and 12 months, offering early detection of potential eye and vision problems at no cost regardless of income or ability to pay.

InfantSEE® is a public health program, to ensure that optometric eye and vision care becomes an integral part of infant wellness care to improve a child’s quality of life. As program participants, our doctors identify and treat risk factors that may have adverse effects on eye and vision health. Through early identification, we also seek to reduce the impact of amblyopia and other conditions that may lead to impairments and/or loss of sight or affect a child’s spatial and cognitive development.

Though babies can’t talk, our doctors use their clinical education, training, and experience, along with instruments such as lighted toys to provide non-invasive eye and vision assessments for infants.

According to new data collected by the American Optometric Association (AOA), there is a growing need for early vision examination in infants. The data showed that two groups at greater risk for visual concerns were premature babies and minority babies.

Stages of Vision Development

Most parents believe that vision is something that just develops naturally and therefore does not need to be checked until school-age when it has already fully developed. The truth is that vision is learned, and the most critical stages of vision development occur in the first year of life.

At Birth

  • Focus on objects less than a foot away, such as mom’s face when nursing

By 3 Months

  • Follows moving objects and reaches for things
  • It is normal for a child’s eyes to not always track together for the first 6-8 weeks

By 6 Months

  • Both eyes should focus equally; brainwaves can demonstrate the ability to see 20/20 detail
  • Eye/body coordination skills develop

By 9 Months

  • Eye contact begins to replace physical contact
  • Eye/body coordination skills develop further

By 12 Months

  • Uses both eyes to judge distance

InfantSEE® Exam at Nova Vision Center 

Parents may learn more about the importance of infant vision care and the InfantSEE® program. Please call our office to schedule your baby’s InfantSEE® assessment.