How your baby's eyes and vision develop in the womb

When will your baby's eyes develop in the womb?

Your baby's eyes don't start out like you'd expect – and, actually, they don't look much like eyes until the end of your first trimester.

As your baby's eyes first start to form, they're actually outgrowths from the developing brain. Beginning at 6 weeks of pregnancy , these growths start to fold inward and form two cup-like structures. As these structures enlarge, they remain connected to the brain by a stalk that will eventually house the main optic nerve.

At about 7 weeks , the main parts of the eye that enable sight – the cornea, iris, pupil, lens, and retina – start developing, and they're almost fully formed just a few weeks later.

By about 10 weeks , your baby has eyelids, though they remain closed. And here's an interesting fact: Although your baby's tear ducts start developing at about 8 weeks , they won't be completely formed until a few weeks after birth (and it may take even longer for preemies ). This means that – despite all the early cries ! – your baby's tear production doesn't reach full potential until they're a few weeks old.

When do babies open their eyes?

Your baby's eyes first open around 27 weeks of pregnancy , at the end of your second trimester. By 31 weeks , the pupils can constrict, dilate, and detect light.

How your baby's vision develops in the womb

Your baby will develop the main parts of the eye early in the first trimester. Around 10 weeks, they'll start to form light-sensitive cells called rods and cones found in the retina, the layered structure at the back of the eye. Rods help us see in dim light, and cones detect color. This information is transmitted along the optic nerve to the brain, where we make sense of the images that we see.

At 31 weeks, the pupils (the dark spot in the center of the eye) are able to constrict and expand, allowing the eyes to let in more or less light. Because your baby has more rods than cones at this point, they may be able to detect the dim outlines of shapes, but not their colors.

Also at 31 weeks, your baby can blink in response to bright light. If you shine a flashlight at your tummy, you may feel your baby respond with a burst of flutters and wiggles .

By 32 weeks , your baby can focus on large objects that aren't too far away, and this ability to focus will stay that way until birth.

At 34 weeks , your baby will be able to track movement, and will see their very first color: red. Why red? That's the color of the inside of your uterus, so the cone cells for red develop first.

Your baby's vision at birth is about the same as it was at 36 weeks of pregnancy . Although your newborn's eyes are physically capable of seeing, their brain isn't ready to process all that visual information, so things stay pretty fuzzy for a while.

Gradually, as the visual pathway between the eyes and brain matures, your baby can see more colors. Their focusing abilities also improve, and they develop depth perception. By the time your baby is 8 months old, they'll be able to see almost as well as you do .

Your baby's eye color

At birth, it's likely that your baby's eyes will be blue or gray. That's because a newborn's irises (the colored part that surrounds the pupil) don't have a lot of melanin, the pigment that gives eyes their color.

As the months go by, the cells in your baby's irises start to make more melanin. Your baby's final eye color depends on how much melanin develops, which is determined by the genes they inherited from each parent. Blue, gray, and green eyes have less melanin, while brown eyes have more.

By the time your baby is about 9 months old, their eyes will probably settle into their permanent color.

How to support your baby's vision during pregnancy

Get plenty of beta-carotene, a key nutrient for the healthy development of your baby's eyes. It's abundant in yellow, orange, and red fruits and vegetables, like carrots, sweet potatoes, and squash.

Your body converts beta-carotene into vitamin A , which supports your baby's vision and has benefits for you as well. It helps repair tissues after you give birth, fights infections, supports your immune system, and metabolizes fats.

Note: During pregnancy, it's important not to get too much retinol, a type of vitamin A that can cause birth defects and liver toxicity in high doses. It's found in some vitamin supplements and acne medications . (It's safe to get as much beta-carotene as you want from fruits and vegetables, though.)

Week-by-week milestones in baby vision development