When I was pregnant with my first child, I wanted to do everything right. Besides
obsessing over everything I ate and fretting over the homework from childbirth class,
I worried about decorating the baby's room. I had learned that newborns seemed to
prefer black-and-white patterns - but it was hard to find cot sheets done in graphic
black, white and touches of red!
We eventually went with an animal theme that was mostly pastels and limited black
and white to toys and decorations. However, I was surprised by how much our baby
really did notice the black-and-white items. Parker was especially mesmerized by
a poster with a checkerboard pattern that we'd pinned over his changing table.
Why are these high-contrast designs so compelling to infants? The answers can be
found in the newborn eye and brain.
What Babies Can See
At birth, your baby can see at a distance of about 10 inches. Beyond that, things
can get pretty blurry, and color vision isn't well developed either. Vision improves
as your baby grows and eye cells mature. By about 2 months of age, he'll probably
be able to see red, orange, green and yellow. By the time he is 4 months old, he'll
be able to discriminate all colors in the spectrum, and his vision will be nearly
as developed as an adult's.
Newborns like to look at what they can see - so it's no wonder they seem to prefer
high-contrast, black-and-white designs. They also seem to have strong preferences
for certain patterns, especially faces.
"Babies seem to have an instinctive preference for faces, preferentially orienting
to any oval with two spots for eyes and a line for a mouth," says Dr. Lise Eliot,
author of What's Going on in There? How the Brain and Mind Develop in the First
Five Years of Life (Bantam, 2000), and assistant professor in the department of
cell biology and anatomy at the Chicago Medical School. "Beyond this, they like
bold patterns like a checkerboard or bull's eye."
Are Black-and-White Toys More Stimulating?
Anything your baby enjoys looking at will stimulate her visual development - and
chances are she will enjoy black-and-white patterns, especially for her first two
months. So if you've found a cool black-and-white poster or a rattle with a high-contrast
design, that's great.
But is your baby missing out if you don't provide lots of black-and-white infant
gear? No, says Dr. Eliot. "There is nothing magical about black and white," she
says. She notes that any high-contrast object, whether a toy, a face or the shadows
made by crib bars, will hold your baby's attention. "Basically, if babies don't
get contrast in their toys, they will find it in other, natural stimuli," Dr. Eliot
adds.
"A baby isn't losing anything by not being offered specifically black-and-white
toys," agrees Penny Warner, a child development instructor at Diablo Valley College
in San Ramon, Calif., and the author of more than 30 books for parents and children
on baby care and development, including Smart Start for Your Baby (Meadowbrook Press,
2001). "The best toy for babies is a parent's face," says Warner. "It's animated,
there is contrast - that's where [your child is really] going to start working on
perception."
And don't forget about bright colors! After all, says Warner, color sensitivity
develops rapidly. "The more color that is continually introduced, the more rapid
gains babies make with being able to contrast [colors]," she says. By around 4 months,
your child will be able to see and enjoy an entire rainbow of colors.
Using Black and White
Karen Spring's twin boys had a favorite black-and-white toy. Spring, of Deptford,
N.J., remembers her sons' fascination with a set of plastic cards on a key ring.
"It had different patterns in black and white on it, and both my sons loved holding
it, shaking it and looking at the patterns," she says.
You can use the natural appeal of high-contrast patterns to encourage your baby
to play. Warner advises using small toys, such as rattles, to help develop visual
acuity. "Use a toy that is about the size of a palm, so that it doesn't go out of
your baby's range of vision ... hold it about 10 inches away, and move it," says
Warner. "This will help promote your child's ability to start tracking, start looking
around."
In addition, mobiles are also great for very young infants. Warner advises making
sure the mobile's designs are large enough for your baby to see and are pointed
in the right direction.
And remember, there's no toy out there that can compete with a loving caregiver.
"Best of all are real people who look deeply into [babies'] eyes and talk or coo
or sing to them, providing a mixture of visual, auditory, language and social stimulation,"
says Dr. Eliot.
Tips for First Toy Safety
Selecting:
- Be a label reader! Look for safety labels on products and heed them.
- Toys intended for children younger than 3 should be large enough that they can't
become choking hazards and should have no small removable parts. When in doubt,
use this simple test: Can the toy fit through a toilet paper tube? If so, it's too
small.
- Be especially cautious with toys with cords and strings - they can become wrapped
around an infant's neck.
Cleaning:
- Toys should be cleaned when they are obviously soiled, when your baby is recovering
from an illness and if other babies have played with them.
- You should always clean toys according to product labels. As a general rule, however,
fabric toys can be washed in the laundry using hot water. Small plastic toys without
batteries can usually go in the dishwasher. If the toy has batteries, wipe the outside
clean with dish soap and water, then allow to air dry.
- After plastic toys are thoroughly cleaned, sanitize them using a solution of 1/4
cup of household bleach in one gallon of water. Dip toys without batteries in the
solution, then allow to air dry. Toys with batteries can be wiped off with the solution,
and then air dried.
Maintaining:
- Check toys frequently for damage. Broken toys should be thrown away.
- Babies grow up, but toys don't. Be continually mindful of age limits, especially
for items such as crib mobiles, which should be removed from the crib once your
child is able to pull up on her hands and knees.
