Eye Movements?

[tk9804]

Does anyone know if its normal for a newborns eyes to twitch slightly? If so, do they gain better control of this & when? My daughter's eyes sometimes twitch or jump real fast if she is looking far left or right. It is really scaring me. Thanks for your insight.

The way we understand what we see is by seeing the edges and filling in the bits in-between. If we see the same thing all the time, our brains become 'blind' to it. So the way our eyes work is by constantly making tiny movements. But our brains 'smooth out' these movements so that we are unaware of them. A newborn hasn't yet developed the ability to make these tiny movements correctly, nor to smooth them out. It can take a few weeks for the two systems to integrate. That's why babies do weird things like going cross-eyed, or twitching!

How old is your dd? What does the HV say?