A new mother may be surprised during her baby’s first few days of life to find that the baby’s eyes seem constantly wide open.

A baby is born with eyes already able to focus on objects within a distance of about 8 – 12 inches.

This means that babies are capable of seeing their mothers’ faces from close by even though they can barely turn their heads yet.

First days at home are a great time for parents to bond with the infant and babies would naturally maintain eye contact with people they feel safe with.

Several theories have been suggested as to why newborns initially prefer looking at high-contrast patterns or simple geometric shapes rather than real faces;

it has been observed in recent studies that full human face perception may not develop until a child has been exposed to a range of face-like stimuli for at least the first year of life.

Something about high-contrast patterns and simple geometric shapes seems to make sense to babies, who then prefer looking at them over real faces that do not look as familiar or as comfortable.

This is why many newborns initially show preference towards their mother’s face only from the left side because this is the less complex view of it – since her right eye and mouth are partially obscured from view, there is less visual information for them to process so they can focus on things like facial contours and proportions even though they may still have difficulty focusing both eyes on objects more than a few feet away.

The fact that babies look away from the face and prefer to look at other things is perfectly normal, as all babies are different and will show a range of preferences over time.

Just like adults use head orientation to indicate the direction of attentional focus – for example, turning their heads to one side when they listen intently to a particular sound – infants often use eye gaze direction as a way of indicating where they see something interesting.

For instance, if an infant looks quickly back and forth between the parent’s face and an interesting toy placed in front of them it means that he or she wants the parent to look at the toy as well.

In this case, looking away from parents’ faces means that the child has either lost interest in social interaction or has become distracted by some other object.

The first eye contact or lack thereof has a tremendous impact on the way parents see their babies and babies see the world – it stimulates parent-child bonding and makes infants feel safe, secure, and loved.

Although they do not have to establish eye contact with each other to bond, as long as parents look at them attentively as they hold them, make funny faces, or talk softly to them babies will gradually begin focusing their attention more on people around them rather than objects.

In some cases parents may find that their child prefers looking at objects rather than people for an extended period – this might indicate a problem with a development called “strabismus” where a child’s eyes no longer work together properly, causing him or her to look in different directions sometimes.

Parents whose children exhibit this behavior should consult their pediatrician immediately so that he or they can examine the child and suggest further testing, if necessary.

If an infant’s eyes are always wandering away from the person speaking with them they might be either bored or distracted by something else in the environment, particularly if they also seem unresponsive when spoken to.

It is natural for babies to prefer looking at simple patterned objects over real faces because there is simply less information for them to process in the latter case;

however, most parents find that once they establish eye contact with their baby time after time, making funny faces and talking softly to them as they hold them close they develop a stronger bond which helps their babies feel safe, secure, and loved.

As parents know, the first six to eight weeks after birth are an incredibly crucial time in a baby’s life;

during this period most babies will begin forming very strong attachment bonds with their primary caregivers (usually the mother) which will last for years to come.