Newborns can barely see color when they're born, seeing mostly in black, white, and shades of gray, but they develop full color vision by about 5 months old.
Babies See the World in Black and White at Birth
When your baby first opens their eyes and looks at you, they're not seeing the world the way you do. Newborns see primarily in black, white, and shades of gray, with only very muted colors. It's like watching an old black-and-white movie with just a hint of color bleeding through.
This happens because the light-detecting cells in their eyes—specifically the cone cells responsible for color vision—haven't fully developed yet. While babies aren't completely color blind at birth, their ability to distinguish colors is extremely limited.
The First Color They See
Within the first week of life, babies start developing color vision, and red is the first color they can detect. By one week old, infants can see red, orange, and green, though it takes much longer for them to perceive blue. When researchers tested 4-day-old babies, they found these tiny humans could tell the difference between white and orange, but not white and yellow-green.
How Color Vision Develops
- Birth to 1 week: Mostly black, white, and gray; red starts to appear
- 2 months: Can distinguish red from white, plus some greens and light blues
- 3-4 months: Perceive most colors but still developing
- 5-6 months: Full color vision comparable to adults
By 8 weeks old, babies can reliably tell the difference between red and white, as well as light blue and some greens. Around 3-4 months, they become fully trichromatic, meaning their three types of cone cells are all functioning.
Born Knowing Color Categories
Here's something remarkable: research shows that infants aged 4-6 months naturally sort colors into five categories—red, yellow, green, blue, and purple—without being taught. This suggests our brains may be hardwired to organize colors into these basic groups, a trait that might be biologically innate rather than learned.
Scientists discovered this by tracking babies' gazes. When shown different colored objects, infants reliably grouped similar shades together in ways that matched adult color categories, even though they'd had almost no time to learn cultural color names or divisions.
So while your newborn may not be admiring the soft blue walls of their nursery just yet, within half a year they'll see the world in all its vibrant, colorful glory—and their brain will already know exactly how to organize it.