Every parent is amazed by the little being that they managed to create, but these fun baby facts make your tiny bundle even more surprising!
I’ve seen it time and again: new parents staring down at their brand new baby with a look of wonder on their faces. As if it is impossible for them to believe that the baby has finally arrived, after all the anticipation, and that they actually created him or her.
Well, sit back and continue to astonished by these incredible and wondrous facts about babies:
Babies don’t have kneecaps
It’s true! Babies are born without kneecaps. There is a structure made of cartilage in the area of the knee, but it’s not the kneecap that they’ll have later on. The bones that form kneecaps don’t form until baby is six months of age.
Babies can crawl from the moment they are born
Despite the lack of kneecaps, babies can crawl almost immediately. Of course, you won’t see them ripping around the living room day 1, but a research institute in Sweden discovered that if you place a baby on mom’s abdominal area, baby will eventually make their way to the right spot for a good feed, all by themselves. This move, called the breast crawl, takes about an hour for baby to manage however. Even the best baby might not have that kind of patience, but it’s a remarkable fact!
Babies don’t cry with tears
Yes, babies howl and holler, particularly when they are wet, hungry or tired. But take a closer look and you’ll notice that babies don’t produce tears until they reach about three weeks of age. Like their kneecaps, their tear ducts haven’t developed until that point.
Babies don’t know that hidden objects aren’t actually gone
Play peek-a-boo with a baby and, until the age of about 5 months, they will think that you have actually disappeared. It’s called object permanence. At around 6 months old, babies understand that something that is hidden isn’t actually gone, but before that time, a hidden object is gone forever!
Babies have little blood
A newborn baby, weighing between 5 and 8 pounds, will only have a cup of blood in their entire body. That doesn’t seem like a lot, even for such a small being, though if you pour a cup of water on the floor, you’ll see that it’s actually a fair amount. By comparison, adults have about a gallon of blood in their bodies. By the time kids reach the age of 6, they have the same amount of blood as an adult, but they’re still relatively small, so the percentage of their overall makeup that comes from blood is high.
Babies have more bones
Adults have 206 bones. Babies? 300. Where do the extra bones go, as babies grow? They fuse in a process known as ossification. Most people know about the skull bones not being fully closed up—hence the fontanelle, or soft spot, on the top of baby’s head. The unfused bones and cartilage are what permits baby to pass through the birth canal. Those bones fuse as baby ages, with the skull coming together between 9 and 18 months of age.
Babies have excellent hearing
It’s why you’ll see them startle so easily, even with a sound that isn’t loud. It’s all new to them! While the ear canal is still full of fluid at birth, babies can recognize the sound of the mother’s voice, having heard it for some time already while in the womb! They can also respond to music that they heard while in the womb, for a couple of months, postpartum. If you played music for baby while you were carrying them, you might find that same music soothes them later on!
Interestingly, babies also seem to prefer Mom’s voice over anyone elses, and women’s voices in general, over that of men. They respond to the pitch and tone of a woman’s voice far better. So Dad: start talking in a falsetto for a while, if you want baby to be happy to listen to you!
Babies have buds
Taste buds, that is. So what, you’re probably thinking: we all do. True, but while the average older adult has around 5,000-8,000 taste buds, babies and kids have 10,000! Taste buds and the cells that form them are replaced in each of us every fifteen days or so. Over time, however, some don’t get replaced. This explains why flavors can be more intense for babies and children than for adults.
Babies can chug
Try breathing and swallowing at the same time. You’ll probably find you swallow the wrong way. Whether feeding via the breast or the bottle, you’ll notice that your baby can eat away seemingly without taking a breath. In fact, they can breathe and swallow at the same time. While many a college student would find this to be a useful skill, it drops away around seven months of age.
A few fun facts about babies BEFORE they are born
- Babies use one hand more than the other, even in the womb, and it’s likely that it will be the same hand later on that becomes dominant. They might also develop the habit of thumb sucking in the womb!
- A fetus develop unique fingerprints at 3 months gestation and will react to bright lights and loud sounds outside the womb at 4 months gestation. WOW!
Fascinating, right? Babies truly are remarkable beings! Make sure that yours is getting the care they deserve with a postpartum doula!
