10 Surprising Facts About Babies

1. In their first year, babies go through approximately 3360 nappies.

That’s a lot of trips to the toddler aisle late at night. And there are a lot of wipes! What’s more amazing is that newborns have a habit of peeing every 20 minutes until their little bladders grow. 

2. Babies cry without tears.

In the early weeks, babies will cry a lot, but you’ll notice that no real tears reach their cheeks, no matter how red their little faces become. The reason for this is that, while newborns have tear ducts, only enough water is created to protect the eye, leaving no excess to roll down the cheeks. Tears will be developed as the tear glands grow, usually between one and three months, which can be a heartbreaking first for mom but is a perfectly healthy sign.

3. Surprisingly, birthmarks are very common.

A birthmark of some kind is present in about a third of all babies. A stork mark also known as a salmon patch or angel kiss, is the most common kind. This is a light pink patch on your baby’s face or neck that may turn red when she cries. Usually, stork marks fade away after six months. The majority of birthmarks are harmless and will fade away on their own, though some may indicate a medical condition.

4. Babies get taste buds in womb.

Taste buds develop in the womb, and babies have a lot of them by the time they are born. Scientists have discovered that what a mother eats during pregnancy has an impact on her child’s food preferences later in life, as the foetus starts to taste different foods after the amniotic fluid in the womb is absorbed.

It’s worth noting, though, that despite their large number of taste buds, babies don’t smell salt until they’re about five months old. This has been attributed to the fact that salt is not yet a dietary requirement for them, and as a result, it should be consumed in moderation.

5. Babies are born with 300 bones.

In comparison to adults, infants are born with 300 bones, which is nearly 50% more. 206 is the result of the bones fusing together during development. The baby’s skull, for example, has several bones that overlap one another during birth to assist the baby in squeezing out. The fontanelle, a soft spot on the baby’s head, is also present. It’s just a squishy and delicate region before the skull fully develops.

6. Newborns have poor vision.

Only about 20cm to 30cm (8in to 12in) in front of their faces can newborn babies see clearly. The rest is a jumble of light, shape, and movement. Fortunately, your baby will be able to look into your eyes as you feed her at this distance.

Your baby will be able to concentrate her eyes on a toy when you move it in front of her face by the time she is one or two months old. Her vision will improve by the time she is three months old. She’ll be able to see colours and shapes in close quarters much better.

7. All the neurons a baby will ever have are born with them.

A healthy infant will emerge from the womb with 100 billion neurons, nearly twice as many as adults, in a brain half the size of adults, assuming normal development. The enormous amount of learning a baby must do in its first year of life necessitates such a large number of neurons. While a child’s brain volume will double by the age of three, not all of those neurons will remain; as a child grows older, synaptic pruning occurs, in which the brain eliminates weaker synaptic connections in favour of stronger ones.

8. Baby’s stomachs are very tiny.

The stomach of a newborn is the size of a hazelnut. This explains why very young infants need to be fed so frequently – their small tummies simply don’t have enough room to hold all of the milk they need at once! It also means that even the tiniest air bubble consumes valuable space, which is why your baby may need winding during and after feedings.

By the end of the first week, your baby’s stomach will be the size of an apricot, and by the end of two weeks, it will be the size of a big hen’s egg. She will, however, require night feeding until she is at least six months old.

9. Babies have a lot of reflexes.

Babies have around 70 primitive reflexes that have evolved over time. Your child’s legs will work in a stepping motion if you hold him upright with his feet on a flat surface. He can’t walk right now, but he was born knowing how to walk. Have you ever noticed how much kids jump? That’s your baby’s startle reflex, or Moro. It’s a baby’s natural reaction to loud noises or the sensation of falling. Before returning to his original position, the child flings his arms up and out, draws his knees up, and opens his fists wide.

10. Your baby loves your scent.

Smell and touch, especially the bonding hormone oxytocin, which can induce feelings of euphoria and love in humans, play a big role in the infant-mother bond in the early days. According to studies, infants are imprinted with and drawn to the smell of their own amniotic fluid, which aids in the discovery of their mother’s nipple. Healthy babies begin to prefer the scent of their mother’s breast after a few days. Even two weeks after birth, formula-fed infants prefer the smell of their mother’s breast to that of their formula, according to one study.

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