Facts About Babies that Will Surprise You
July 30th, 2011It is a widely understood fact that babies are adorable. They wear sweet and funny looking outfits. At what other stage in life can a person wear a t-shirt that says “Daddy’s Princess” without getting funny looks? Most people think that being a baby is pretty easy. These same people seem to think that, except for an inability to communicate properly, babies are not that much different from adults. Babies are actually quite complicated and have very distinct needs and very unique abilities. Here are some facts about babies that might be new to you.
Many colors look almost identical to babies when they are born. It takes a while after being born for a baby’s eyes to finish developing and for the synapses from the eyes to the brain to be fully formed. This is why rooms painted in primary colors and toys painted or made of primary colored fabric are usually better received by babies. Bold reds, blues, greens and even black and white are best for babies. Pastels tend to run together.
This is often the motivation behind a baby’s toy preferences. This means that all of those black and white decorations that you scoff at (for various reasons) are actually better for your baby’s eyes than the pastel and soft colored decorations you were planning to use.
Even while they are in utero, babies can identify music. As early as six weeks before birth, infants can recognize songs. A baby can spend more than a month in utero listening to and appreciating different songs. Some mothers even report that their babies will move in time to the beat of certain songs. So a person’s musical preference does show up before the child is conditioned to like one type of music over another. How fantastic is that?
Babies are able to physically communicate before they can verbally communicate. Many parents use this as a basis for beginning the “baby signs” program with their kids. Signs like food, drink, wet, dirty, tired, etc are taught to babies who then have an easier time getting what they need from their parents. Studies show that babies who learn how to communicate physically before they can communicate verbally (through programs like “baby signs”) have stronger communication skills as adults than those who were left to learn verbal communication first.
There is a ton of baby development knowledge that most people don’t know. This is ironic since having extra information usually helps an adult with his or her patience levels.
Learning everything you can about babies and infant development will help you feel more prepared for parenting. Have fun!
Take care of your baby by developing your parenting skills today with this blog. They have many interesting tips that even experienced parents will benefit from.