The heaviest babies are born in May. The average baby born in May is up to 200g heavier than their counterparts born the rest of the year. The heaviest baby born was 22 pounds, 8 ounces. (He was born in 1955)
Newborn babies can't cry tears until they are three weeks old, as their tear ducts have not fully developed at birth. They do have enough moisture to keep their eyes healthy, but not enough to produce actual tears for the first few weeks.
Babies recognise the music that they heard while you were pregnant, until they are about four months old. So if you have a cranky baby, play some of the music or sounds that you listened to often, before they were born.
Babies have more tastebuds than adults do, about three times as many, but these start to disappear as your baby grows. Therefore a pregnant mum should try all kinds of new tastes in the third trimester, so baby can sample them too.
Babies cry in your accent, which they hear during the last trimester. Experts from the University of Wurzburg have found that babies from English, German and French mums, cry with different accents.
Its normal for your baby to lose between 5 and 10% of its birth weight in the first few days. They put this back on over the next few weeks.
Babies are soothed by rhythmic sounds, similar to what they heard in utero. Sounds like heartbeats or the rhythm of a washing machine are perfect. You can download an app that has baby soothing sounds. Many newborn photographers use these, or they buy a 'Baby Shusher' to sooth your baby during a photo shoot.
Did you know that babies are born without kneecaps? They only have the beginnings of cartilage in their knees, which changes to resemble kneecaps by 6 months old, in time for them to start crawling.
Your baby loves how you smell. They can smell and taste before they are born, and will be used to your scent. This is soothing to them, just like hearing your voice. If you need to be away from your baby, try putting an item of clothing that you have worn close to them. This is similar to what some NICU wards do for premature babies. The mum is given a few fabric squares. She keeps one on her body, then it’s put into the crib with the tiny baby, helping to soothe them. The squares are swapped out regularly.
Babies eyesight is blurry at birth, and experts say that they can only distinguish black, white and grey at first. The first actual colour they see is red, and the last ones are blue and purple.
A newborn baby’s stomach is about the size of a walnut, which is why they are constantly feeding! Little bodies and brains require a lot of energy.
Your baby’s eyes are about 70% the size of an adult eye, at birth. That’s huge relative to their head size. (and why they seem to have those adorable ‘puppy dog eyes’ that we find so attractive)
Babies don’t have a body clock and can’t distinguish between night and day for sleep patterns, until they are around 12 -14 weeks old. This can take until they are about 5 months old to fully develop, which is why new parents become so exhausted.
