4 things you didn’t know about baby development

Newborns react in the same way to certain touches. Every baby knows the unique voice, smell, and face of her mother. Talk a lot to boost the brain strength of your baby. Each baby has a different development schedule and a few babies mix their own moves.

1. Newborns come with built-in reflexes
Your newborn comes hard-wired with physical reflexes that enable her to do tricks from the get-go.

Rooting reflex: Stroke your baby’s cheek, and she’ll turn her head toward you.
Step reflex: Hold your baby with her feet touching a solid surface, and she’ll do a little dance.
Grasping reflex: Stroke your baby’s palm, and she’ll close her fingers in a grasp.
Sucking reflex: Put your finger in your baby’s mouth, and she’ll suck it with the strength of a vacuum cleaner.
Babinski reflex: Firmly stroke the sole of your baby’s foot, and her big toe will bend back and her other toes will fan out.

2. Newborns recognize their mom with multiple senses
Your baby’s brain enables her to learn from birth by using her senses.

Newborns recognize and prefer their mother’s:

Voice: Infants recognize their mother’s voice at birth, which means that not only do babies hear in the womb, but they also remember what they hear.
Scent: Newborns respond to their mother’s scent shortly after birth. Within a few days, a nursing baby can smell the difference between his mom’s milk and someone else’s.
Face: Newborns can see and discriminate between faces, and prefer their mothers.

Read Also; 7 Ways to Soothe a Crying Baby

3. The range of normal development is wide
It can be hard to not worry when your baby is developing at a different rate than her peers. But because babies develop on individual timetables, there’s a wide range of what’s considered normal.

While most babies begin to walk when they’re between 12 and 15 months, for example, others don’t master the skill until they’re 16 or 17 months old. Babies born prematurely often take longer to reach developmental milestones. Our development guides allow for these variations.

4. Babies move around in different ways
A typical development sequence for a baby goes roughly like this: rolling over, followed by sitting, crawling, pulling herself up, cruising, walking, and running. Some babies, however, will move around by rolling or creeping commando-style.

As long as your baby is learning to coordinate each side of her body and using her legs and arms equally, as well as developing within age-appropriate guidelines, there’s generally no need for concern. But talk to your baby’s doctor if you have any questions about your baby’s mobility or development.

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