by Curious Things About Newborn Babies That You Probably Didn’t Know
Surely, new parents who are parents for the first time or many times, you will also be surprised with the following characteristics of your child, which when you are in daily contact with your child but will not notice.
- They have taste buds in more places than we do.|
Although babies have about the same number of taste sensors as kids and younger adults, they cover more areas. Babies’ taste buds can be found not only on their tongue but also on their tonsils and the back of the throat.
- They can remember what they tasted in the womb.
In the womb, a baby is surrounded by amniotic fluid, and they gulp some of it daily. The fluid is flavored by the food and drinks that the mother consumes.
- They have way more bones than we do.
In fact, babies are born with around 100 bones more than adults have in their bodies! They have about 300 bones at birth, and these will, in time, fuse together to form the 206 bones that adults have. Some of their bones are made of cartilage that will be replaced by bones with the help of calcium as they grow. The whole process will be complete by the time they turn 25, after which, bones can no longer grow.
- They may cry a lot, but they have no tears.
Babies’ tear ducts are still developing after birth, so it’s usually not a big deal if they don’t have any when they cry. Most babies begin to shed tears around 2 weeks of age. Even though they may not have tears yet, newborns usually spend 2 to 3 hours a day crying. Sometimes they do it for no reason, but other times, they’re actually trying to communicate with you.
- They also remember sounds they heard while in the uterus.
If a mother plays melodies to the baby while they’re in the womb, they can still remember them as a newborn. A study found that the brains of babies who heard a specific melody just before birth reacted more strongly to the tune immediately after they were born and at 4 months.
- They don’t have bony kneecaps.
Since bone is very rigid and prone to breakage, it can make the birthing process more difficult . This is why babies are born with flexible cartilage in their knee joints instead. Eventually, this cartilage will harden and become bony kneecaps, like the kind adults have. This is thing few one know it.
- They probably can’t taste salt.
Newborns don’t react to the taste of salt as they do to other tastes, like sweet or bitter. They either can’t detect salt or just don’t care about the taste. But babies begin to register the taste of salt sometime between 2 months and 6 months of age. Baby can taste what their mother eats and drinks. After they’re born, they are more likely to prefer what their mother ate during pregnancy
- They may even sleep with their eyes open.
Although it may sound like something straight out of a horror movie, it’s actually nothing to be scared of. It’s more common than you might think, and if you sleep with your eyes open, chances are your baby might too.
