Newborns are some of the most fascinating creatures on Earth. Their presence is a true miracle. But did you know that babies have some special, amazing differences from adults?
Check out this amazing list of surprising facts you definitely didn’t know about babies.
1. They have more bones than adults!
Adults have 206 bones, but babies are born with 270! Bones fuse together as they grow, which is how they end up with less bones than they were born with.
2. They prefer to sleep with their head on the right side.
85% of babies sleep towards the right the majority of the time for their first few months of life. The reason for this is mostly unknown, however it’s thought to be attributed to a gene.
3. Babies develop flavor preferences based on their mom’s diet!
As children breastfeed, they can taste variations in the breastfeeder’s diet. Some of the baby’s food preferences later in life will be determined by flavors of the breast milk they digested while young.
4. Newborn babies don’t actually shed tears.
While newborns can certainly scream and holler, they aren’t actually shedding tears when they cry. Most kids don’t cry tears until they’re over a month old!
5. Babies are born with a swimming instinct.
Most newborns are born with a reflex called the bradycardic response that protects the child when underwater. They’ll hold their breath and open their eyes, giving the child the natural ability to be submerged. Then, as they grow, this reflex disappears and the response becomes more manual. (Although we don’t recommend tossing any babies or small children in the water to test this!)
6. Babies cry with an accent!
By the first week of life, a newborn’s cry mimics some characteristics of the accent heard in utero. The primary identifier of a crying accent is the melody of the cry. This varies from language to language.
These little sweethearts are absolutely fascinating! Who knew that newborns were equipped with all of these amazing skills? Babies are truly miracles.
The featured images for this post are from Pexels (here and here)
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