Myths
About Babies
Myth: babies need to poop at least once
a day
Parents often think a baby is constipated
when he’s not. Newborns often have several bowel movements a day, but they may
poop as little as every three to four days at about two months to three months
of age.
If bowel movements are very hard and infrequent, or you see blood in
the diaper, however, call your paediatrician.
Myth: babies who achieve milestones
early are gifted.
When a child first walks or talks, has
little or no bearing on his later successes, research shows. Many parents
support the idea of giftedness at birth, but this is not supported by the
evidence. In fact, in some cases, early “achievements” may indicate a potential
problem – for example, showing an inclination to be left – or right – handed
before 18 months of age (children should use both hands equally until this
age).
Myth: touching your baby’s soft spot can
hurt his brain.
The fontanel, or soft spot, at the front of
your baby’s head is a skin that pulsates, frightening some parents. There’s a
presumption of vulnerability, but the brain is actually quite well protected.
The front fontanel typically closes at about one year of age, while the smaller
soft spot in the back of the head usually closes at two months to three months.
Myth: babies’ cries are always
distinguishable.
This isn’t the case every time. It doesn’t
make you a bad mum if you can’t fix every problem. You and your baby need to
get to know one another, and that takes time.
Myth: newborn babies just eat and sleep
all the time.
Ok, they do eat and sleep a lot, but in
between the eating and sleeping, they have a lot to do. Newborns babies are not
the happy little bundles that we like to imagine that they are. Instead they
are very intent human beings struggling against very difficult circumstances to
overcome blindness, deafness and immobility.
At birth, a baby is functionally
blind, deaf, insensate and immobile. The sensory and motor pathways grow and
develop based upon stimulation.
Myth: A baby’s development is
predetermined based on fixed milestones.
There is no preset alarm clock that
determines when a baby will gain a new ability. New abilities are determined by
stimulation and appropriate visual, auditory and tactile stimulation is given
with the proper frequency, intensity and duration.
Myth: if you don’t hold/nurse your baby
in the first new hours after delivery, you won’t bond adequately.
Although research has shown that the first
few hours of a baby’s life are important, your relationship with your baby lasts
a lifetime. Women who have had C-sections, have babies who are born needing
immediate medical interventions or have adopted need not be so hard on
themselves.
A loving relationship over the child’s lifetime will more than make
up for those missing few hours or even days or weeks of separation.
For example, a newborn baby usually has a
less than perfect light reflex. This light reflex is seen when the baby is
exposed to light and the pupil constricts in response to that light. The sooner
this reflex matures and becomes consistent, the sooner that baby will develop
the ability to see outline and then detail. Both of these abilities allow the
baby to see the mother’s face and begin to make sense of the visual world in
most babies, this reflex is stimulated by accident whenever the baby is taken
from darkness to light. But mother can arrange for that ‘accident’ to happen
with greater frequency and intensity so that the visual pathway grows more
quickly in response to the enhanced stimulation. This is very easy to do and
requires very little time, but it means that the baby gains the ability to see
detail weeks or months earlier than he would have done if we had relied upon
‘accidental stimulation.’
Myth: it is good to talk “baby talk” to
the baby.
Adults should always use the very best
language and vocabulary when talking to the baby. Each day the baby’s
understanding grows in leaps and bounds.
Baby talk is essentially disrespectful
of the intellectual ability of the tiny baby. The baby has the right to hear his
native tongue spoken properly, not in a degrade fashion that the baby will have
to unlearn later.
Myth: babies cannot talk
The baby is actually trying to communicate
almost all the time. It isn’t easy because the baby can’t make sounds that we
adults understand as words. As a result, we often assume the sounds he makes
are meaningless.
The sounds the baby makes are not like language. They are
language. All sounds are language. The baby does not waste his breath. Always
listen to your baby. Be willing to wait for a response. Accept the fact the
baby decides whether to respond or not; it is his choice. Respond to what he
says.
Welcome enthusiastically every effort the baby makes to talk. It is vital
for the baby to know that his mother knows that he is talking.
Myth: it is good stimulation for the
baby to have a playpen, jumper, walker, etc.
These devices actually prevent the baby
from learning how to move and explore the world. When the baby is given the
opportunity to be on his belly on the floor, he will move. But too often the
baby is placed in a high chair, backpack, playpen, baby seat or walker.
The
baby should be free to move on his belly as much as possible, and confined,
bundled up or restricted as little as possible.
Myth: babies have a short attention
span.
Babies have superb attention, interest and
enthusiasm for everything in the environment. They pay attention to 10 things
at once instead of focusing on one thing at a time like adults do. This is one
reason why they learn so quickly. They may not pay attention to what we want
them to pay attention to, and this may be frustrating to us.
We would do better
to find out what interests the baby and pay more attention to that with the
baby.
Myth: learning begins in school
Learning begins at birth or before. The
brain grows explosively between conception and age six.
Learning is actually an
inverse function of age – the younger the baby is, the faster he will learn…his
happiness, health and general well-being are also significantly improved by
stimulation and opportunity.
Please Support Us
