Learning About Your Baby
"My 8-month-old grabbed a placemat with a glass, heavy plate and utensils on it,
and just whipped it out and left everything on the table." - Proud Dad
Learning About Your Baby
"My 8-month-old grabbed a placemat with a glass, heavy plate and utensils on it,
and just whipped it out and left everything on the table." - Proud Dad
When You Meet Your Baby
You are holding him for the first time, your familiar voice comforts him as you say “hello,” and he turns his head to gaze at the fuzzy outline of your face. Your eyes meet – and lock. His eyes are full of curiosity; yours might be telling you he seems to know you’re his father.
Science is now suggesting that you're both simultaneously experiencing a beautifully configured version of the target lock capabilities of a jet fighter.
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Your mutual homing in triggers neural growth that creates a new sector in both your brains that's dedicated to each other. It’s a powerful and complex biological process so subtle you may not even know it’s happening, but we guarantee it is.
If you’re nervous or even overwhelmed, don’t sweat it; babies know just what to do. They settle their little body into your arms and mesmerize you with their warm, sweet smell. Be patient if your little guy’s still crying from his rude entry into the world, and enjoy the fact that it means he’s doing just fine. Just take in this incredible moment and the sight of the exquisite human you helped create.
He May Look Funny At First
Once your baby is born, his flexible skull may have been temporarily reshaped into a conehead from traveling through the birth canal, and his color may be a shade of purple. He might also be covered in white stuff (called vernix). All of this should quickly go away as he's checked out and cleaned up. You can go over to the warming table and put your finger on his hand and he will grab it.
You May Feel?
You may feel emotionally overwhelmed, or, based on the experience of many dads, you may not. Regardless, you’ve both just taken a big step on the path to bonding and appreciating how much your baby means to you, and vice-versa. After what you just witnessed, you’ll begin to understand your baby is truly the most amazing creation on the planet.
Cool Things Babies Can Do
We all know the obvious downsides of babies (poop, spit up, crying), but babies are underrated from a guy's perspective. Moms don't appreciate certain things babies can do, that dads love. Baby capabilities that have been ignored are:
Develop Amazing Upper Body Strength
If guys were in charge, baby wrestling would be the next big sport. At one day old, a baby lying on your lap will start to do a pull up if you let him grab onto your pinkies. At several weeks, they start lifting their heads (which are half their body weight) and at a few months, they can rip out a fistful of your chest hair with one hand and rearrange your nose with the other.
"My 8-month-old little girl, sitting in my buddy's lap at dinner, grabbed his placemat with a glass, heavy plate and utensils on it, and just whipped it out and left everything on the table." - Proud Dad
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Stick Her Tongue Out at You
While missing the attitude she will muster as a five-year-old, your baby can learn to stick her tongue out by mimicking you. Just keep slowly sticking yours out until she does; she was born with an instinct to mimic and can do it within days of being born.
Take her on tour with your childless friends; they will be impressed.
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Relax You To Your Core
You get home late, stressed out after a bad-boss day at work. The baby is fussy and moms had it. Life sucks, right? No, because on this night, she falls asleep on your chest, sleeping like an angel listening to your heart lay down a thumping backbeat. For those moments, nothing else matters. Life doesn’t get much better.
Keep your baby safe with this dad’s approach (pictured): he is not going to roll over on his baby, have his baby roll off and fall or get stuck between him and some cushions, and there are no blankets or pillows that can compromise his baby’s breathing.
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Use Your Finger Like a Pacifier
Babies are born suckers and if you stick your finger in their mouth, you will get an idea of the force your little one employs when he’s breastfeeding.
As long as it’s clean, your finger is always ready to use to calm your baby, or just play. Be careful when he gets teeth, babies bite.
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You Won’t Break Him, But He Will Try Himself
Babies seem so fragile and delicate that you might think they’ll break if you hold them wrong. Actually, it’s their dumb and fearless nature that gets them into trouble. At 9 months, they'll crawl anywhere and everywhere, and they'll climb bookcases and climbing walls like monkeys in tribute to their primate ancestors.
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A Big Punch in a Small Package
She will arrive built to get what she needs by using her cry, cuddles, coos and smile. Her initial focus with these capabilities is to form an enduring bond with you and mom. Your baby will get you hooked on oxytocin surges; just their smell sends feel-good endorphins to your brain’s reward center. Plan on succumbing to the demands of your little drug pusher.
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The Best That Life Has to Offer
We know from experience that your baby will grab hold of your heart, provide you with a new source of strength, and add dimensions to your life that are presently unimaginable. The reason we sacrifice so much for our children is that they offer us the best life has to give.
Fatherhood is about sacrifice and dignity: our children bring out the best in us as men, and the pride and fulfillment we experience by doing this challenging job feeds our souls.
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Other Things Your Baby Can Do...
- Listen to you sing and like it
- Totally buy your brand of politics
- Love your favorite sports team
- Never complain when you beat him at poker
- Suck both of his big toes at the same time
"I used to dip her big toe in ice cream and then she would pop it in her mouth. I looked around and she had attracted a crowd of admirers. Such talent." - Dad
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Your Baby's Brain
A complex symphony of nature transforms a tadpole into your inquisitive, happy, babbling toddler. This transformation has been repeated billions of times, with each iteration unique, but perhaps none as special as yours will be.
A Baby’s Developing Synapses
During the first half of pregnancy, your baby will grow over 100 billion neurons (nerve cells) inside her brain. Neurons are like tiny computer chips, receiving input, processing it, and sending information to other neurons. Each neuron communicates with other neurons by forming connections called synapses that allow electrochemical signals to pass between one neuron to the next.
Your Baby's Brain
A complex symphony of nature transforms a tadpole into your inquisitive, happy, babbling toddler. This transformation has been repeated billions of times, with each iteration unique, but perhaps none as special as yours will be.
A Baby’s Developing Synapses
During the first half of pregnancy, your baby will grow over 100 billion neurons (nerve cells) inside her brain. Neurons are like tiny computer chips, receiving input, processing it, and sending information to other neurons. Each neuron communicates with other neurons by forming connections called synapses that allow electrochemical signals to pass between one neuron to the next.
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Each neuron will connect through synapses to an average of 15,000 other neurons, which multiplied by 100 billion neurons, creates about 15,000,000,000,000,000 (15 quadrillion) connections. There are many, many possible combinations, which is why she will be so entirely unique and fascinating.
Even though her brain is forming synapses at a furious pace, less than 20% of these neural connections will have been made at birth. So, when she arrives, she still has about 1.2 quadrillion synapses to go. In her first year, as these connections grow and thicken, her brain will triple in weight.
How Your Baby Will Learn
This starts before birth. When she first hears your voice while in the womb, her network of neurons and synapses dedicated to hearing faintly imprints (i.e., records) it. The more she hears you, the more synapses will form and the thicker they will become until your voice is firmly imprinted in her brain and memory. If she hears your favorite song repeatedly, she will respond to it once born.
How Your Baby Will Learn
This starts before birth. When she first hears your voice while in the womb, her network of neurons and synapses dedicated to hearing faintly imprints (i.e., records) it. The more she hears you, the more synapses will form and the thicker they will become until your voice is firmly imprinted in her brain and memory. If she hears your favorite song repeatedly, she will respond to it once born.
Knowing Your Child Is An Acquired Skill
You will need to understand who your child is and what makes him tick to help him flourish. You will get a good start upon his arrival as you naturally take in how he looks, feels, acts, responds, and sounds. As he grows, he will become more complex over months, years, and decades, making your learning process challenging over time. Developing your skill set early on will pay off a lot, especially down the road.
Developing Your Skill Set
For the first weeks of your baby’s life, just be curious, watch, and notice. How does he act when getting sleepy? When is he most alert? Does he cry loudly or softly? Is he sensitive or feisty? Play, talk, and sing to him; how does he respond? Spend lots of time face to face; he is naturally attracted to yours and you can see how he reacts. These early observations will get you started on decoding your baby, as well as help you develop habits that will keep you two connected for decades.
Your Baby’s Unique Being
With all that's going on in his head, your baby will not be a passive creature waiting for you to shape his destiny. After your baby's born he will have an innate curiosity about his new world and a drive to engage and connect with you. He will “talk” to you with a cry, open-eyed looks of curiosity, a wrinkling of his eyebrow in discontent, a faint reddening of his face indicating stress, looking at you to get your response, or looking away as in “I’m tired. No more.”
Appreciate He Comes Prewired
Appreciating that your baby comes with his own basic personality traits already in place will enable you to focus on him for answers rather than looking elsewhere. You will also learn to trust your instincts in figuring out what he needs from you, making your interactions with him more productive. In the short run, this will help you guide your baby towards better sleeping habits, and enable you to calm him more effectively.
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Nature Is First, Nurture Close Behind
The debate over nature (our genes) vs. nurture (how we are raised) in shaping us is over. Science has made it clear that we are born with unique characteristics embodied in our genes that are tempered by our parent’s care, as well as our broader environment. Your responses can moderate or strengthen your child’s inborn traits. One lesson: a baby who talks early will get lots of verbal interaction, which enhances his cognitive abilities, but the child who talks less actually needs the interaction more.
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What a Difference A Dad Makes
The research is clear: you will have a unique and profoundly positive impact on your child. Children whose fathers are a consistent and positive force in their lives do better socially, intellectually, and in a broad range of areas ranging from economic status in childhood, to peer relationships in adolescence, to overall productivity as adults.
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A connected and involved dad will help make their child healthier, happier, more emotionally secure, productive, resilient, ethical, safer, nicer, and also supports the creation of positive relationships, self-control, and the ability to take the initiative. It has also been found that a father’s close relationship with his daughters helps strengthen their feelings of competence and sense of femininity, while one with his sons is a major factor in combating problems with conduct, delinquency or substance abuse.
Dads are for Playing
Of all the powerful dynamics in the life of a father, your lead role in teaching your baby to play has got to be one of the coolest.
Research has found that despite the obvious advantages moms enjoy in terms of baby appeal, 6-month-old babies choose dad when it comes to playtime. Fathers (perhaps due in part to maturity issues?!) are naturally designed to be a baby’s playmate and the best brain development toy possible.
Tickling, flight lessons, peek-a-boo, and wrestling all come naturally. Playing is also bonding at its finest: dads create radiant smiles and infectious belly laughs, sometimes with just a wink.
While your baby won’t know what to think of you in the beginning, as the weeks go by she'll learn mom is a pillar of calming protection while dad is more playful, physical, and often full of surprises. While mom will most likely want to cuddle her when she is fussy, you will more likely lift her into the air.
When she hears your voice, she’s likely to raise her shoulders and eyebrows in anticipation of excitement or start kicking her legs in an invitation to have fun.
The Impact of Your Playing With Your Child
It’s dad’s job to roughhouse with your giggling baby. It looks to mom like you’re just having a blast playing, so remind her you’re really helping your baby grow in terms of:
- Motor skill development
- Combining emotions, thinking & physical action
- A sense of achievement when they ‘defeat’ dad
- The life lesson that you don’t always win
- Self-confidence
- Concentration
- Ability to take risks
- Resilience
The one solid way mom picks up the baby is great, and so are the nine different ways dad does it. Moms tend to fall into a pattern, and dads are all over the place, which is the way nature designed it.
Your adventurous role as a dad complements mom’s protective mode, and that combination is what turns out well-rounded children. Even if you choose to flip traditional roles, you will still bring a different experience that adds value to who your child becomes.
Great Ways to Bond with Your Baby
Bonding is technically the mutual generation of oxytocin in two people, otherwise called falling in love. As you spend time with your baby, you are sure to bond, as that’s what generates oxytocin. If you spend a lot of time on the road, this includes just looking at your baby’s picture or seeing and hearing her on facetime. To assure a biological blast of this supercharged hormone coming your way, try the following:
- Just hold her. She makes a great bundle when swaddled. Any way you hold her works.
- Lie back and place her on your chest with your heartbeat mesmerizing her to sleep.
- Have mom hand him to you in the shower; socks on your hands will keep you latched on to your slippery baby and they work great as washcloths, too.
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- After several months, you can take him into the bath with you, and it’s a blast when he figures out how to splash.
- Strapping her to your chest in a front-facing baby carrier enables her to fall asleep or look out at all the wonders of the world you’ll want to show her.
- Take her to see your friends (the weirder ones will add more stimulation to your little one’s mental development!).
- Talk to your baby: tell him about your day, or what he might be when he grows up. He will find everything you say fascinating, and when he starts babbling back, you’ll become best buds.
- Feed your baby with a bottle. Many dads report the night shift to be an almost magical time with their baby.
Ultimate Bonding: Skin-to-Skin
This is the nuclear fusion form of bonding: with your baby in a diaper only, take your shirt off and lay her on your chest. This skin-to-skin contact will maximize the generation of oxytocin in both of you; due to its impact, we can assume Cave Dads did this a lot back in their day.
You can start at the hospital, especially if mom had a C-section and you get your baby for the first hour.
Continue at home. Even if you have a short paternity leave, work long hours or travel a lot, find time for skin-to-skin. Those first six weeks are when it works best, and the more the better.
Milestones for New Dads
If goals help measure accomplishments, then start with these milestones for your first 3 months as a father. If you’re an overachiever, you can always speed up the timetable:
- Get hands-on in caring for your baby from birth and throughout the hospital stay.
- Become proficient in holding, changing, dressing, burping, and swaddling within 1 week.
- Learn to comfort your crying baby within 2 weeks.
- Select one activity – like bathing your baby - and make it your own within 3 weeks.
- Spend 4 hours alone with your baby by the end of the first month and give mom a break.
- At 6 weeks, start getting out with your baby, just the two of you: walks, stroller rides, etc.
- Go on a “show her the world” adventure – like to a hardware store – by 3 months.
After just a few weeks of burping, swaddling, bathing, etc., taking care of your little one will be second nature.