Friday Fun Facts

Because "smart" is such a vague term, I thought I would break down the brain-boosting benefits of motherhood into the five most likely "smart" attributes: perception, efficiency, resiliency, motivation, and emotional intelligence. All of these categories have been supported by many animal studies as well as some human studies designed to show how mothers have an edge. 

The category of perception deals mainly with the five senses. A study I found very interesting showed that pregnant women had sharper "visual acuity" than women who weren't expecting. This study certainly didn't imply that expectant women suddenly had 20/20 vision, but they were more aware of detail that they may have overlooked prior to pregnancy. Other studies have also showed that pregnant women have an enhanced sense of smell which researchers believe serves as a way to protect the unborn baby from foods that are potentially harmful.

Furthermore findings show that expectant women can experience a boost in motivation, fearlessness, and the ability to multitask and cope with more stress. Exciting new research also suggests that oxytocin — a hormone important to labor and breastfeeding — improves a moms' capacity for learning and memory.

Emotional intelligence is the most definitive category in which mothers benefit. This brain boost for moms acts as the ability to see the world through someone else's eyes. In most of life's relationships, if you don't agree with a person you can just walk away, but you can't walk away from your child. At least, not if you want to be a good parent. Instead, you've got to stretch your mind to understand their point of view. In no way did any of these studies suggest that women who weren't pregnant were lacking in any of the five researched areas but instead they simply confirmed that the changes women were noticing in themselves were in-fact valid and accurate. 

Friday Fun Facts

As hard as this may be to believe babies can't cry. They can scream and holler for what they want or need, but newborns technically can't cry. When baby is born his or her tears ducts are not fully developed. Tears don't actually begin to flow until babies are about three weeks old. In some cases, it isn’t unusual for babies not to shed their first tears until four or five months. 

Fun Facts Friday

After doing research on the topics I post in my "Friday Fun Facts" blog feature I can usually come to a conclusion that I agree with and feel confident about supporting, but this subject has me seeing and agreeing with aspects of both sides...what are your thoughts? 

PRO: "Motherese" is a brand of chatting better known as "baby talk" and can be important to development. Together, the wide smiles, high pitch, exaggerated expressions and repetition succeed in drawing and holding a baby’s attention. This encourages babies to become an active part of two-way interaction, motherese seems to be an important tool in building and deepening the emotional bond between adults and babies, and serves as baby’s first introduction to language and communication skills. 

CON: A recent study suggests that speaking to your baby or young child using "motherese" instead of more complex sentences may set a poor example and could possibly hinder their communication skills. The same research shows that by using more complex sentences some babies will learn the right terms and forms of language early on and develop a higher ability for language comprehension as they grow. 

Hold on Baby!

It's been said that if a mother doesn't hold or nurse her newborn child in the first few hours of life the bond between mother & child may not be as strong. Fortunately many experts agree that this is pure myth. It's been suggested that there is only one chance to do things right as a mother and although research does show that the first few hours of baby's life are an important bonding time these hours do not dictate the bonds that will last a lifetime. Experts have seen time and time again that mothers having 

C-Sections, cases where newborns are in need of immediate medical attention apart from their mother or in the instances of infant adoption, very strong life long bonds are developed quickly. A loving relationship over the child's lifetime more than make up for those missing few hours, days or even weeks of separation at the beginning of life.

Fun Facts Friday

A Short, Sweet & Chubby Little Fact...

Although May 2011 has passed the following baby fact is true each & every May. If someone asked which month of the year the heaviest babies are born you might answer January or February after all the holiday eating, but truth be told the lovely month of May produces the chubbiest babies. On average babies born in the month of May weigh over a 1/2 pound more than babies born in any other month. The jury is still out on why this is so but I thought it was a very interesting fun fact worth sharing.

Fun Facts Friday

After spending nine months directly attached to mommy, maternal hormones still course through baby’s chemistry make-up for a few weeks after birth. During these weeks baby girls can sometimes experience a small amount of bloody vaginal discharge. This is brought on by the same hormones that cause swollen testicles and labia in newborns. You can find that earlier post here . Finding a small smudge or smear of blood in your baby girls diaper is nothing to cause alarm, these mini mentural periods should last only a few days. Also there are times that highly concentrated urine can appear quite dark and look like blood especially in the folds of the diaper. Signs of bright red blood is not common and in this case you should take your baby to their pediatrician for medical attention. 

Fun Facts Friday!

Baby You're the Bee Knees!!!

Are babies really born without knee caps? No not really, but they don't start out with the knee caps we know as adults. Baby kneecaps are made of cartilage and develop into bone through ossification. Baby knee caps don't even show up on x-rays, they are very soft, flexible and actually pretty darn durable. With all of the crawling and the toddling that includes endlessly bumping them, baby's knees really are like pint size heavy duty shock absorbers. Ossification (cartilage hardening to bone) starts at about 3 years of age and continues until about age 6. What perfect timing for the process of ossification to start after the rugged, rough and tumble months of learning to crawl, stand and walk.