Baby Care Encyclopedia

Parents often wonder just how much of the outside world their newborns are able to process and understand. The answer is that all of the baby’s senses function from birth (and perhaps before), but the focus and sensitivity of the senses is different from that of older children and adults.

Newborns come into the world with little experience other than that gained in the mother’s womb. Learning about the outside world involves a slow evolution as the baby’s abilities grow. When the baby is first born, it seems as if all he does is eat, sleep, and lie in the crib, occasionally looking around in a hazy way. However, the baby is beginning to take in information about the textures, smells, sights, sounds, and tastes of a whole world full of stimuli.

Newborns have some special abilities and limitations that set them apart from older babies and children. Neurologically they are still in the process of maturing since many of the nerve connections are laid down in response to the learning and experience of the first months of life.

In the early stages, most of the infant’s organ systems are still adapting to life outside the womb. Simply maintaining body temperature, processing food, and growing are major tasks. In fact, over the first six months of life, the baby will double or triple his size. There is obviously no other time during life when such rapid growth takes place.