A Newborn Baby
The baby has arrived safely, but what do we know about him? At the beginning, while the doctor is busy checking his birth weight and length, the mother notices only the obvious things; boy or girl; arms, legs, flat nose, fingernails, etc. Even if you have had a baby before you will probably have forgotten how tiny and frail he seems. His little limbs may look thin and scrawny. His skin may appear greasy and a little puffy at first; his head perhaps elongated from molding in the birth canal. He may have a great deal of hair or none. The color of his hair, if he has some, will not signify anything because it will gradually be replaced, possibly by hair of a quite different color and texture. If he has had an easy birth his eyes will be open, and he will already be looking around. However, if he has experienced a hard journey, he will probably protest vigorously for a time until he is soothed or held close against his mother. His eyes when you can see them will be a characteristic color – deep, cloudy blue. Only later will the development of the iris give him his own individual eye color.
For himself, he is busy adjusting to his new environment. We know that in the womb a baby responds to touch, taste, and noise. We know that he can see as soon as he is born. His nervous system is busy adapting to life outside the womb. He is learning the new sensations of being held in someone’s arms, being picked up, put down, and carried about. For the first time in his life he is not surrounded by fluid and his arms and legs can be waved freely. He is breathing air- as novel a sensation to him as frosty air is to you when you step outdoors on a cold night. Hitherto he has received all his nourishment direct into his bloodstream through the umbilical cord. Now he must learn to use the sucking reflex with which nature has endowed him. His digestive system must prepare itself to take in and use his mother’s milk, and his stomach must become accustomed to feeling empty sometimes and full at others.
He needs food, with the closeness and comfort of his mother’s arms, and calm handling. As mothers have always known, he will be most peaceful when rocked rhythmically and gently, held with his head against his mother’s left side, where he can hear the heart beat that dominated his life in the womb. But there is more to him, already, than that.
Research during the last few years has shown that newborn babies are much more advanced, and capable of much more, than we ever dreamed of before. For example, you will still find some books which say that a newborn cannot see. We know now that this is simply not so. A newborn baby can see in only a limited way- but he is far from blind.