Newborns and Their 5 Senses

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One of the doubts that haunt fresh dads is in relation to newborn babies and their 5 senses. The doubt of whether they listen well, see or feel like us is inevitable and few know that the 5 senses of human beings are developed in uterine life, around the 7th month of pregnancy.

Around the 7th month of pregnancy, the organs responsible for human senses will be finalizing their development so that, right at the moment of delivery, they are activated. Some of them, even after birth, will still not work properly , requiring time to perfect and mature their activities, which will work perfectly through stimulation. Stimulus that is not so difficult to do since as soon as it is born there are so many new things around the world to see, hear, feel, right? Over time you will notice that each direction will be more refined !!

Vision – Vision causes many doubts for dads who would like to understand how the little baby can see. Some say that they can only see figures, others that are already born seeing perfectly, but what is the truth after all? Both statements are correct, but the newborn baby can clearly see in a short distance, of about 30 cm. More than that, the image you see is totally blurred. Soon after birth, you will see that the baby contracts his face, closing his eyes tightly due to the impact of the light, since he was used to the intrauterine darkness.

Hearing – The baby, even inside the mother’s belly, can already hear the voices and noises from outside, even managing to recognize the voices of mom, dad and closest family members. Your hearing is developed even inside the belly and is improved mainly in the third trimester of pregnancy. At birth the stimulus will be even more instantaneous, after all you will hear thousands of voices, noises and sounds around you that will provide the stimulus and knowledge of each sound, further tuning your auditory sensitivity.

Touch – It is through touch that human beings have their most remarkable experiences and this starts right after birth. Babies find comfort and safety in touch, especially the maternal one, where they are caressed and nurtured through affection and care in a simple fact of changing the diaper. Touch is the first meaning to be developed in the newborn baby and brings great benefit to the development and growth of the little one. This fact is proven even by specialists who support the kangaroo mother project, who claim that premature babies who adopt this method gain weight and develop faster, through direct, skin-to-skin contact with the mother or the person responsible for caring. So when your baby is crying, do not think twice about cuddling and cuddling him in your arms, a simple hug brings calm and the crying stops immediately.

Smell – Another sense that is well developed and sharpened from the moment of delivery, smell is proven to be sensitive in newborn babies. They can distinguish and recognize the mother by the smell of breast milk and make faces of disapproval when they smell very strong smells, like a perfume.

Taste – Taste is one of the least developed senses in a newborn baby and tends to take longer to improve. Since, after birth, the only necessary and recommended food for infants up to 6 months of age is breast milk and when formulas are not possible, stimulation of taste buds will not be necessary. However, even if not necessary, they can distinguish 3 flavors, sweet, bitter and sour and always giving preference to sweet. When reaching the 6th month of life, new flavors will be presented and many faces to get used to each one of them, will happen inevitably. Some flavors responsible for the worst faces may become one of the baby’s favorite foods in the future, everything is a matter of stimulation and custom of the baby’s taste.

How to stimulate the Newborn Baby’s Senses?

Some of the senses will be stimulated and developed automatically due to the large movement and sounds around the baby, which is inevitable. But others, the more stimulated, the better the advancement of development. The brain nerves that are connected to the organs that provide the senses are not born ready and will improve with time and stimulation, as is the case with hearing when you hear the voice of parents and family talking close or the touch that makes the baby calm when it’s agitated. All of this information is stored in the brain and put into practice as it matures.

The touch can be stimulated through affection, the lap, during the bath and even in relaxing massages after the bath, or before sleeping. The mother’s touch on the baby is extremely important for the development and safety of the little one and it costs nothing but a lot of love. When they are able to hold safe objects and toys, let them feel, hold, pull and squeeze as much as their curiosity wants. Obviously, safe objects should be offered that do not pose a choking risk as babies have a habit of carrying objects to their mouths.

The vision should be stimulated through colorful toys, preferably placed very close to your face for those who learn to distinguish colors and their differences. The use of mobile is super indicated in the cradle to stimulate the babies’ sense of vision, and those who are musical also stimulate hearing. Hearing can also be stimulated through lullabies, conversation with the baby and children’s songs. Toys and objects that make noises are also welcome for this purpose, as is the case with rattles and animals that emit sounds. They attract the attention and curiosity of the little ones !!

Smell is one of the most magical senses and can be explored across the world. We find new smells in fruits, flowers, foodsand everything around us. Then take the opportunity to introduce this new world to the little one and allowing him to discover new essences and perfumes, from perfumed ones to those that are not so pleasant. And finally the taste, which should be the last to be stimulated after all until 6 months of life there is no need to introduce new flavors. But when the time comes, present more pleasant fruits repeatedly and in time the baby will be able to distinguish the flavors and know which one he likes best. Over time salty foods must be offered as well and all vegetables must be offered so that the flavor is known, even if mom doesn’t like it. Provide a healthy, nutritious and diversified diet for your baby, that way you will always be healthy and away from problems caused by bad eating habits.

See also:  Babies and Children Speech Development

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My name is Dr. Alexis Hart I am 38 years old, I am the mother of 3 beautiful children! Different ages, different phases 16 years, 12 years and 7 years. In love with motherhood since always, I found it difficult to make my dreams come true, and also some more after I was already a mother.

Since I imagined myself as a mother, in my thoughts everything seemed to be much easier and simpler than it really was, I expected to get pregnant as soon as I wished, but it wasn’t that simple. The first pregnancy was smooth, but my daughter’s birth was very troubled. Joana was born in 2002 with a weight of 2930kg and 45cm, from a very peaceful cesarean delivery but she had already been born with congenital pneumonia due to a broken bag not treated with antibiotics even before delivery.

Dr. Alexis Hart

My name is Dr. Alexis Hart I am 38 years old, I am the mother of 3 beautiful children! Different ages, different phases 16 years, 12 years and 7 years. In love with motherhood since always, I found it difficult to make my dreams come true, and also some more after I was already a mother.Since I imagined myself as a mother, in my thoughts everything seemed to be much easier and simpler than it really was, I expected to get pregnant as soon as I wished, but it wasn’t that simple. The first pregnancy was smooth, but my daughter’s birth was very troubled. Joana was born in 2002 with a weight of 2930kg and 45cm, from a very peaceful cesarean delivery but she had already been born with congenital pneumonia due to a broken bag not treated with antibiotics even before delivery.

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