You already know that they can be cute and you’ve probably guessed that they can be gross, but here are 25 incredible things you didn’t know about babies!
25
To start off with a bang, every three seconds a baby is born on Earth
24
Babies learn to recognize the sound and smell of their mother almost immediately. Recognizing her visually takes a few weeks longer.
23
80% of infants are born with a birthmark
22
They also have 300 bones. While growing bones fuse together and as an adult they will only have 206
21
Babies can't actually cry because they can't produce tears. For the first few weeks they're basically just screaming
20
Some scientists have suggested that shaking your head to mean "no" comes from the fact that babies turn their heads away from food when they are full
19
Newborn babies do not have kneecaps. These take at least six months to develop
18
Babies actually grow mustaches while in the womb. The mustache grows until it covers the entire baby's body. This hairy coat is called lanugo and is shed shortly before birth
17
During the first five months of life, babies double in weight
16
According to a U.S. government report, the United States has the worst infant mortality rate of any developed country. In fact, a baby in the US is nearly 3 times as likely to die as a baby in Finland
15
This is not because healthcare is worse in the US. Actual live birth rates are almost the same across all developed nations. The US lags behind because once babies leave the hospital, lower income children have a much smaller chance of reaching their first birthday than their counterparts elsewhere.
14
Why? The U.S. has one of the highest rich-poor gap of any developed nation and privatized healthcare in the US is not as available to lower income families, whereas public healthcare in other countries offers even the poorest citizens medical attention
13
Unfortunately for similar reasons the US also lags behind everybody else in maternal mortality rates
12
Enough of the depressing statistics, did you know that when you were in the womb you had tastebuds on the roof and sides of your mouth as well as your tongue?
11
Babies sometimes sleep with their eyes open
10
They can also breathe and swallow at the same time
9
Babies are super strong relative to their small size. In fact, they can easily lift their own body weight
8
Lina Medina, a 5 year old girl from Peru, is the youngest confirmed person to ever give birth
7
The best chance a baby has of surviving is when its mother is 22 years old. This is known as the "age of fecundity".
6
Every baby is born with natural swimming abilities. This quickly disappears though.
5
Babies prefer the rhythm and cadence of their mother's native tongue at birth. This suggests that language learning actually begins before birth!
4
In some parts of the world female infanticide (killing or abandoning baby girls) is a major problem. By some estimates almost 30 million girls are "missing" from China
3
Every hour a baby dies in the US because of SIDS (Sudden Infantile Death Syndrome)
2
Newborn babies are more likely to turn their head to the right than to the left
1
A Russian peasant women had 69 children between 1725 and 1765. This is the most ever recorded.
