Anyone who has ever held an infant knows how small and fragile they look. Early on their necks are too weak to support their heads, and cry almost all the time. But babies are capable of more than just eating, pooping, and crying. Your little darling has a lot of hidden abilities that will be listed in this article.
Facial Reading
Your baby may not be capable of reading letters and numbers yet, but they make up for that through reading your facial expressions and body language. This is an amazing ability, considering that a baby is born with no knowledge about emotional and social cues. They learn through you and the faces you make, and they pick up on this quickly and begin to imitate.
Super Grip
If you reach your finger out to your baby, they will usually reach out and grab it, curling their fingers around yours. This is actually an evolutionary reflex that came from the time when infants would hold onto their parents while they travelled, and it’s called the palmar grasp. Babies are known to be able to support their entire body weight with this grip (WARNING: do not test this out, you can still injure your baby), something that only a handful of adults can do.
Eagle Eyes
Another ability babies have that adults don’t is their super keen eyesight. It’s well known that a person’s eyesight deteriorates as they grow older, so this shouldn’t come as too much of a surprise. Studies have shown that babies possess a certain hypersensitivity in their eyesight, which is why they always seem so fascinated by the world around them. So the next time your baby won’t stop looking so closely at their favorite stuffed bear, now you know why.
Interconnected Senses
Have you ever heard of synesthesia? It’s a condition that links certain senses together, like sight and smell. People with this condition can describe colors by their tastes, or textures by their sound. It’s rare in adults, but surprisingly common in infants. Scientists theorize that this is due to the high interconnectivity of the synapses in a baby’s brain, which lessen over time.
Supersonic Hearing
Have you ever seen a cat’s ears perk up when they hear a faint noise? Some animals are known for this kind of sensitive hearing, but did you know that your baby is capable of this too? Sensitive hearing is an evolutionary trait that keeps our ancestors safe and aware of their surroundings. But as we grow up, our brain learns to “prioritize” certain sounds and filter out unimportant noises.
Aqua Baby!
If you’ve ever tried taking your baby out to the pool, but are worried about them accidentally inhaling water, fret not! In the first six months of their life, babies are capable of holding their breath underwater and swimming around. This could be an evolutionary trait, but most scientists attribute this to the nine months babies spent floating around in the womb. Be careful, though. This reflex disappears after the first six months.
Healing Hands
Your baby’s been showing off superpowers before they were even born! As an infant is developing in the womb, they produce stem cells, which are cells capable of turning into specialized cells in the body. If a pregnant person is hurt, sometimes the baby will send stem cells to the injured part of the body to help heal them. Some pregnant women have been known to recover from heart attacks spontaneously because of this.
The Moral Code
Babies have been shown to have a basic sense of right and wrong. In a study at Yale University Infant Cognition Center, infants preferred the nicer of two puppets, who looked identical apart from the color of their shirts. After the two puppets did good and bad actions respectively, the babies would avoid the bad puppet and favor the good one.
Have you learned anything new about your little superhero?
Photo from: https://a.dilcdn.com/bl/wp-content/uploads/sites/8/babyzone/2013/12/LOW-SuperheroBaby-3459x2594-ts-174387570.jpg
