B I R T H
Baby Likes to:
Here You Are!
omething new and
S
wonderful has happened
to you: You’re probably
feeling happy, excited,
elated, and yes, just a
little frightened at the thought of
caring for the brand new baby in
your home and the responsibility
of being a parent.
Don’t feel alone. We’ve just
described what is probably a
universal reaction to parenthood.
During this first month you’re
going to be concerned with many
things. Most of them will be new
situations for you, such as adjust-
ing to Baby's schedules.
But after some of the excite-
ment has died down, you’re going
to have a lot of questions about
the proper growth and develop-
ment of your child.
Today there’s a great deal of
research being done on infant
development and how to help
The Newborn
agazines for parents-
M to-be should publish
pictures of newborns
more often to better
prepare new parents
for the shock of seeing their baby
for the first time.
One mother told her husband
in the delivery room, “Oh, honey,
he’s beautiful, but we’ll really have
to love him hard because he’s so
homely!”
She was right. A new life is
beautiful, but newborns are not
the light pink, round babies
smiling from the magazine pages.
stimulate it. Most research
suggests there are lots of things
parents can do to help their child
develop mentally, physically, and
emotionally.
This is the purpose of Grow-
ing Child: To emphasize the
importance of development and
to provide you with information
to help you learn about your
baby and about yourselves as
parents.
A newborn’s skin is often red
and scaling and her little nose is
often misshapen or flat. It also
may be difficult to see her eyes
as they’re often tightly closed.
Baby’s head accounts for
about one quarter of her size.
Although this makes her look a
little odd, it’s a result of normal
head and brain development.
It is important during the first
few months to provide support
for the baby’s head while hold-
ing or feeding her, since the
muscles which perform this
function have not yet fully
• Suck, sleep and enjoy basic
comfort.
• Listen to repeated soft sounds.
• Stare at movement and light.
• Be held and rocked.
• Lift head when lying on her
stomach.
Give Your Baby:
• Head support when lifting or
holding her.
• The sound of your voice
talking and singing.
• Light patterns from a lamp.
• Your arms.
Growing Child will also help
you learn what you can provide
for your child so that he or she
might develop mentally, physi-
cally and emotionally to his or
her fullest potential.
A special note for those of you
who have other children: Learn-
ing about development is not
restricted to a first child. This
information is just as important
for your second or third child.■
developed.
Learning head control will be
one of the major tasks that Baby
will accomplish during the next
few months.
From now on the brain will
continue to develop, and the rest
of the body will catch up.
The typical pattern of develop-
ment is from the head downward
to the rest of the body, and from
the center of the body to the
extremities (the fingers, for
CONTINUED ON PAGE 6
Baby’s Birth Certificate
e sure to get a birth the local health department or and for a fee. There is almost

B
citizenship.
certificate for your
baby. It is legal proof
of the date of your
child’s birth and
registrar of births.
If you have not selected a
name for the baby before you
leave the hospital, be sure to add
it to the official record later.
always a charge for a second
copy, so keep your baby’s
certificate in a safe place.

Throughout life, she will need
this proof of identity. It may be
required when a child enters
school, requests a driver’s license,
goes to work.
It may be needed to prove her
right to vote, to marry, to draw
Social Security benefits, to hold
office, inherit property, or obtain
a passport to travel in foreign
countries.
If the baby is born in a
hospital, the staff will see that the
necessary information is sent to
If the baby is born at home,
the midwife or doctor (or the
parent if no one assists at the
birth) is required by law to report
the birth to the local authorities.
You will be officially notified
when the record of your baby’s
birth is on file. Some states send a
copy of the registration.
If any of the information is
wrong, be sure to get it corrected
immediately.
In some states, the birth
certificate is sent only on request
A birth certificate is legal proof of
the date of a child’s birth and
citizenship.
If you don’t receive notice of
the proper registration in a few
weeks, check on it. Call the
hospital or local health depart-
ment. Or write to your state
health department, which is
usually located in the state
capital.■

The Old-Fashioned Rocking Chair

as there a rocking circulation in the legs. Later the ability to interpret

W chair in your
childhood?
Do you remem-
ber one of the
old-fashioned kind with comfort-
able arms and a high back to rest
your head against?
Rocking chairs are good for
anyone, but they seem to have
been made especially for parents
and babies.
By holding your baby, rocking
and talking gently to her, you
communicate love, warmth and
security in ways that even a
newborn baby understands.
Rocking chairs are wonderfully
comfortable and relaxing for
parent and child, and doctors tell
us that gentle rocking improves
Rocking chairs are good for
anyone, but they seem to
have been made especially
for parents and babies.
As you rock, the easy to and
fro movement stimulates the
balance and position sensors
deep in Baby’s inner ears.
As she lies in the curve of her
these sensations will help her
develop and maintain the balance
she will need as she learns to
stand and walk.
So, we say...“long live the old-
parent’s arm, she feels the fashioned rocking chair, symbol
movement. of love and learning.”■
When she is lifted and held
upright with her head on your
shoulder, she feels movement in
a different direction.
If you lay her across your
knees on her tummy, she be-
comes aware of still a different
kind of movement.
With each change of position,
Baby experiences the rocking
motion in slightly different ways.
But always her nearness to her
parent provides warmth and
security as a background for her
growing awareness of changing
positions and of movement in
different directions.
From these experiences, an
infant learns how to interpret and
to use the sensations produced in
her balance centers.

2
Your Baby’s Intelligence
xperts in child develop-
E ment know that the
right kind of experi-
ences in infancy and
the early childhood
years can increase a child’s
intelligence, and there are many
scientific studies which support
this idea.
There also are many studies of
identical twins reared in different
homes. In general, these studies
showed that the twin who had the
best kind of early experiences had
a higher intelligence than the twin
who had poor early experiences.
These tests are important, since
identical twins come from the
same cell, which means their
heredity is identical—they have
the same genes.
Heredity therefore is not the
only factor which determines
intelligence. Experience in early
life also plays an important part.
In 1939 there was what experts
call a “classic study.” The results
are rather startling, and further
support the idea of early experi-
ences.
The study, by H.M. Skeels and
H.B.Dye, tells about 13 infants and
young children between the ages
of 7 months and 30 months who
were transferred from an orphan-
age to a school for mentally
retarded children.
After the transfer, these children
were placed in a ward with some
older and brighter girls, who
started playing with them during
most of the time they were awake.
Just by playing with these babies,
the older girls provided many
more experiences and much more
stimulation than was provided for
the children left behind in the
orphanage.
After the new arrivals had been
in the ward for some time, the
people making the study gave a
second intelligence test. All 13
children showed gains in IQ
ranging from 7 to 58 points.
As a check on these results, 12
children who stayed behind at the
orphanage were given intelli-
gence tests. The differences were
amazing: all the children at the
orphanage showed a decrease in
IQ ranging from 8 to 45 points.
Twenty-one years later, all the
children in both groups were
located and the differences in
their life situations were startling.
Of the 13 transferred to the
school for the mentally retarded,
all were self-supporting. Of the
group that remained in the
orphanage, one died in an
institution for the retarded, and
five were still in institutions.
The differences in education
between the two groups is just
as startling. For the transfer
group, the median grade com-
pleted (midway between highest
and lowest) was the 12th grade,
or graduation. Four completed
one or more years of college,
with one boy receiving a
bachelor’s degree from a large
state university. For the group of
12 who remained at the orphan-
age, half did not complete the
third grade, and none of them
went to high school.
Baby Seating
t’s now the law in all 50
I
states that children must
be properly restrained
while riding in automo-
biles.
It isn’t a pleasant fact, but
1,500 babies and children under
the age of five are killed every
year in auto accidents, and
another 60,000 are injured. In
addition to fatalities, a major
concern is permanent brain
damage which could have been
prevented by a proper child
restraint seat.
There are many excellent car
seats for children that meet or
exceed federal specifications. To
obtain up-to-date information,
3
Clearly, this study shows the
importance of early learning
experiences for development of
intelligence and for general
independent functioning in the
world.
Heredity is not the only
factor which determines
intelligence—experience
in early life also plays an
important part.
A school for retarded children
is not the best place for giving
these early learning experiences,
but even in this setting, the older
retarded girls who played with
the children seem to have given
the kind of stimulation that made
tremendous differences in the
children’s later abilities.
This is what Growing Child is
all about—to help you give your
infant the early experiences that
can have an important influence
on intelligence and independent
functioning.■
contact the National Highway
Traffic Safety Administration
hotline (800-424-9393).
Or write to the American
Academy of Pediatrics, Division
of Public Education, 141 North-
west Point Boulevard, P.O. Box
927, Elk Grove Village, Illinois,
60007, for an updated list of
infant/child safety seats.
In many communities, hospi-
tals or civic organizations also
have a rental program for car
seats.
A car seat can be a real
lifesaver, so be sure to buckle up
your baby—and yourself too.
Make every ride a safe ride for
you and your child.■
Breast Feeding
oth professionals and
B parents have been
known to become
emotional on the breast
versus bottle issue. This
controversy is unnecessary
because the choice is extremely
personal—the choice of mother
and father.
There is no question that
breast feeding is the most natural
and beneficial type of feeding for
the average, full-term infant, but it
must be kept in mind that there
are many factors which affect the
decision on how to best feed the
new baby.
These include the baby's size
and maturity and the mother’s
physical condition, occupation,
and home situation.
Many mothers work full-time
outside the home, so there will
be times when they will not be
able to be present when the baby
feeds. However, this does not
mean they cannot breastfeed.
Bottle Feeding
f you choose to bottle-
I feed your new baby, you
will have several choices
to make. The first is the
type of formula. Most
formulas are available in ready-to-
use, concentrate, and powder.
Ready-to-use in bottles is
usually reserved for hospital use,
but is extremely convenient when
travelling or visiting.
Concentrate is formula that
must be mixed with water. It is
usually the most economical.
Powdered formula is most
useful as a supplement to breast
feeding when only an occasional
bottle is needed.
Formula preparation and
sterilization is really quite easy.
The simplest method is to mix the
formula and pour it into the
bottles. Then sterilize the bottles,
Some mothers breastfeed
during their pregnancy leave and
then change to a combination of
breast and bottle (using formula
or breast milk) after they return to
work.
This combination offers some
hidden advantages since it allows
the father, grandparents, and
sometimes older siblings the
opportunity to experience those
special feelings involved with
feeding a young infant.
Also on the positive side, it is
important to know that breast
milk is a remarkably stable and
adjustable (according to the
baby's demands) food supply
that contains some special disease
fighters called antibodies.
These are not absolutely
necessary for good infant health,
but they do add a little extra
protection for some babies who
might lack adequate resistance to
some diseases.
It must be kept in mind,
formula, extra water and nipples
at the same time using a stove-
top sterilizer.
The same thing can be accom-
plished by using boiled water to
mix with the concentrate or
powdered formula and sterilizing
the bottles and nipples separately.
Much has been written about
the relationship of feeding and
mothering—especially in the case
of mothers who breastfeed. While
much of this is certainly true, you
can make bottle feeding as enjoy-
able and rewarding as breastfeed-
ing by following some simple
rules:
1. Always hold the baby when
you feed him.
2. Talk and coo to him while
feeding, pressing him close to
you.
3. Take your time with feed-
4
however, that breast milk quality
is dependent upon the mother's
good health and adequate diet.
Whatever the mother eats or
drinks shows up in some form in
the breast milk and, at times, may
affect the infant's behavior.
This is particularly true of
medications, so a pediatrician
should be consulted before any
of these products are used.
Finally, certain infants such as
those born prematurely can still
be breastfed, but they may
require supplementation with
formula or certain vitamins and
minerals such as iron.
LaLeche League, an interna-
tional organization, provides
support, advice and a wealth of
information about nursing. There
are chapters in many cities, large
and small, in the U.S.
Check the phone book white
pages for the chapter nearest you,
or contact the national office at
Franklin Park, Illinois 60131.■
ing. If you’re pressed for time, let
grandmother or an older sibling
or a helper take a turn.
There is some relationship
between bottle feeding and
extreme infant weight gain. This
is usually due to overfeeding, so
here are some guidelines to
follow.
As a general rule, babies take
three to four ounces per feeding
during the first month.
Following that, add one ounce
per month of age until the baby
takes eight ounces at five to
seven months of age.
Baby’s development of good
speech and attractive teeth begins
as soon as he is born. The tongue
and mouth muscles so necessary
for good speech must be stimu-
CONTINUED ON PAGE 6
How to Communicate
With Your Child’s Doctor
ommunication is not
Checklist for Calling the Doctor
C a one-way street. The
doctor needs your
help to better serve
your needs.
When your child becomes ill,
___ Fever which rises or returns
after the second day.
Be prepared before calling
your doctor:
___ Take child’s temperature.
the doctor is aware that you are ___ Unusual physical behavior
___ Know the specific symptoms.
worried and nervous, but to help (Does he appear sick?).
Examples are:
you she must have some idea
what you are thinking, and she ___ Cold associated with ___ Fever
must have facts so she can earache, hoarseness of voice, ___ Runny nose
determine how quickly she must shortness of breath. ___ Headache
see the child. ___ Nasal congestion
The first place to start is with ___ Stomach ache with vomiting ___ Cough
the doctor’s receptionist. Get to and /or diarrhea. ___ Earache or ear
know her. She knows the doctor’s drainage
routine and can guide the mes- ___ Severe headache. ___ Sore throat
sage. ___ Abdominal or other
___ Sprain with swelling. pain
___ Swollen glands
___ Head injuries. ___ Rash
___ Sore eyes
___ Swallowed something ___ Vomiting
thought to be poisonous. ___ Diarrhea
___ Constipation
___ Deep cuts that might need ___ Changes in urination
stitches. ___ Changes in sleep
pattern
___ Broken bones.
___ Know the name, address and
telephone number of your
pharmacy.
In the case of swallowing
When calling the doctor:
poison:
One of the keys to saving ___ State your name and your
yourself and the doctor much time ___ Call the nearest poison child’s name.
and stress is to clearly state your center immediately.
child’s needs. Many times your ___ Give your telephone number
questions can be answered ___ Locate the container with in case you’re cut off.
quickly by the receptionist or a the substance the child swal-
nurse. lowed. State reason for calling:
Second, when you describe
your child’s problem over the ___ DO NOT follow directions ___ This is an emergency (leg
telephone, be prepared to answer on the container label until broken, deep cut, swallowed
questions. A checklist follows confirmed by the poison center. poison).
which gives you an idea of the Antidote instructions may be
information needed. inaccurate. ___ My child has the following
You should come to the symptoms (list them). I'd like to
telephone prepared with this ___ Keep syrup of ipecac on see the doctor as soon as pos-
information. hand (out of reach of children). sible.
When talking to the doctor,
make your concern very clear. If ___ Keep the address and ___ I would like to make an
you’re upset, don’t be afraid to tell telephone number of the poison appointment for a physical
her.■ center near your telephone. examination of my child.■

5

CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1
example). As an illustration, in a
very short time Baby will learn to
watch things.
Her eyes do see from the
beginning, but she is attracted by
sharply contrasted or colored
objects that are close to her.
When you lean over the crib
or hold Baby close to you, she
does see your features. And she
will continue to use her eyes to
explore the world long before
she can use her entire body to
investigate her surroundings.
Right now, Baby may move
her arms a little but the fists are
usually clenched tightly and the
movement is jerky.
Later she will develop better
control of her arms and bat at
things. Still later she will be able
to use her fingers to try to grasp
objects.
This is another example of
development from the center of
the body outward (from the
whole arm to the fingers).
If you allow Baby to grip your
finger, you’ll be surprised at the
strength of the grasp.
Undoubtedly someone has
provided a new rattle for Baby to
play with. Don’t be surprised that
Baby won’t take it in her hand.
Her fists are usually clenched
tight during the first few weeks.
If you unlock her clenched fist
by unfolding the little fingers,
Baby will grasp the rattle placed
high in her hand—but only for a
moment. Then she’ll drop it and
show no more awareness of its
existence.
Don’t be surprised if you see
Baby startle at a loud noise, an
abrupt change in position or a jolt
to the crib.
It’s perfectly normal for her to
startle at any sudden change in
environment—this is a reflex
babies are born with. They prefer
slow movements rather than
sudden ones.
You may need to hold her for
a minute or two after she startles
and cries to reassure her that
everything is okay now.■
Dear Growing Child:
CONTINUED FROM PAGE 4
“A great big ‘thanks’ for all the
lated and exercised long before
the baby is ready to talk. many valuable things our family
Basic muscle training starts
with sucking. At birth, sucking is
a reflex which is provoked by has learned from Growing Child
hunger, or by being stroked
around the mouth. and Growing Parent issues.
If the bottle nipple is too long,
it reaches far back into the After teaching first grade for two
infant’s small mouth. The milk
then flows directly into his throat, years and then having a precious
and there is no opportunity for
any muscle exercise.
If the bottle nipple is the baby girl of our own, I found your
correct size but has too many
holes (or holes that are too big), newsletters thoroughly beneficial
the baby gets too much milk, and
in self-defense he either spits up, and interesting. I’d read them as
lets the surplus spill out the sides
of his mouth, or chokes.
soon as they arrived, and my
To prevent himself from
choking, he thrusts his tongue
forward and squeezes the nipple husband did too. They are the
between the tip of his tongue and
the upper gum, then he swallows. perfect length for reading in
The abnormal combination of
tongue thrust and swallowing between naps.”
may become a habit and later
when the child talks, he may Alice H.
lisp.■ San Diego, CA
www.growingchild.com
Contributing Authors
Phil Bach, O.D., Ph.D.
Miriam Bender, Ph.D.
Joseph Braga, Ed.D.
Laurie Braga, Ph.D.
George Early, Ph.D.
Liam Grimley, Ph.D.
Robert Hannemann, M.D., F.A.A.P.
Sylvia Kottler, M.S.
Bill Peterson, Ph.D.
Next Month
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Telephone: 1-800-927-7289 Baby Is Okay?
© 2000 Dunn & Hargitt, Inc. Talk To Your Baby
■
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