Image source: Sandy Blackman Instagram
Question: What is the first thing a baby learns?
Answer: What it sees with its eyes and touches with its mouth.
Psychologist Piaget calls this a Sensorimotor stage of baby’s life. I like to call it “Basic Instincts” (sounds sexier). More specifically substage between the age of 0 to 1 month is called “Reflexes”. This is a time when the child learns and understands the environment purely through inborn reflexes such as sucking and looking. This explains the funny picture of baby ducklings following the dog.
Now you have it. Fathers, if you are wondering why the baby cries when you hold it, it is because it does not know you or uncomfortable with you.
I had my child when I was working for an Asian company in Asia. You know how that goes with midnight oil burnt at the office every night. But, my child was more important than my work. I wanted to be the first thing my baby sees when it opens its eyes. I wanted to be part of the first picture it draws in its head and be engraved in the deepest part of its memories.
My wife and I discussed things we could do for the child during the reflex stage of its development:
- Breastfeeding: It’s all about sucking for these little creatures, so what better way than breastfeeding to connect with mom. We had our share of challenges, but it was all worth the effort
- Smile: If it is going to learn through seeing, I wanted the baby to learn and copy our happy faces. Delivering a first child is challenging and I’ve seen many couples being unhappy in front of the baby. It will remember what it sees.
- The sound of laughter: Let the baby react to my sound of joy! If the theory is correct and babies react to their environment, I want to give the sound of happiness.
To golden rule for Dads
Be There and Smile
Quote from Audrey Levine
“I try to avoid separating mothers from their babies for the first few hours after birth,”
Audrey Levine is a certified professional midwife at Arcadia Home Midwifery Care in Olympia. She encourages parents and babies to have immediate skin-to-skin contact, gaze into each other’s eyes and just soak up the experience of meeting for the first time.