A baby’s smile is the greatest gift there can be for parents. There are babies who smile at birth , and even babies who we can see smile in the womb thanks to 3D ultrasounds.
What we see looks like, but is not actually a smile . It is what is known as an angelic smile, which responds to a reflection of the newborn .
The angelic smile
Sometimes we see photos of babies smiling minutes or days after birth on social media. We see the baby just out of his mother’s womb, still with the umbilical cord and covered by vernix caseosa, with a wide smile on his face, which seems to show his happiness at having come into the world.
However, it is not an intended smile. It is a reflexive, spontaneous lip movement that the baby makes when feeling happy and relaxed.
In fact, if we stimulate the baby’s cheeks by gently stroking them during the first month of life, the baby will instinctively respond with a smile. It is also very common to see them smile while they sleep.
It is only after the first month of life (approximately between the fourth and sixth week) when the baby finally gives us his first “real” smile. Generally, it is for the mother or father, and it happens in response to their words or their looks. It is a magical moment of communication with the baby. Together with crying, the smile will become from now on, his way of communicating.
As the child develops his social and perceptual abilities, the smiles will be more and more selective. You will begin to discriminate the reasons and feelings that make you smile.
Whenever your baby gives you his first smile, it will be a very special and unforgettable moment .
In Babies and more | They don’t speak, but they can communicate: what babies tell us with their gestures
