The five senses of the baby are activated in the womb, therefore at birth they are already fully operational. It is through them that they begin to receive stimuli from the outside and to relate to people and the environment.
During pregnancy, she can distinguish between light and dark levels and hear voices and sounds, feel the warmth of the uterus and sensory input from outside, as well as the smell and taste of the amniotic fluid she was swallowing.
But once it is born, it receives a lot of new stimuli, which it processes and reacts to them in different ways. These reactions are what allow us to know your preferences and above all, better satisfy your needs.
Newborn baby’s sight
The baby can clearly distinguish what he sees from birth. The most comfortable focusing distance for your eyes is about 20 to 30 cm , then your eye muscles become stronger and you can focus on people and objects at a greater distance. What is beyond that distance is blurred, but is able to perceive movements and changes in the intensity of light.
The focus distance is no accident. It is the distance at which the face of his parents is when he is taken in his arms or that of his mother when he is breastfed.
If different objects are placed in its focus distance, it will direct its attention to the more complex figures, since it must learn a very complex visual world.
Either way, human faces are what newborns prefer to look at. They are born programmed to recognize faces and love to observe them, paying special attention to the eyes.
How much the newborn sees often has doubts, especially regarding the colors he sees. It is not known for sure how he perceives them. Probably in a scale of white, black and gray, although it is believed that within a few days it begins to discern those with greater contrast such as red.
The sense of touch in the newborn
Touch is the most important sense for the baby, because being touched, hugged, caressed and held is also a necessity of the newborn.
What he enjoys the most is skin-to-skin contact. As you place it on your chest, your breathing deepens, feeling relaxed and comforted.
Little by little, the sensitive skin of the baby not only receives stimuli such as cold and heat, humidity … but they will begin to explore with their hands and feet everything that is put within reach. Therefore, you can play to try different textures, soft and rough, rough or smooth … The massages continue and also with three or four months they will already enjoy a tickling session.
Babies’ mouths are very sensitive and will also explore textures and flavors through it.
Touch also triggers some reflexes in the newborn such as the plantar grasp reflex or the searching reflex when stroking the cheek.
The smell of the newborn
Smell is one of the most developed senses in the newborn baby, even more so than in adults. If you put a cloth impregnated with the scent of his mother and one with the scent of another mother, he will choose the one that smells like mother.
It is pure survival. He looks for his mother’s scent and needs to be close to her to ensure food, as well as feeling protected. It is so powerful that if you place the baby on your chest as soon as it is born, it is able to crawl up to the breast to feed, by pure instinct.
There is nothing for him like the natural smell of his mother’s skin, so avoid perfumes and colognes.
The sense of taste in the newborn
It is perhaps the least developed sense at birth, although it can be very sensitive to some levels of taste.
They dislike sour and bitter flavors and prefer sweet flavors, such as breast milk.
Little by little, the baby develops his sense of taste , although the first six months he only needs breast milk, then opening to try new flavors.
The newborn’s ear
It is able to distinguish sounds from the womb. It even recognizes the mother’s voice and once it is born it reacts to sounds it has heard in the womb.
Sudden loud sounds startle him and high-pitched sounds dislike him. Instead, enjoy soft, rhythmic, and repetitive sounds. And we are not talking only about music but about continuous sounds such as the noise of the vacuum cleaner or the hair dryer.
What most catches his attention are the voices of the people around him, especially his mother, who is the one he hears most often from the womb. For the sake of survival, he’s programmed to pay attention to you.
It gives him pleasure to hear his mother’s sweet words, although the first days the function of looking and listening is separate and he still does not turn his head to where the voice comes from.
The newborn’s senses allow him to begin to establish a relationship with people and with the environment that surrounds him, but of course, what stimulates the baby’s senses the most is the closeness of his mother and father, being in contact with them The most time possible.
Photos | iStockphoto and QuinnDombrowski and on Flickr
In Babies and more | Early stimulation exercises for your baby from 0 to 6 months, Early stimulation exercises for your baby from 6 to 12 months
