120 Fun Facts About Baby

How many teeth make up a full set of baby teeth?

Five per quadrant, ten per jaw; adults end up with 32.

Which of a baby's first set of teeth usually erupt first?

They typically appear between 6 and 10 months; the upper second molars come last.

Which of these animals does NOT get just one set of baby teeth followed by adult teeth?

Elephants, kangaroos and manatees are polyphyodonts, replacing teeth throughout life.

Around what age does teething typically begin?

It continues, on and off, until roughly two and a half years.

Do erupting teeth actually cut through a baby's gums?

Hormones make cells in the gum die off so the tooth can pass through.

What is the informal name for the membranous gap in a baby's skull?

The medical word is fontanelle; the big diamond-shaped one at the front lasts up to 18 months.

What shape is the anterior fontanelle at the top front of a baby's head?

The smaller posterior one at the back is the triangle.

The anterior fontanelle usually closes by what age?

The posterior one ossifies within six to eight weeks of birth.

How many main bones make up an infant's skull?

Two frontal, two parietal and one occipital, joined by flexible sutures.

The word 'infant' comes from a Latin word meaning what?

Neonate, from neonatus, is the medical term for the first 28 days.

In medicine, a newborn is a 'neonate' for how many days after birth?

The term applies whether the baby is premature, full term or late.

Babies born before how many weeks of gestation are called premature?

Full term is 39 to 40 weeks; beyond 42 is post term.

What is the average birth weight of a full-term newborn in developed countries?

Roughly seven and a half pounds, though anything from 2.7 to 4.6 kg is typical.

What usually happens to a newborn's weight in the first week?

Fluid that filled the lungs is resorbed and passed, and feeding takes a few days to get going.

What colour is a newborn's skin often in the moments right after birth?

It reaches its normal tone within a minute or two of the first breaths.

What is the normal head circumference of a full-term newborn?

The head is very large in proportion to the body, and the cranium huge relative to the face.

Once a baby learns to walk, what is it usually called instead?

The word marks relative independence in getting about and feeding.

What is the name of the instinctive behaviour by which a newborn seeks out the nipple?

It comes bundled with the sucking reflex, which does the actual feeding.

What is the name for the waxy white coating on a newborn's skin?

The Latin means, roughly, cheesy varnish.

In the Latin name for a newborn's waxy skin coating, what does 'caseosa' mean?

Vernix means varnish; the term was first published in 1846.

The waxy coating on a newborn's skin is mostly made of what?

About 80% water, with lipids and proteins making up 10% each.

What is the fine, soft hair sometimes covering a newborn's body called?

It usually sheds before birth, and the fetus swallows it along with amniotic fluid.

The name of the fine hair on a fetus comes from the Latin for what?

The finer hair that replaces it is called vellus.

What is a newborn's very first stool called?

It is sticky like tar, dark olive green and almost odourless.

What colour is a newborn's first stool usually?

Later stools turn yellow as digested milk takes over.

What is the thick early milk produced in the first days after birth called?

It is packed with antibodies; in farm animals it is called beestings.

What is the traditional Old English word for a farm animal's first milk?

Calves denied it almost always die, because they get no antibodies through the placenta.

How soon after birth does the WHO recommend that breastfeeding begin?

Only about 44% of infants worldwide were exclusively breastfed for six months in 2015-2020.

For how long does the WHO recommend exclusive breastfeeding?

The only usual addition is a vitamin D supplement.

Which hormone is the main driver of milk production?

Progesterone blocks it during pregnancy, which is why milk does not come in early.

A woman who breastfeeds another person's child is called what?

Children she fed together are sometimes called milk-siblings.

Which mythical Roman twins were famously nursed by a she-wolf?

Wealthy Roman households preferred Greek wet nurses so babies would grow up bilingual.

Who developed the world's first commercial infant formula, in 1867?

Liebig's Soluble Food for Babies quickly spawned rivals, including Nestlé's Milk.

Which company was the target of a famous 1977 boycott over formula marketing?

It led to the International Code of Marketing of Breast-milk Substitutes.

From what age do the WHO and UNICEF recommend starting a baby on solid food?

Baby food is defined as soft food for babies between six months and two years old.

In which US state was Gerber founded, in 1927?

Dan Gerber owned the Fremont Canning Company; his wife started straining food for their daughter.

Which multinational acquired Gerber in 2007?

Gerber had merged with Sandoz Laboratories in 1994; Sandoz became part of Novartis, which sold Gerber to Nestlé in 2007.

Who was the real baby behind the Gerber Baby sketch?

She grew up to be a mystery novelist and English teacher; polls long guessed a movie star.

How was the Gerber Baby image chosen in 1928?

The winning entry was an unfinished charcoal sketch, closer to a doodle than a portrait.

The Apgar score checks a newborn at one and five minutes on how many criteria?

Appearance, pulse, grimace, activity and respiration, each scored 0 to 2.

Who invented the Apgar score in 1952?

Virginia Apgar worked at Columbia University; the criteria list is a backronym of her surname.

Which Apgar score is generally regarded as normal?

A perfect ten is uncommon because most newborns are briefly a little blue.

Which infant response makes a baby fling its arms out after a sudden loss of support?

It develops by 32 weeks of gestation and disappears at about six months.

How did Ernst Moro originally trigger the reflex named after him?

Today it is usually elicited by a supported head drop.

Which part of the brain suppresses primitive newborn reflexes as a child grows?

They can reappear in adults with dementia or after strokes.

Which Swiss psychologist first studied object permanence in infants?

He hid a favourite toy under a blanket and watched whether the baby went looking for it.

Piaget's 'sensorimotor stage' lasts from birth to roughly what age?

By its end, he argued, babies understand that hidden things still exist.

Around what age do babies typically say their first recognisable words?

Babbling winds down at about the same age, though it can carry on for a while.

Repeated syllables such as 'da da da' are what kind of babbling?

Variegated babbling mixes different consonants and vowels.

The sing-song way adults talk to babies is formally called what?

It has higher, wider pitch, slower speech and shorter utterances than adult talk.

Research suggests baby sign programs do what to infants' spoken language development?

The main measured benefits are less frustration and a closer parent-child bond.

How many hours a day do newborns sleep on average in the first two weeks?

By four months the average is about 14 hours, naps included.

What is the most effective single way to reduce the risk of SIDS?

Rates fell by up to 80% where 'Safe to Sleep' campaigns ran.

SIDS is also known by which informal name?

It is the sudden, unexplained death of a child under one year old.

Do baby monitors prevent SIDS?

Many doctors think they mostly provide a false sense of security.

What was the first baby monitor, released in 1937?

It was designed by the sculptor Isamu Noguchi.

Colic is defined as crying over 3 hours a day, 3 days a week, for at least how long?

It peaks at six weeks and usually resolves by 12 to 16 weeks.

At what age does normal infant crying peak?

Babies normally cry a little over two hours a day at that point.

What proportion of babies are affected by colic?

It is equally common in bottle-fed and breastfed babies.

Roughly what share of full-term newborns get jaundice in their first week?

For preterm babies it is about 80%; the yellow pigment is bilirubin.

The discovery that light treats newborn jaundice is credited to whom?

She noticed in 1965 that babies near the sunny window at Rochford General Hospital had less jaundice.

Which disorder was the first target of newborn heel-prick screening?

Robert Guthrie's filter-paper blood spot is still used worldwide.

Newborns are routinely given a shot of which nutrient to prevent bleeding disorders?

Babies are born with low stores of it and breast milk contains little.

How many blood vessels does a normal human umbilical cord contain?

Two arteries and one vein, cushioned in Wharton's jelly.

By what age has the umbilical cord stump usually dried up and dropped off?

If it lingers longer, doctors look for an infection or immune problem.

What is the gelatinous substance protecting the vessels inside the umbilical cord called?

It is made mostly of mucopolysaccharides.

Identical twins develop from how many fertilised eggs?

Fraternal twins come from two eggs, each fertilised by its own sperm.

Which people have the highest rate of twinning in the world?

One theory blames a type of yam rich in a natural phytoestrogen.

By how much did the US twin birth rate rise between 1980 and 2009?

Fertility treatments and older mothers are the main reasons.

Identical twins that split after how many days of development are likely to be conjoined?

Non-conjoined identical twins form up to day 14.

Which type of twinning has no known genetic link?

A family history of fraternal twins does raise the odds, via a tendency to release two eggs.

What is the term for a baby born from a pregnancy with only one fetus?

Unrelated look-alikes, by contrast, are doppelgängers.

What is the word for eight babies born from one pregnancy?

Nine are nonuplets, seven are septuplets.

The first quintuplets known to survive infancy were born in which country in 1934?

The Dionne quintuplets were identical girls.

The McCaughey septuplets, the first to survive infancy, were born in 1997 in which state?

They were born in Des Moines.

The Cissé nonuplets, born alive in 2021, were delivered in which country?

Their mother, Halima Cissé, was a 25-year-old from Mali.

Nadya Suleman, nicknamed 'Octomom', gave birth to eight surviving babies in which year?

All eight were conceived through IVF, as were her six older children.

Roughly how often do quintuplets occur naturally?

Britons say quins, North Americans say quints.

Roughly how many human babies were born worldwide in 2023?

Vaginal birth remains the most common mode of birth worldwide.

How many stages of labour are there in a vaginal birth?

Opening of the cervix, delivery of the baby, then delivery of the placenta.

Was Julius Caesar really born by caesarean section, as the name suggests?

Until modern times the operation was invariably fatal to the mother, and Aurelia lived on.

Guidelines say caesareans should not be scheduled before how many weeks without a reason?

The international ideal rate was long put at 10 to 15 percent of births.

About how many babies are born preterm each year worldwide?

That is 5 to 18 percent of all deliveries, depending on the country.

A birth at fewer than 28 weeks of gestation falls into which category?

Very early is 28 to 32 weeks, early 32 to 34, late 34 to 36.

Skin-to-skin 'kangaroo care' for premature babies was first developed in which city?

Rey and Martinez presented it in 1983 as an alternative to scarce incubators.

The first American newborn intensive care unit opened in 1960 at which hospital?

It was designed by Louis Gluck.

A low birth weight is defined as less than how much?

That is 5.5 pounds; most NICU admissions are preterm or low birth weight babies.

Who invented the 'Boater', the first waterproof diaper cover, in 1946?

She made it from a shower curtain and army-surplus parachute nylon.

Which company makes Pampers?

Rival Huggies is a Kimberly-Clark brand; the two fought the 1980s 'Diaper Wars'.

In what year were Pampers first launched?

They had been conceived in 1959 by Victor Mills's project group.

What is a diaper called in British and Australian English?

Cloth versions are made from cotton, hemp, bamboo or microfibre and washed for reuse.

What is the most common skin disorder seen in infants?

Its formal name is irritant diaper dermatitis.

Which company mass-produced the first talcum baby powder, in 1894?

Frederick Kilmer had prescribed talc to soothe irritation from the firm's medical plasters.

What is a pacifier called in Britain and Australia?

Soother is Canadian, binky American, dodie Irish.

How many parts does a standard pacifier have?

A teat, a handle and a shield to stop the child swallowing it.

'Binky' began in about 1935 as what?

The Binky Baby Products Company of New York made pacifiers and other baby goods.

What did 19th-century American babies suck on before rubber pacifiers?

A rag with a spoonful of sugar tied up in it.

The earliest known stroller, built in 1733, was designed by which English architect?

It was shell-shaped and meant to be pulled by a goat or small pony.

What was Kent's 1733 baby carriage intended to be pulled by?

The Duke of Devonshire had commissioned it for his children.

Who invented the collapsible umbrella stroller?

His company was making six thousand a year by 1976.

What is a stroller called in British English?

Pram is short for perambulator, the heavy Victorian kind.

The word 'crib' comes from an Old English word meaning what?

Cribb also meant a stall, which fits the idea of corralling the child.

Between what ages can children usually climb out of a crib and need a bigger bed?

The cage-like design only works until they can get over the side.

Who invented the modern spill-proof sippy cup, licensed to Playtex?

He was a mechanical engineer tired of his son's spills, and knew nozzles from hot glue guns.

In the US, baby walkers cause about how many emergency-room injuries a year?

Pediatricians have called for them to be banned outright.

Do baby walkers help babies learn to walk sooner?

Every 24 hours spent in one delays walking by about three days.

Which infant video brand did Disney own from 2001 to 2013?

Julie Aigner-Clark started it in 1996 with $15,000 and borrowed camera gear.

Which company's 'Baby Shark' video became the most-viewed on YouTube in 2020?

It overtook Despacito and became the first video to reach 10 billion views in 2022.

The company behind the viral 2016 'Baby Shark' video is based in which country?

The song itself is an older campfire tune believed to be in the public domain.

Who wrote the most famous lullaby, the 1868 'Wiegenlied'?

Some think his own sleep apnea helped inspire a song for falling asleep.

The word 'lullaby' was first recorded in roughly which year?

It comes from Middle English lullen, to lull.

Who was the first to use the term 'Mother Goose' for nursery rhymes, in 1780?

He was publisher John Newbery's stepson.

The tune of 'Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star' comes from an 18th-century song in which language?

The words are Jane Taylor's 19th-century poem 'The Star'.

Ancient Greek and Roman tomb statuettes show babies wrapped how?

Swaddling tightly restricts limb movement, and opinion on it is still divided.

Cradle cap is a benign form of which condition?

It is not contagious, not an allergy and not caused by poor hygiene.

In much of the developed world, toilet training usually begins between what ages?

Most children are fully trained by four, with occasional accidents.

The post-war baby boom generation is usually defined as those born in which years?

They are followed by Generation X.

The custom of 'showering' a mother-to-be with gifts likely borrowed its name from which event?

Nineteenth-century bridal gifts were tucked inside a parasol that opened to shower the bride.

Traditionally, a baby shower was given only for which child?

And traditionally only women were invited, which has changed.

What is triggered when a baby's head turns to one side, straightening the arm on that side?

It is nicknamed the fencing pose.