Baby Trivia
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166 free Baby trivia questions with answers — science & nature quiz, new questions added Oct 2026.
This baby trivia quiz is about babies themselves: how newborns are built and behave, what happens in the first year, and the surprisingly recent history of the things we use to feed, carry, soothe and dress them. It is written for adults, from new parents to grandparents to anyone who wants to look clever at a christening. If you are planning a party and want games rather than facts, our baby shower quiz is the one to use. The easy end covers what most people half-know: how many baby teeth there are, what the soft spot is called, which company makes Pampers, why the pacifier is a dummy in Britain and a binky in America. Then it gets into the specifics: what an Apgar score actually measures, why a newborn's first stool is dark green, which people have the highest twin rate on Earth, who the real Gerber Baby was, when the first baby monitor and the first stroller were built, and how many nonuplets have ever survived birth. Every answer was checked against the encyclopaedia entry for the topic before publishing, and the sentence that supports it is stored with each question.
30 of 166 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01How many teeth make up a full set of baby teeth?
20
A full set of primary teeth is 20: five in each quadrant, ten per jaw. Adults end up with 32 permanent teeth.
Q 02Which of a baby's first set of teeth usually erupt first?
Lower front incisors
The lower front incisors (lower central incisors) usually erupt first, at about 6 to 10 months; the upper second molars come last, near age two and a half.
Q 03Which of these animals does NOT get just one set of baby teeth followed by adult teeth?
Elephant
Elephants, kangaroos and manatees are polyphyodonts, replacing teeth throughout life.
Q 04Around what age does teething typically begin?
Six months
Six months is typical, and teething continues on and off until roughly two and a half years.
Q 05Do erupting teeth actually cut through a baby's gums?
No, gum cells die and separate
No, gum cells die and separate: the tissue over an erupting tooth thins as its cells break down, opening a channel the crown rises through rather than cutting.
Q 06What is the informal name for the membranous gap in a baby's skull?
Soft spot
'Soft spot' is the everyday name for a fontanelle, a membrane-covered gap between a newborn's skull bones that lets the head flex during birth and the brain grow.
Q 07What shape is the anterior fontanelle at the top front of a baby's head?
Diamond
The anterior fontanelle is diamond-shaped, sitting where the two frontal and two parietal bones meet; the smaller posterior fontanelle at the back is triangular.
Q 08The anterior fontanelle usually closes by what age?
9 to 18 months
The anterior fontanelle usually closes between 9 and 18 months, while the posterior fontanelle ossifies within six to eight weeks of birth.
Q 09The word 'infant' comes from a Latin word meaning what?
Unspeaking
'Infant' comes from Latin infans, 'unspeaking' (in- 'not' + fari 'to speak'); Romans applied it to children too young to talk.
Q 10In medicine, a newborn is a 'neonate' for how many days after birth?
28
A newborn is a neonate for the first 28 days of life, whether born premature, full term or late; after that the child is an infant.
Q 11Babies born before how many weeks of gestation are called premature?
37
Preterm means birth before 37 completed weeks of gestation; 39 to 40 weeks is full term, and 42 weeks or beyond is post term.
Q 12What is the average birth weight of a full-term newborn in developed countries?
3.4 kg
The average is about 3.4 kg, roughly seven and a half pounds; most full-term newborns fall between about 6 and 10 pounds, and boys average slightly heavier than girls.
Q 13What usually happens to a newborn's weight in the first week?
It drops by 3-7%
It drops by 3-7%: newborns shed extra body fluid and pass meconium while feeding takes a few days to get going; most regain their birth weight by two weeks.
Q 21What is the fine, soft hair sometimes covering a newborn's body called?
Lanugo
Lanugo is the fine, soft hair that covers the fetus from about the fifth month; most of it sheds before birth and is swallowed along with the amniotic fluid.
Q 22The name of the fine hair on a fetus comes from the Latin for what?
Wool
Lanugo comes from Latin lana, 'wool' (lanugo meant woolly down); the finer hair that replaces it after birth is called vellus.
Q 23What is a newborn's very first stool called?
Meconium
Meconium is the first stool, formed from swallowed amniotic fluid, lanugo, mucus and bile; sticky like tar and almost odourless, it is usually passed within the first day or two.
Q 14What colour is a newborn's skin often in the moments right after birth?
Grayish to dusky blue
Newborns often look grayish to dusky blue because their blood is not yet fully oxygenated; they turn pink within a minute or two of the first breaths, though hands and feet may stay bluish for hours.
Q 15What is the normal head circumference of a full-term newborn?
33-36 cm
A full-term newborn's head measures about 33-36 cm around, averaging near 35 cm; the head is very large in proportion to the body and the cranium huge relative to the face.
Q 16Once a baby learns to walk, what is it usually called instead?
Toddler
A toddler, from 'toddle', the unsteady walk of a one- or two-year-old; the stage runs from about 12 months to age three.
Q 17What is the name of the instinctive behaviour by which a newborn seeks out the nipple?
Rooting
The rooting reflex: stroke a newborn's cheek and it turns toward the touch with an open mouth; it fades by about four months, while the sucking reflex does the actual feeding.
Q 18What is the name for the waxy white coating on a newborn's skin?
Vernix
The Latin means, roughly, cheesy varnish.
Q 19In the Latin name of a newborn's white skin coating, what does 'caseosa' mean?
Cheesy
Caseosa means cheesy, from Latin caseus (cheese), describing the coating's texture; vernix means varnish, so vernix caseosa is literally a 'cheesy varnish'.
Q 20The waxy coating on a newborn's skin is mostly made of what?
Water
About 80% water, with lipids and proteins making up 10% each.
Q 24What colour is a newborn's first stool usually?
Very dark olive green
Meconium is very dark olive green, almost black, because bile pigments rather than digested milk colour it; stools turn yellow over the first week as milk takes over.
Q 25What is the thick early milk produced in the first days after birth called?
Colostrum
Colostrum is the thick, yellowish milk of the first few days, packed with antibodies and protein; foremilk and hindmilk describe the thinner and richer phases of a later feed.
Q 26What traditional English word names a cow's first milk after calving?
Beestings
Beestings (also beastings or biestings), from Old English beost; dairy farmers prize it because a calf gets its antibodies only from this first milk, not through the placenta.
Q 27How soon after birth does the WHO recommend that breastfeeding begin?
Within the first hour
WHO recommends starting breastfeeding within the first hour of birth; early skin-to-skin contact and a first feed of colostrum help the baby's temperature, feeding and immunity.
Q 28Which antibody class dominates in human breast milk?
IgA
Secretory IgA is the main antibody in breast milk, richest in colostrum; it coats the baby's gut and airways to block microbes, whereas IgG is the main antibody in blood and crosses the placenta.
Q 29Which hormone is the main driver of milk production?
Prolactin
Prolactin, from the pituitary, drives milk synthesis; progesterone suppresses its effect during pregnancy, so milk comes in only after the placenta is delivered, while oxytocin handles let-down.
Q 30A woman who breastfeeds another person's child is called what?
A wet nurse
A wet nurse's charges who were fed together are sometimes called milk-siblings.