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Maybe this is a old parenting legend ... but I've seen it myself. Try grinning at a newborn baby. She'll grin back. It seems to be a reflex, and it seems to f

Maybe this is a old parenting legend ... but I've seen it myself. Try grinning at a newborn baby. She'll grin back. It seems to be a reflex, and it seems to fade away after a few days' life.

missosoup 7y ago
We have hardware dedicated to mimic what we observe. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mirror_neuron https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mirror_neuron
rafaelvasco 7y ago
Some babies respond very emotionally and even cry when hearing certain songs, which weren't heard by the mother while gestating;
xyzzyz 7y ago
Most newborn babies hardly smile at all. First smile is something you typically wait weeks for, and even then it’s more like a face twitch, unprompted by anything smile-worthy happening around.
- saiya-jin 7y ago
  Mine smiled for the first time after about a week. It wasn't a long one, but was a typical joker-like full face smile that I can't even do myself. They do display emotions in their face at ferocious pace, no filter like adults - and so far they correspond to overall situation pretty well. As for smile-worthy - one of his personal gods just came to him to see up close (aka papa checking how is he). If that isn't a happy moment, I don't know what is.
- narag 7y ago
  FWIW, my son smiled when we first met, minutes after he was born.
neutronicus 7y ago
My experience with my son was the opposite. He was largely unresponsive through the first month of his life, and then very suddenly developed the ability and seeming desire to mimic smiles around one month. And I was there for all of the first seventy two hours
- empath75 7y ago
  Babies are basically a bag of screams and shit for the first few months of life. It's often a source of sadness and disappointment to parents that they don't immediately bond with their babies. It's the first advice I always give to new parents -- "Don't feel bad if you don't immediately fall in love with your baby." For me, it wasn't really until they were 6 months old or so that I enjoyed spending time with either of my kids.
  - Disruptive_Dave 7y ago
    Had my first 4 months ago and could not wait until she started showing signs of awareness and personality. Luckily that happened within 2 months and she's now a ridiculous goofball.
  - tw04 7y ago
    The further you get away from the baby stage, the more you romanticize it. I REMEMBER my daughter being the most amazing thing in the world from the very first day. I KNOW that wasn't the case and made a mental note of the fact that I, like you, wasn't bonded until ~6 months. Before that she was obviously my daughter but I didn't have that "I'd do anything for this child" feeling until much later. If you asked me today how I FEEL, I'd say it was that way from day one. But I know for a fact that wasn't the case originally.
    - saiya-jin 7y ago
      Hmm, I guess I was lucky, I had this from first second. Maybe being with my wife during delivery and helping as much as I could (plus cutting the cord) helped. Don't know TBH. I would give up my life to protect him. My dreams and goals became meaningless (and still are, although its only 2+ months now). They will come back of course eventually, in some amended form. Or maybe our baby wasn't "basically a bag of screams and shit" helped. Not that those aren't present, but this isn't the dominant feature that I think of when thinking about him.
otabdeveloper4 7y ago
It's confirmation bias. Newborn babies can hardly see at all; certainly not well enough to register someone's smile. The "grin" is actually some sort of rictus spasm.

Maybe this is a old parenting legend ... but I've seen it myself. Try grinning at a newborn baby. She'll grin back. It seems to be a reflex, and it seems to fade away after a few days' life.

missosoup 7y ago

We have hardware dedicated to mimic what we observe. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mirror_neuron https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mirror_neuron

rafaelvasco 7y ago

Some babies respond very emotionally and even cry when hearing certain songs, which weren't heard by the mother while gestating;

xyzzyz 7y ago

Most newborn babies hardly smile at all. First smile is something you typically wait weeks for, and even then it’s more like a face twitch, unprompted by anything smile-worthy happening around.

saiya-jin 7y ago
Mine smiled for the first time after about a week. It wasn't a long one, but was a typical joker-like full face smile that I can't even do myself. They do display emotions in their face at ferocious pace, no filter like adults - and so far they correspond to overall situation pretty well. As for smile-worthy - one of his personal gods just came to him to see up close (aka papa checking how is he). If that isn't a happy moment, I don't know what is.
narag 7y ago
FWIW, my son smiled when we first met, minutes after he was born.

neutronicus 7y ago

My experience with my son was the opposite. He was largely unresponsive through the first month of his life, and then very suddenly developed the ability and seeming desire to mimic smiles around one month. And I was there for all of the first seventy two hours

empath75 7y ago
Babies are basically a bag of screams and shit for the first few months of life. It's often a source of sadness and disappointment to parents that they don't immediately bond with their babies. It's the first advice I always give to new parents -- "Don't feel bad if you don't immediately fall in love with your baby." For me, it wasn't really until they were 6 months old or so that I enjoyed spending time with either of my kids.
- Disruptive_Dave 7y ago
  Had my first 4 months ago and could not wait until she started showing signs of awareness and personality. Luckily that happened within 2 months and she's now a ridiculous goofball.
- tw04 7y ago
  The further you get away from the baby stage, the more you romanticize it. I REMEMBER my daughter being the most amazing thing in the world from the very first day. I KNOW that wasn't the case and made a mental note of the fact that I, like you, wasn't bonded until ~6 months. Before that she was obviously my daughter but I didn't have that "I'd do anything for this child" feeling until much later. If you asked me today how I FEEL, I'd say it was that way from day one. But I know for a fact that wasn't the case originally.
  - saiya-jin 7y ago
    Hmm, I guess I was lucky, I had this from first second. Maybe being with my wife during delivery and helping as much as I could (plus cutting the cord) helped. Don't know TBH. I would give up my life to protect him. My dreams and goals became meaningless (and still are, although its only 2+ months now). They will come back of course eventually, in some amended form. Or maybe our baby wasn't "basically a bag of screams and shit" helped. Not that those aren't present, but this isn't the dominant feature that I think of when thinking about him.

otabdeveloper4 7y ago

It's confirmation bias. Newborn babies can hardly see at all; certainly not well enough to register someone's smile. The "grin" is actually some sort of rictus spasm.