Amazing Baby

195 Pages·2008·29.38 MB·English

by  Desmond Morris

ho dimazing story of tho
first two years of life

desmond morris

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contents

foreword
every child is unique
anew baby

how a baby grows

on the move

staying healthy
communication

how babies learn
emotional life
becoming independent
index

acknowledgments

6

10

60

90

104

124

146

172

188

192
foreword

‘The human baby

is truly amazing and this book is a celebration ofthat fact, Many baby

books have heen written from the point of view of the parent, offering advice on how ta look
after an infant, but this one is different, Instead of giving atvice, it sets ous to paint at
accurate portrait ofthe fist two years of human life, as seen trot the child's point of view.
Armed with this information itis then up to the parent to decide how best to cere fora litle
‘one ~ from the day of his birth, when he arrves small, vulnerable and wordless to the day
he celebrates his second birthday, already walking, talking and challenging the worl

PPertups Uwe must asonishing fot abvut a baby is tat,
‘uring the nine montns between conception anc bit, his
weight increases by a sagaering 3,000 millon tes. AS
soon ashe is bor, this meteoric growth rte slows down
‘trumaealy, so that between birth and the end of his
second year an infant wil have only caruple in san,
‘This ay soem ke an napressive growth to yurents, butt
‘s nothing compared to te astonishing evelopment tha
takes place inside the womb,

an evolutionary journey
‘The unfolding of baby’s quelitis and abies sa complex
story His tiny body has the acing of wlio ears of
human evolution, nelping iferent featur to develop ina
special sequence, AL the new baby needs now isa friendly
ew:tonment in wach this ean happen

Evolution as armed the infant with an iesietible appeal
‘at ensures his parents care for hi, ten hin, feed is.
and keep him clean an warm, Even the most sophisticated
adults are transformed into doting protectors when faced
‘with the helpless unde in thei rms, staring up a them
‘sith big, questioning ope. Bearing in min the amount of
te and offort that goes inte looking ater @ newher, this
isjust as we.

a parent's role
Por muman berg te parental burden s huge, lasting
easy two decades fr each child, but ean also be a
source of intense oy. And babies are more than just
babies. They also happen to be cur ay enrtain form of
‘mmortality the sense that they eaery on our genetic
line, ensuring thot ur genes oot die cut when we
‘qursetves come to the el of our onn tv,

Tre importance of baby’s Hist wo yeas of fe cannot
be overestimated, Many of the quaties he acquires during
this sonsitve period mavk him for fo. A toddler who i
provide wit a ric varied, exciting environment in which
‘hes encouraged to star exploring and wo is teated
lwiraly by dependable pares, stands te very bes,
charce of sequiring a sense o confident curiosity, creative
wonder and aetiveineligencein later fe. Nesting inside
‘hse head, a newborn beby has the genetically
Inherited equipment that rseded for this development,
‘Al his parents have ta doi a offer him the setting in
‘which this equipment can wher into action, allawing him to
Full his human potenti, The secret is simplyto let natural
lovirg feeings express themsalves~ 9 child needs a lat of
Joven complete trust in the reliably of his protectors
esto ourish

every child is unique

Although tis buok looks at te connor features possessed by all babies Curing Ue first
two years oftheir lives, t must never be forgotten that every baby is unique. Fach child has
‘DNA that is shared by no one else on the planet — even identical wins are born with
diferent sets of fingerprints Iis the combination of a baby's wenetic makeup with her
specifie upbringing and environment that shapes the adult individual into which she grows.

physical variations
Parents should always bear in mind that for ezery child
whe grows and acquies skills a a particular speed, there
‘willbe another who is rivch slower and anather who i
‘much faster. For every child of « particular weight, there
willbe another who is heavier and another who ighcer
Sometimes the variations between the extremes are
enormous: te heaviest birth weight ever reconded fora
‘human beby is over 35 times as much as the lightest weight
recorded, The timings for developmental milestones sven
‘in this book can therefore only be approsinate

emergence of personality

Babies also show considerable variations in personality =
‘varatons that are inborn and that are not dependent on
cavironmental differences Almost all parents eho are had
several chldeen wil tel. you that, to User surprise, thelr
lite ones have mened out to have skin eiferent
personalities, One wll be quiet and placd, another Lively
and soeable,anothe careful are ivdsteious. One il be
the helpful ene another the aiult one and yet anoter
the clever one. And even if the children have al ben
brows up in mach the same wy and in 9 similar domestic
environment, they wil sl exhibit these clear dtferences

the role of DNA

Variations in appearance and personality are renders of
‘the fact that each of us has a unique DNA and is genetically
ferent frm every other one o? the 6 bilon human Beings
‘who wall he eerth today. is these yarlations that make
1 so diferent trom the production murano roars
of science fltion nightmare. Our diferences are what
‘make if on this smal planet of ours so enjoyable. But
although there ae thousands of tiny detals in which we
ifr from one another, thee are thousands re that
make us Vry tne Ard it these silanes, rather
than the eiferences, that this books presenting,

the role of the environment
Iakliton tothe inbore,charateratis of ec’ new babs,
suldtonalnfleroes come fro the bass ersicarnont,
especially the home in which she starts to grow’ up. Al
Iubies ate genesiealy programmed co developat mare
less the same rte, but a happy home lie may speed up
some ofthese processes, while a hese or unchallensing
fone may slow them down. The mental capaci of baby
who grows up in a highly stimulating word may end up
being much greater than if sh hal bees born into ra
or boring envirunment