
The awakening of the senses: what you need to know?
In this section, we will help you, guide you and explain what happens at birth and throughout the first year.
To facilitate comprehension, each SENS will be described separately, but let us not forget that all the senses participate together in the recognition by the baby of what surrounds him and the emotions that are attached to it.
When a mother asks; “Does my baby see me? And what does he see? This is one of the first signs of recognition she looks forward to.
YES, your baby sees you, quite distinctly: you call him, you insist gently; sensitive to your voice, he turns his head to the side from which it comes, and he opens his eyes. We can say that his first look is associated with the sound of your choice.
Your face attracts him he fixes it a few seconds, turns away from it, comes back and so several times in a row and the child seems to say “look at me”. Contact is established
From birth, the baby turns to the maternal voice. He already knows her and discovers his face that he will associate with the voice. The work of the researcher LOUIS SANDER shows that he recognizes the maternal face towards the 10th day.
If they are not dazzled by a bright light in the treatment room, the majority of babies have their eyes wide open at birth, seemingly interrogating world. This phase can last only a few minutes, or much more, sometimes an hour.
When you hold the baby in your arms, your face is just 20cm away, or the child sees it best, because he does not yet know how to accommodate well, that is to say he will look first the line of separation of face-hair, eyes and mouth) rounded rather than flat shapes.
The newborn makes the separation between day and night; in full light he closes his eyes to reopen in the dim light; do not dazzle with lights too violent and too close; a bright light, a flash make him lower his eyelids; from birth that which is red, contrasts black and white, which shines attracts it.
The vision will make rapid progress:
Around 6 weeks: the child will distinguish between flat and voluminous
Around 10 weeks: between convex and concave
At 3 months: it will accommodate as well as an adult.
The newborn hears, he already heard before being born. On antenatal hearing, many researches and findings have been made. Since before being born, as of the 5th month of pregnancy, the baby hears, when it is born its hearing is already sharpened.
It’s easy to realize it: he finds himself at the voice calling him; a sudden noise makes him jump.
Researchers have shown that the baby recognizes music heard before birth and prefers it to unknown music.
That he recognizes and prefers his mother tongue. And that he even distinguishes the emotions through the intonations of the voice, provided that it is in the language spoken by his mother.
A researcher has made classic photos: at the sweet, the baby just born smiles, at salty, he grimaces; with a smell of garlic, he really takes a disgusted baby mine.
More recently, a researcher, through various tests, found this:
a newborn recognizes and prefers the smell of his amniotic fluid, he also recognizes and prefers the smell of his mom’s colostrums. If he is bottle-fed, it will take him a few days to prefer the milk from his bottle to his amniotic fluid. In other words, the child recognizes and prefers the sounds, tastes and smells he has known before being born.
Smell develops early in the newborn and plays an important role in the child’s recognition of his mother and their mutual attachment.
The baby can recognize this smell from the 3rd day. Recognition of the mother’s smell by the baby may even be of therapeutic value for treating sleep disorders. Thanks to the smell of a handkerchief worn by the mother and placed under the pillow, some children have relearned to fall asleep without calm or medication.
Likewise, premature infants are calmed by the smell of his mother’s, as by the hearing of his voice or heartbeat.
The newborn is very sensitive to the way it is touched to manipulations. Some actions calmly, others on the contrary agitate. This, the parents discover it quickly because the child expresses very good pleasure and displeasure. By observing his gestures, his gestures, the opening or closing of his hands, the relaxation or the tension of his body, parents will immediately know what their baby appreciates. For their part, by very fine observations, the researchers noticed how sensitive the baby was to the emotion surrounding his contact.
Unless for a particular medical reason, we know that it is important not to separate the baby from the mother at birth. The mother can keep her newborn against her skin against skin, well installed on the side, at the end of the expulsion.
The baby will be gently dried so as not to catch cold.