Baby Monitor

This article from Time Magazine by Steven Pinker explains some studies done by Elizabeth Spelke.

Spelke studies babies' brains by taking note of when and why they become bored. Previously, it was believed that babies' brains were buzzing with constant and confusing uninterpreted information. She has begun to prove that that is not the case.

Spelke had babies around the age of 3 months watch a video of blocks moving around. The babies got bored quickly when the blocks obeyed the natural laws of physics but when the blocks began to move through walls and disappear through trap doors, the babies became surprised and it sparked their interest. This shows that at 3 months, babies already know on some level how the world around them is supposed to work. They understand that the objects they see are supposed to work in predictable ways.

Before 3 months, babies are less perceptive because they are still developing neurological wiring in their brains. At this young age, I wonder what they are able to perceive. The first few months of life, babies are fussed over like none other. They are held by every person in the family, passed around like a hot potato. Do they even know what is happening?

It is very different from a mother's perspective than from a study's perspective. Mothers tend to believe that their babies are doing everything for a reason. They relate every wiggle or smile to the love they have for them. They assume that when babies cry it is because they miss them. This might be true to some level but I believe that it is far less because of comfort reasons and much more reliant on basic human needs. Babies know that their mothers are the ones to feed them. They also know enough to cry when they are hungry and so they know that a lack of food makes them unhappy. Babies are not emotional despite how much they cry, they are quite simple despite the extra meanings we tack on to their actions.

Babies' minds are much less buzzing than the people around them. We tend to place our own excitement and hectic emotions on the baby since the baby is the cause of those feelings. I believe that raising babies of such a young age would be much easier if this point was realized. When a baby starts crying it isn't because it is sad, it is because it needs something. The sound of a crying baby makes us uncomfortable and scared because we realize that a helpless creature is in need. But once we realize that this is a baby's only form of communication then we can relax. This might be the equivalent of a child asking for a snack. Save the crazy emotions for later in life when they will be warranted like when your kid scrapes their knee for the first time. Infants will love you no matter what as long as they can rely on you. The hard part comes later.