Evening star., 1941-08-27
Newly Born
Baby Not
Pretty
Only Beautiful in
Eyes of Parents
Just at First
By Leftice Lee Street,

The mother-to-be quite naturally
wonders what she may expect of her
baby when he arrives, and she asks
herself these questions: What will
be his probable weight? How long
will he measure? Will he be able to
see, to hear, to taste? How much
will he sleep and to what extent
will he be able to move about? What
is the average appearance of the
new born?
To answer the last question first:
He Is not apt to be a beautiful per-
son except in the eyes of his ador-
ing parents! Handsome or not, he
Is infinitely precious and wonderful
from his perfect tiny finger nails
to his curled pink toes. But to
the cold-hearted casual observer
his skin is an angry, mottled red,
and he has funny little monkey
face screwed up in comical wrinkles.
His head is much too large for his
scrawny trunk and his legs too
short for all of him, according to
our adult standards of correct bodily
proportions.
The average birth weight for girls
Is seven pounds, and for boys seven
and a half pounds; both measure
approximately 10 inches in length.
The newborn infants eyes do
not focus; they wander aimlesSly
here and there and often cross. So
do not think your child will be
crosseyed just because he cannot
control his eye movements when he
Is tiny. He is only dimly aware of
light, but he does blink and shut
his eyes if faced by brilliant glare.
After the middle ear is emptied
Of the fluid that IS present in it
at birth, the baby may hear many
sounds; but, of course, be is un-
aware of their meaning. He may
Jump violently at a sudden, sharp
noise and he may indicate that he
is conscious of sounds by shifting
his position little or by waving
his hands and feet about.
4liC dNCl age Ddby oCiioC VI UoSeC
Is not active at birth and he shows
no preference for any one of a
variety of mild favors. OF course,
such deductions as these have been
made by research.
The tiny infant will howl from
hunger because his stomach when
empty, contracts, just as ours do,
But this happens to him more fire.
quently than to us, and then, too,
he has no reasoning or control of
himself, so he bellows when he is
hungry. He Will do the same when
he feels thirst. and mothers should
realize this and be sure that their
infants receive sufficient boiled
tepid water during the day.
The baby's general strength is
very feeble, but he is able to grasp
q rod with amazing strength in his
hands. This is known as the re
f1ex grasp" and its power diminishes
at between the third and fifth
months of life.
The new infant can yawn, sneeZe,
cry, he can turn his head from side
to side, and will do so promptly If
he finds he cannot breathe easily.
He can kick his legs and wave his
arms about, but these are undirected
movements. There are many types
Of responses that infants show to
external stimuli, and even directly
after birth. No two babies are iden-
tical either in appearance or in
activity. Some infants will strenu-
ously oppose anything and every
thing and will push and kick mighti-
ly, while others will be comparatively
placid.
The baby's most serious business
is sleep, and he must have it to
gain strength for growth and to
restore the tremendous amount of
energy he uses when he is awake.