Babies are weird! From their uncanny ability to heal, to their chaotic sleep, discover all the strange phenomenons of babyhood right here.
Latest Posts
- Episode 11: Is My Baby Right or Left Handed… and when will I know?
It might not seem like the biggest deal in the world, but your child’s dominant hand will help to shape how they experience the world. As soon as your little one has discovered they have hands, they’re going to start experimenting with which one is their favourite. And watchful parents are looking out to see… Read more: Episode 11: Is My Baby Right or Left Handed… and when will I know? - How Breastfeeding Can Protect Against Breast Cancer
When it comes to feeding your baby, breastfeeding is often promoted as the best way to do it, if you can. It’s not always easy, and for many parents, it’s not even possible. There are several short term health benefits for baby, but many oft-repeated long-term advantages, like making baby smarter, and reducing the risk… Read more: How Breastfeeding Can Protect Against Breast Cancer - Episode 9: How Your Baby Heals So Quickly…Without Scars!
As babies and toddlers learn to move around and experience the world, they’re soon going to be accumulating injuries, whether from their own fingernails or from the inevitable bumps and scrapes of toddlerdom. But no sooner do those injuries appear, than they heal, uncannily quickly, and rarely leaving behind any scars at all. We dive… Read more: Episode 9: How Your Baby Heals So Quickly…Without Scars! - Episode 8: When Should You Wean our Baby?
When your baby is a few months old, it’s time to start facing down the next big milestone in your parenting journey: weaning them onto solid foods. But while the official guidance is clear, the advice you get from different people can vary. So when should you start the process? Right now, Kim is just about to… Read more: Episode 8: When Should You Wean our Baby? - Episode 7: Postpartum Hair Loss – Is It All In Your Head?!
Around three months after giving birth, many women are alarmed to find their hair starting to fall out. It’s a kick in the teeth – just as beginning to feel more like yourself, you’re hit with yet another wild and unexpected bodily change. Although this is a pretty ubiquitous anacdote shared among new mothers, the… Read more: Episode 7: Postpartum Hair Loss – Is It All In Your Head?! - Baby Spit Up: What’s Normal, What’s Not, and How to Handle It
If you’ve spent any time around babies, chances are you’ve been on the receiving end of a milky surprise. Spit ups, posseting, or reflux… whatever you call it, it’s a messy but totally normal part of life with a baby. In fact, studies suggest that around half of all babies spit up regularly in their… Read more: Baby Spit Up: What’s Normal, What’s Not, and How to Handle It - Episode 6: We Need To Talk About Pregnancy Loss
On average, one in every four pregnancies ends in loss, and yet miscarriage, stillbirth, and pregnancy loss are still taboo subjects in many cultures. As a result, women who go through it experience shame, guilt, and loneliness which is entirely a product of attitude, and not science. This Baby Loss awareness week, Kim and Leila… Read more: Episode 6: We Need To Talk About Pregnancy Loss - Episode 5: Breastmilk vs Formula – Is Breast Really Best?
Mothers these days might be told that ‘breast is best’ when it comes to feeding their baby. But why is that the case, when infant formula has been an option for decades? What does that mean for mothers that struggle with their breastfeeding journey, and how does it affect a child in the short and… Read more: Episode 5: Breastmilk vs Formula – Is Breast Really Best? - Does Paracetamol During Pregnancy Cause Autism? Science Baby’s Reality Check
Last week, a certain loudmouth in America told pregnant people to stop taking paracetamol (or “acetaminophen” or “Tylenol,” pick your flavour, they’re all the same thing), claiming it might cause autism in their kids. That advice set off alarm bells everywhere. Expectant mothers have long been told that paracetamol is one of the safest over-the-counter… Read more: Does Paracetamol During Pregnancy Cause Autism? Science Baby’s Reality Check - UK Plug Sockets Are Already Baby-Safe… Here’s Why Covers Can Be Risky
When you’re baby-proofing your home, it feels like there’s danger lurking in every corner. Hot pans, sharp edges, cleaning sprays… and those mysterious little holes in the wall where the electricity lives. It’s no wonder so many parents rush to buy socket covers. They seem like an easy win: pop in some plastic, and your… Read more: UK Plug Sockets Are Already Baby-Safe… Here’s Why Covers Can Be Risky - Drinking Alcohol While Breastfeeding: What Parents Really Need to Know
As a new parent, it’s easy to feel like every choice you make is under the microscope. Even something as simple as enjoying a glass of wine with dinner can spiral into questions: Is this safe? Will it affect my baby? Should I pump and dump? So, is it safe to drink alcohol while breastfeeding?The… Read more: Drinking Alcohol While Breastfeeding: What Parents Really Need to Know - Episode 3: Babies Have To Learn To Poop
When you become a parent, you would not believe how much time you spend thinking about, talking about, worrying about and yes, even photographing poo. It’s a unique window into your baby’s inner health, and we can learn a lot about their development from what we find in their nappies and potties. In this episode,… Read more: Episode 3: Babies Have To Learn To Poop - Episode 2: Baby Sleep vs Adult SleepSleep is probably the biggest hurdles you are going to face as a new parent, because there’s a fundamental difference between how babies sleep and how adults sleep. It’s a source of stress and can lead to some tragic outcomes. In this episode, Kim and Leila discuss the conflict between our sleep expectations. What to… Read more: Episode 2: Baby Sleep vs Adult Sleep
- When Do Babies’ Eyes Change Colour? The Science Behind Those Shifting Shades
When I look into my baby’s eyes, I can’t help but marvel at them. My husband swears they’re blue, while I’d call them more of a slate grey. But the truth is, whatever colour they look right now probably isn’t their final shade. Like many newborns with lighter skin, he was born with eyes that… Read more: When Do Babies’ Eyes Change Colour? The Science Behind Those Shifting Shades - Parenting, Risk, and the Myth of the Perfect Parent
Parenting today often feels like walking through a minefield of opinions. Whether it’s about how we feed our babies, whether we use car seat mirrors, or even whether a mum can enjoy a glass of wine while breastfeeding, there seems to be no shortage of strong voices ready to weigh in. If you’ve ever scrolled… Read more: Parenting, Risk, and the Myth of the Perfect Parent - Why Babies Don’t Cry Real Tears (At First)
If there’s one thing newborn babies are good at, it’s crying. Loud, insistent, impossible-to-ignore crying. But if you’ve ever held a newborn, you might have noticed something strange: those first wails come with sound, but not with visible tears. When Science Baby cried real tears for the first time, at about a month old, it… Read more: Why Babies Don’t Cry Real Tears (At First) - Moms Carry a Little Bit of Their Babies, Forever
Did you know that if you’ve ever been pregnant, you’re not just you anymore? You’re a blend of yourself and every baby you’ve ever carried. Scientists call this phenomenon fetal microchimerism, and it means that long after pregnancy, tiny traces of your baby remain inside you. What Is Fetal Microchimerism? During pregnancy, nutrients, oxygen, and… Read more: Moms Carry a Little Bit of Their Babies, Forever - Witch’s Milk: When Your Baby Starts Making Milk Themselves
When you bring a newborn home, you expect the tiny cries, the soft snuffles, and maybe the occasional projectile poo. But what if your baby starts… producing milk? No, you didn’t misread that. Some newborns, both boys and girls, can lactate. It’s just as weird, wonderful, and unsettling as it sounds. This phenomenon is called… Read more: Witch’s Milk: When Your Baby Starts Making Milk Themselves - How to Teach Your Toddler to Count in 3 Easy Steps
If your toddler is starting to talk, some of the first words in their repertoire are likely to be the numbers. I for one was especially proud when science baby learned all his numbers from 1 to 10. He could finish off a sequence, and even say them backwards (countdown to blast-off, anyone?!). But it… Read more: How to Teach Your Toddler to Count in 3 Easy Steps - When Will You Know If Your Baby Is Right- or Left-Handed?
Whether your baby is right or left handed is going to affect how they do pretty much everything, for the rest of their lives. But when does that hand preference get decided, and how soon can you tell?
The Science Baby 