Just think how confusing the world must be to be a newborn baby!  William James (pyschologist and physician) talked about the "blooming, buzzing confusion that confronts the newborn."  How do babies learn to sort it all out?  A 2012 Study (Kidd et al) describe what they call "the Goldilocks Effect" when studying how infants pay attention to what they see (visual attention).  They found that infants avoid spending time looking at things that are too simple (highly predictable) or too complex (highly unexpected).  Infants pay attention to things that are "just right" - just complex enough to be interesting, but not so complex that they can't be understood.  What does this mean?  Babies need to see new things - make the world colorful.  Babies like to watch faces - and they like to watch you make interesting faces.  But babies don't need lots of visual stimulation that doesn't make sense.

Gene's Research Tip!
A new study from the journal Science Translational Medicine looked at the microbiome bacteria of placentas, after birth.  The idea was to see who baby TSK was sharing time with, at least very soon before birth.  Now, in the past, we had noted there seemed to be a difference in the microbiome of infants born by C-section vs vaginal delivery, and so assumed this was related to the mother's birth canal bugs.  But this study of about 300 placentas showed that the placentas' bacteria load was most similar to... are you ready?...the mothers' mouth bacteria.  Bet you didn't see that one coming! The researchers didn't, either.  So, if the mom had more bacteria in her mouth that cause cavities, so did her placenta.  Read More

Written by Kathy Ellerbeck, MD, MPH, FAAP

During breakfast in the mornings before preschool I admit that we used to let our youngest watch cartoons on TV. Until we figured out that she couldn't watch TV and chew at the same time! 

 

There is good evidence that "multitasking" is over-rated...most of us don't multitask very well! And mealtimes should be about eating and talking...not eating in front of the TV. I think we all know that. But now there is the cell phone in my pocket. At all times. And there's (always) work to be done that I could be doing while eating. Or playing. My cell phone is addictive, a constant temptation...and I think that that's true for lots of parents.

 

In March of this year there was an article published in Pediatrics about the mobile device use of 55 caregivers of young children eating in a fast food restaurant. The study was observational, and the caregivers didn't know that they were being observed. The researchers chose to observe caregivers and children during meals because mealtime is a daily routine in which face-to-face caregiver-child interactions are considered to be a good thing.  Read More