'Cereal At Night' And Other Baby Misconceptions

  

Few things inspire more curiosity and confusion than a new baby. Between trying to figure out why he's crying to what she'll eat to how he'll get along with the family pet, there are a lot of things about new babies that remain to be seen. It can be very overwhelming! In an effort to help ease the pressure, I've found several misconceptions about babies that I'd like to clear up. Hopefully this will help you figure things out, or at least give you a laugh.

1. Babies are always born with blue eyes. This myth probably came about because many babies' eyes haven't begun to produce melanin (coloring agent) yet, making them appear blue. However, this is not true for all babies. Some babies are dark-eyed from birth. A related myth says that, if a baby's eyes are going to change color, it takes six months for this to happen. This is also not true; there isn't really any 'set' timeframe for melanin production.
2. Babies don't have kneecaps. There actually is a bit of truth to this one. Babies are born with what look and function like kneecaps, but they are not made of bone. They are actually cartilage, but will turn to bone as the baby grows.
3. Babies have the same type of bones as an adult does. Babies are born with over 300 'bones' in their bodies, but most of them are still cartilage that hasn't fused and turned into bone yet.
4. Babies are colorblind. From two weeks of age, most babies are able to see colors. Bright, primary colors are easier for them to focus on, but they can see color.
5. Sleep gets better after three months. While it might seem that a baby sleeps better as it gets older, there isn't any real 'timeframe'. However old a baby is, environment and being on a regular 'sleep schedule' has the biggest impact on how she sleeps.
6. Every little sound will wake a newborn up. Some babies are very light sleepers and wake up a lot anyway, but it isn't necessarily because of the sound around them. If fact, newborns don't hear well at all because there is still a lot of fluid in the middle ear that will drain as time goes on. Until it does, a baby's hearing is nowhere near as good as some people think it is.
7. Feeding your baby cereal around bedtime will help her sleep through the night. While babies may wake up during the night because they are hungry, feeding them cereal won't help. In fact, it's not recommended before about six months of age because younger babies may not be ready for solid foods!

And finally, for the silliest myth of all:

Your cat will steal your baby's breath as he sleeps. While there are plenty of other reasons not to let your pet into your baby's bed, cats can't suffocate or 'steal' baby's breath. First of all, they have no way of creating the airtight seal around the baby's nose and mouth that is necessary to prevent it from breathing. Cats may have willful and creative brains, but not that much. Furthermore, why would they want to? Many of them don't even like babies. :)

I hope I've given you an idea about which things you hear about babies are true and which are not. I have no idea where the one about cats came from, but it's been around for a while. It just goes to show, just because a story is old doesn't mean it's true!