Health Library
The Health Library is a collection of health and wellness resources created for learning and accessibility. Select a topic below for related health information or search for a topic in the search bar for more information on other medical conditions.
Growth and Development, Newborn
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What kinds of development occur in your baby's first month? Babies are called newborns during their first month of life. Although your newborn sleeps a lot, powerful changes are occurring in the five major areas of development. Physical development. Watching your baby grow in size is part of the fun...
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In the first month, your doctor will pay close attention to your baby's increasing weight, length, and head circumference, which is measured around the largest point of the head, usually starting at a point on the forehead. The average birth weight for babies is around 7.5 lb (3.5 kg), although between 5.5 lb...
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Newborn senses Your newborn is equipped with all five senses, although some are more developed than others. Touch. Your newborn's sense of touch is highly developed, particularly around the mouth, where he or she is sensitive to temperature, pressure, and pain. Newborns like gentle handling and to...
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Your newborn immediately starts to communicate with you. Newborns need and, in their own way, ask for social interaction with others. They communicate by moving their arms and legs and directing their gaze toward a familiar voice. Their eyes and face brighten as they track parents' movements and scan their faces. When...
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Cognition is the ability to think, learn, and remember. Your baby is born with 100 billion brain cells ( neurons). To function at their full potential, these cells must form connections (synapses) with each other. These connections carry messages between the cells in the brain and from the brain to the body. During a...
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Your newborn immediately starts to communicate with you. Newborns need and, in their own way, ask for social interaction with others. They communicate by moving their arms and legs and directing their gaze toward a familiar voice. Their eyes and face brighten as they track parents' movements and scan their faces. When...
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Newborns and toddlers Speech and language lessons start in the uterus, where your unborn baby hears and responds to familiar voices. After birth, your newborn learns language by listening to the basic and distinct sounds (phonemes), such as the "tr" and "cl" sounds in the English language. Reading to your newborn...
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Speech and language lessons start in the uterus, where your developing baby hears and responds to familiar voices. Indeed, soon after birth, your baby prefers and responds more to the mother's voice than to any other. Also, your newborn can recognize whether sounds are part of his or her native language. Your newborn...
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Babies grow rapidly during the first year of life. Weight, length, and head circumference measurements are plotted on growth charts to monitor your baby's growth over time. Most babies: Grow about 3 in. (7.5 cm) to 4.5 in. (11 cm) in length by 4 months of age. Although growth may slow slightly between 4...