All things baby and science-y

Hi everyone! I'm starting to get back into the swing of things after the birth of our daughter, which means I'm hopefully going to be able to start blogging again! Over the last 3 months, my brain has been all-consumed with all things baby-related, so I thought I'd start off with the list of baby-related science thoughts.

1. Cradle cap: Our daughter had a pretty severe case of it. For those of you unfamiliar with it, this is a skin condition characterized by thick, scaly flakes on the scalp, forehead and eyebrows. Some babies get it, some do not. But we really don't know what causes it. It seems to have something to do with the same reason why many adults get dandruff. Who knew - apparently it's not just a case of dry skin!

2. Hearing tests: Newborns are given hearing tests these days before they even leave the hospital. It's pretty neat how it's done, too, considering that a newborn can't tell you whether she's heard a noise or not. Sensors are attached to their foreheads, and then a tone is played in their ears. If they hear it, the sensors detect the neuronal signals passing through their brains, and output a signal to the detection machine. From a parenting standpoint, it was a relief to know that our daughter's hearing was normal. From a science standpoint, the process was really neat.

3. Colic: We were extremely fortunate to have a non-colicky baby. Many parents are not so fortunate. Despite it's prevalence, however, colic is poorly understood. Some believe that many cases of colic are actually undiagnosed cases of acid reflux (otherwise known as heartburn). But what about those colicky babies who do not have reflux? No one really knows why they have such a fussy time during their first 3 months of life.

4. Speaking of reflux: Did you know that the sphincter that closes the stomach off from the esophagus actually weakens from birth until about 4 months of age? Only after that does it begin to get stronger. That's what babies do most of their spitting-up between the ages of 2 and 4 months.

5. Baby fingernails: These are really amazing. Baby fingernails are so soft and pliable - and yet incredibly sharp! If you don't keep them trimmed, a baby can give herself or you some strong scratches. I wonder when they start to become harder, like adult fingernails?

6. Baby blue eyes: Like many Caucasian babies, our daughter has started life with blue eyes. We strongly suspect that they will change color as she ages - many babies develop their adult eye color at around 6 months. But here's a question - why would a baby's eye color change from blue to something else? Why aren't they born with their final eye color?

7. SIDS: That dreaded fear of all parents - sudden infant death syndrome. A small percentage of babies suddenly stop breathing while sleeping, and thus they die. It's been known about for centuries, and the reasons for it are still a mystery. Here's some good news, however. The risk of a baby dying of SIDS has been drastically reduced in recent years due to current recommendations that babies sleep on their backs. While we may not know why this reduces the risk of SIDS so much, I'm grateful for it!

These are just a few of the science type thoughts I've had in the last few months related to parenthood. I'm sure I'll come up with many others, and I strongly suspect that my posts for a while will all relate to baby topics. Hopefully you'll all find this as interesting as I do these days!