The Science Of Babies Documentary Analysis

Introduction:
Newborn babies are remarkable beings with extraordinary abilities and skills. In its first year, a baby experiences a tremendous amount of change – initially being completely helpless – then developing its skills enough to walk, talk and interact with the world around it. The Science of Babies is a National Geographic documentary that explores the developmental process of a baby in its first year, and presents fascinating evidence of the intricacies of a growing human mind. Thus, herein, the details of that process and the documentary will be analyzed through a developmental psychology lens.
Summary:
The science of babies is a documentary on how a newborn baby transforms within the first year. It takes a scientific insight in how the baby develops and adapts to its environment. Babies are with born with many primitive instincts Many people believe babies are born with a blank slate and the world is a chaotic and confusing place but psychologists have found scientific proof babies know a lot more than we think.

Evaluation/Critique: Life is so fragile immediately after birth, two thirds of babies die within the first month and the death rate does not equal this again until the seventh decade of life.

As vulnerable as babies are to ensure survival babies are born with protective mechanisms that ensure survival within the first few days and hours. Babies are born with a special protective layer of brown fat tissue known as adipose tissue. It’s the same kind of fat that is found on a hibernating bear. The purpose of this fat tissue is to keep the new born baby warm and can give the new born enough nutrients to stay alive until the mother produces enough nutrients and calories for the baby. New born babies need a lot of calories and nutrients 80% of the caloric intake alone for the new born is just to nourish the brain, so eating and bonding with the mother because a matter of life and death

situation.
A baby enters its second day of life and has a set of relaxes that help keep it alive, a baby can intuitively hold its breath under water, this instinct shared by other mammals, birds and reptiles. As the baby submerges under water the heart rate decrease and the blood flow to the extremities constricts conserving oxygen for the brain and other vital organs. This is one of the primitive instincts babies must assure survival of a baby within the first weeks of living. A brush on the check causes a baby to turn its head and suck and touching the palm causes a tight grasp. This is a primitive instinct left over from when it was necessary to hold onto a mother’s ape like hair. Another primitive instinct faced is by babies is throwing their arms and feet out when startled and this may lead back to when falling out of a tree and trying to catch yourself. Babies are pre-programed to walk so a stepping is another primitive reflex. Even a baby who is only an hour old can make all the necessary motions of walking with support, but this instinct disappears after six weeks. When the child’s feet touch the floor they no longer step automatically, but when the child is put in water the stepping reflex returns. So, the reflex was never lost out of water even with support the muscles in the legs just aren’t strong enough to support the legs since they have grown heavy since after birth
The brain is very resilient to catastrophic events and if the even happens in childhood the likelihood for a full recovery or almost full recovery is highly likely. For example, Dylan Norword who was presented in the documentary stared experiencing seizures by the age of five months he started experiencing seizures and that kept up and he was experiencing almost fifty seizures a day. Dylan had experienced a rare stroke and before Dylan was four the right side of his brain was dead. The doctor recommended a procedure called a hemispherectomy. A hemispherctomy for Dylan would remove the entire right side of his brain so the living tissue on the left wouldn’t be affected by the damaged region. This type of surgery has a forty percent mortality rate. Dylan’s surgery has a complete success rate and made a complete recovery and it was effective immediately. Now Dylan at the age of fourteen is taking a full load classes. Dylan has only lost mobility of his left arm. Hemispherectamies performed on children later in life or adults don’t have as high of a success rate. Dylan is a prime example of a young brain and its ability to rewire itself and adapt to the world around it. Babies have this universal ability to understand a different dialect of many different languages. But after a few months’ babies lose this ability because the prominent language they are subjected too takes over. Babies also have can’t differentiate between human faces and non-human faces such as animals. But they can differentiate between facial expressions and familiar faces are scrambled up and this is crucial for survival. Babies need to be around other people because social deprivation in young children can be detrimental to their future not only psychologically but physical as well. Infants go through a series of stages that help them adapt and function properly as they get older.