She was facing backward, on the shoulder of her proud grandmother, looking at me from the pew ahead of me in church this morning. She was between 1-month and 4-months old.
POP QUIZ: How do I know her age?
#1 - She smiled at some things that happened during church, like when certain songs started.
#2 - She did NOT smile in response to my smiling at her.
"Reflex Smiling" begins at about 1-month of age. Smiling and laughing at something an infant finds pleasing or funny is an automatic, universal reflex (even in blind people who have never seen a smile). It often occurs first while the infant is sleeping.
"Social Smiling" begins at about 4-months of age. It is the conditioned response of smiling in response to someone smiling at you. They now recognize a smile and smile back.
She was also dreaming during the last song this morning. How do I know? She was asleep in the arms of her grams (who did not stand for the song) and her eyes were moving rapidly behind her eyelips. In other words, she was in REM (Rapid Eye Movement) sleep, in which we dream.
Infants sitting in front of me in church easily keep me entertained but, yes, I did listen to the sermon this morning. It was on, um; it was on, uh; it was on...
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That is so cool i didnt know all of that ... like you can tell how old a baby is just based on some of their reactions to someone or something. And it sounds like you need to do a little bit more listening while your in church next sunday. just kidding :)
ReplyDeleteSkye Norwood
12:10 MWF
Gen Psych
It is very interseting that one can learn the age of an infant from thier actions. Its ironic that one can do thier studies in church, watching kids grow up of and how they change and react to knew situations.
ReplyDeleteLee Stewart
12:10 MWF
Gen Pysch Warner