Babies

A baby cannot taste salt until it is 4 months old. The delay may be related to the development of kidneys, which start to process sodium at about that age.l In medieval Europe, leeches were commonly used to treat babies’ illnesses. For example, leeches were placed on a baby’s windpipe for croup. Additionally, teething babies were commonly purged or bled.l In China, a baby is born with a birth defect every 30 minutes. Birth defects in that country have increased nearly 40% since 2001.h The protein that keeps a baby’s skull from fusing is called “noggin.”k A baby’s eyes are 75% of their adult size, but its vision is around 20/400. By six months, a baby’s vision should reach 20/20.j Newborns are more likely to turn their heads to the right than to the left Newborns are more likely to turn their head to the right than to the left.j The inner ear is the only sense organ to develop fully before birth. It reaches its adult size by the middle of pregnancy.e Within a few days of birth, a baby can distinguish between the touch of bristles that are of different diameters.e A baby has around 10,000 taste buds, far more than adults. They are not just on the tongue but also on the sides, back, and roof of the mouth. Eventually these extra taste buds disappear.e Adults have 206 bones. When babies are born, they have 300. Their bones fuse as they grow, resulting in fewer bones as adults.k