Buzz
It's no secret that babies are messy. It’s part of the package. Parents often find themselves shocked by just how much their lives transform once their little ones arrive. Diaper changes stop being a surprise, the smell of baby spit-up becomes ever-present, and picking up food from the floor becomes routine. This is the reality of raising a tiny human with its own curiosity and mischief.
But diapers and spit-up are only the start of the revolting truth when it comes to babies. These adorable little creatures harbor some disturbing secrets that could make your stomach churn and make you reconsider your future parenting plans. Babies may not be aware of cleanliness being close to divinity, but that doesn’t stop them from embracing their own chaos.
10. Babies Have Two Sets of Teeth
We’ve all experienced baby teeth, lost them, got a visit from the tooth fairy, and eventually grew our permanent adult teeth. It’s just a normal part of growing up, right? Well, there’s one tiny little flaw in that usual story.
When our adult teeth appear, we aren’t exactly growing them from scratch. In fact, we already have all our baby teeth formed before we’re born. After birth, adult teeth begin to develop behind the baby ones and remain tucked away in pockets inside the jaw until we start shedding our baby teeth.
This is when we become eligible for a visit from the tooth fairy, and we end up with significantly fewer teeth than a newborn. The next time you see a baby’s adorable, gummy grin, remember that it's hiding a whole set of secret teeth waiting to emerge.
9. Babies Have More Bones Than Adults
Speaking of things that babies have more of than adults, they begin life with around 300 bones. In comparison, adults only have 206. Babies are born with a lot of cartilage and separate bone plates, which eventually fuse to form their adult skeletons.
There’s a good reason for this flexibility. Baby bodies need to be able to adjust to pass through the birth canal. The largest part of a baby’s body, the head, consists of multiple bone plates that can shift during delivery.
This flexibility is essential and helpful during birth. However, it also means that babies have a few soft spots, or fontanels, on their heads where the bone plates don’t quite connect.
While this same flexibility allows babies to enter the world, it can lead to some issues once they’re out. If a baby spends too much time lying on the soft spot at the back of their head, it can cause the head to flatten like a deflated soufflé.
If left unaddressed for too long, the flattened back of the baby’s head can cause it to shift into a teardrop shape. Treatment options for a baby’s conehead can range from encouraging tummy time to the use of a specially designed helmet.
8. Babies Have Enormous Eyes
There’s something truly enchanting about how babies look up at you with their wide, expressive eyes. They radiate trust and curiosity, sparking a deep instinct to protect the fragile little ones. At the very least, it makes us want to coo and dote on them.
And that’s probably a good thing. Because when you pause to think about it, those eyes can start to seem a little strange. It’s hard to put your finger on it right away, as babies can be quite distracting. But if you focus, you might notice that their eyes seem just a bit too large.
That’s because they really are fairly large. A newborn’s eyes are already about 70 percent of their adult size. That sweet little baby, who fits perfectly in your arms, has eyes nearly as big as yours.
Keep in mind, babies also have two full sets of teeth hidden in their mouths. Between their eyes and teeth, there’s a lot packed into that tiny head. No wonder a baby’s head is roughly 25 percent of their total body length.
7. Babies Begin To Taste And Smell Before They’re Born
It’s common knowledge that babies put just about anything they can grab into their tiny mouths. Keys, fingers, toys—you name it, it ends up there. This is one of the primary ways they explore the world around them. However, what many don’t realize is that babies begin tasting and smelling long before they’re born.
You might be wondering how a baby manages to smell or taste anything while still in the womb. That’s a fair question! The answer is that they sample whatever ends up in the amniotic fluid surrounding them. Flavors from foods like vanilla, carrot, anise, mint, and even garlic seep into the fluid. Some studies even suggest that babies develop a preference for these familiar flavors once they are born.
Pretty interesting, right? The amniotic fluid might not be the most appetizing, but it’s certainly an intriguing feature.
There’s one more surprising fact about babies’ taste buds, though. They don’t just have them on their tongues. Newborns may have taste buds scattered all around their mouths, down the back of their throats, and even extending all the way to their tonsils.
6. Babies Arrive Covered in a Thick, White Coating
While growing inside the womb, babies are constantly kept moisturized. However, the amniotic fluid is highly acidic, which isn’t ideal for a baby’s delicate skin. Something needs to shield the fetus’s skin from the acidity and ensure it remains soft as a newborn’s bottom.
Enter vernix, a substance often described as waxy, cheesy, creamy, and milky. Babies are born with a thick, white coating of vernix. Not only does this protect the skin, but it also muffles sound, provides insulation, and serves as a lubricant during birth. It’s a natural and healthy part of development, though it does make babies look like they’ve been dipped in a tub of cottage cheese.
It’s nearly impossible to remove all the vernix from a newborn. In fact, if you do manage to clean it all off, you might actually miss it. Vernix helps keep a baby’s skin moisturized and protected.
Once the vernix is gone, a baby’s skin begins to dry out. After months of being kept hydrated, the skin becomes flaky and starts to peel. Between one and three weeks, they typically shed their entire first layer of skin. We might need to rethink the whole “soft as a baby’s bottom” saying.
5. Babies Can Menstruate
While in the womb, babies absorb everything they can from their mother’s body, including hormones like estrogen. Since babies don’t need to produce these hormones themselves, their estrogen levels plummet to zero shortly after birth.
Estrogen causes the uterine lining to form, and when estrogen levels drop dramatically, that lining sheds. So, when a baby has a uterus, that’s exactly what happens.
Imagine the shock and confusion new parents experience when they discover blood in their newborn’s diaper. Panicked, they rush their baby to the hospital, only to be told that their infant is simply menstruating at two days old—and that it’s completely normal. It’s a lot to handle, even without the frantic trip to the emergency room beforehand.
4. Babies Are Born Covered in Hair
Expectant parents all have their own image of their baby, but few imagine their newborn resembling a wolf-man. However, some babies are indeed born covered in hair all over their bodies. This hair, known as lanugo, helps keep the baby warm inside the womb. It also helps hold the vernix in place.
Not every baby is born with a full coat of hair. More often than not, these tiny ‘wolf men’ will shed the hair soon after birth. The hair is shed into the amniotic fluid, which is then absorbed along with everything else in the womb.
3. Science Suggests You Should Probably Poop During Birth
When giving birth, most women fear the idea of pooping more than anything else. There are countless articles and forums offering tips on how to avoid the dreaded delivery room poop. However, research indicates that pooping during labor may actually benefit the baby.
The muscles in the pelvic area are tightly packed together. The pelvis isn't very large when you consider all the functions it needs to support. Experts say the muscles involved in bodily functions like urination are also the same ones used for pushing during labor. As unusual as it is in any other scenario, if there’s poop involved, it’s a sign that things are likely going smoothly.
In addition to proper birthing techniques, studies suggest that being covered in poop during delivery might actually help kick-start the infant's microbiome. This microbiome, which consists of beneficial bacteria that live on and in the human body, plays an essential role in digestion and immune system development. Unlike adults, newborns essentially have no microbiome, so the bacteria from the gut in poop helps provide a starter kit for their microbiome.
For the microbiome to develop, some of the poop must enter the baby’s gut, which typically happens through the mouth. The fact that babies can taste and smell right at birth almost seems like an evolutionary joke rather than a useful trait at this point.
2. Babies Can Sometimes Poop While Still In the Womb
A newborn's first poop, known as meconium, usually happens just after birth. However, some babies are quicker to the draw, passing it in the womb or during the birth process. But where does meconium come from, given that babies don’t eat before birth?
Meconium is primarily composed of amniotic fluid and whatever the baby has shed into it. This includes mucus, bile, and lanugo. The thick body hair that babies shed before birth is either swallowed or absorbed back into the body, ultimately forming the majority of the meconium.
When meconium is passed in the womb or during the birth process, it can be quite alarming for everyone. However, it’s most concerning for the baby. Babies born after passing meconium may have it in their noses or mouths. Nurses need to clear the meconium from the baby’s airways before the infant can breathe properly.
1. Babies Pee In The Womb And Then Drink It
As we know, whatever is present in the amniotic fluid gets absorbed by the baby. While we often think of amniotic fluid as a nutrient-rich cushion, it can contain other substances as well. Around the 10th week of gestation, one of those substances becomes pee. This is when the baby’s bladder develops enough to start passing liquid.
Being surrounded by your own urine would be uncomfortable for anyone, but babies take it a step further. About five weeks later, the fetus gains the ability to swallow. Every day, they swallow several ounces of amniotic fluid, including the urine. And as we mentioned earlier, babies can taste things while in the womb.
