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Home › Articles › Newborn and Infant Months › Learning Curves

Learning Curves

Some Expected (and Unexpected) Things Parents Encounter During Baby's First Year

By Renee Roberson

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"Babies have no sphincter control, so their bowel movements are all reflex contractions of the colon and rectum, usually in response to the filling of the stomach," says Dr. Charles Shubin, director of pediatrics at Mercy FamilyCare in Baltimore, Md. "This is known as the gastro-colic reflex. We have it too, when we feel the urge to move our bowels after eating a big meal, but we can usually control the urge."

In terms of preparing for the inevitable explosive bowel movement, Dr. Charlotte Cowan, a pediatrician from Concord, Mass., warns parents to be prepared if you happen to be changing a diaper right after a feed when baby's tummy is the fullest.

Day or Night?

For other parents, the image of a peaceful, sleeping baby does not occur the way they imagined it. Have you ever heard the old saying that a baby has her "days and nights mixed up"? Many new moms and dads realize what that expression means in the weeks following the birth of their baby.

"Babies are born without the circadian rhythm (day-night cycle), which develops when the baby is exposed to light during the day and dark during the night," Dr. Shubin says. "When this happens is quite variable, but most babies have at least a partial day-night cycle by 3 to 4 months of age. I recommend trying not to feed babies past 4 months old during the night, using pacifiers, gentle massage and soothing music instead."

"It is perfectly fine during the day to extend the baby's waking time, gradually helping her to recognize that day is the time for interaction and night is the time for sleep," says Dr. Cowan, who is also founder of The Hippocratic Press, where she writes and publishes children's books about common childhood illnesses. But like Dr. Shubin, she advises parents to feed, change and put the baby back to bed as quickly as possible after the night wakings.


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