Twins Blog: Newborn Development
December 07, 2010, By Josh Katzowitz 0 comments
After weeks of research, I have discovered the answer to the question of “Where does the term wide-eyed innocence come from?” Obviously, I know now, it comes from my daughter, Stella. I’ll be changing her diaper or burping her on my shoulder or brushing her hair, and suddenly, her eyes – like a Cabbage Patch Kid that has just come to life – open from eyebrow to cheekbone.
She looks at me with those blue eyes, and I melt.
This is a rather new talent. At the age of 2 ½ months, she began to focus more clearly on life around her. She’d look at me for extended periods of time. She’d gaze at my wife. She’d look at the giraffe and elephant on the mobile that twirls above her bassinet.
She’s begun to notice her twin brother, Noah, as well.
I think.
According to the Children Vision Information’s Network, newborn babies should have the skill set to momentarily hold their gazes on an object, and by 8-12 weeks, should start to follow objects and people with their eyes. My twins are nearly 10 weeks old, but only lately are they beginning to break through those newborn marks.
This is where it gets confusing for the parents of N.I.C.U. children. You’re not supposed to begin counting their developmental stages – if you choose to pay attention to those markers at all – by their birth days. Instead, you go by their adjusted age. In other words, you count it according to their due date. My kids were born Feb. 19. Their due date was May 11. Thus, on June 11, they will be considered one month old – not nearly four months old.
In that case, my children are well ahead of the curve, considering they’re not supposed to have been born yet. At the same time, they’re approaching three months, and they would be behind if you count it the “normal” way (though they’re beginning to reach for objects, which is more like a skill for three to four-month olds).
So, when do they catch up? According to the March of Dimes website, they should have “normal development” within two to three years. We have friends though, who had premature twins whose babies caught up less than a year to the growth chart.
Who knows? Six months? A year? Two years?
But more importantly, does it matter? I’m not sure.
In a Slate.com article, writer Nicholas Day argues that developmental milestones are meaningless. This is Day’s nut graph: “(W)hen parents today worry about their child not meeting developmental norms, especially for motor skills, they’re too often worrying needlessly. The typical child, it turns out, is a myth. But someone forgot to tell the parents.”
After extensive research, Arnold Gesell – a psychologist, pediatrician and developmental scientist at Yale – pioneered the theory of normal development. Of course, that was nearly 100 years ago. As Day argues, perhaps it’s time to let go of those standards that weren’t meant to be rigid but slowly, throughout the decades, have been cemented that way.
It’s because some of Gesell’s theories have been proved incorrect while more contemporary scientists have determined that a baby’s development can be based on culture as much as anything. The developmental norms in those countries also can be completely different than our expectations in the U.S.
As Day writes, “All this reflects how infants actually develop: Babies take different routes to the same destination. There’s no right way to learn to walk, for example, and there’s scarcely even a right time: The accurate range for when babies should start extends from eight months to almost 20 months – an amazingly, almost meaninglessly broad stretch of time.”
I understand all this. Yet, it’d be nice for our babies to show something more like three-month development. Yes, I realize it’s vastly unfair to expect something like that, but that’s how I feel. It shouldn’t matter, but for some reason, it does.
I do know this. The other day I was feeding Stella, and suddenly, a very hungry Noah began to wail. She’d swallow, and he’d cry louder. He should have been out of sight, out of mind for my daughter, but he wasn’t.
She’s a good feeder, but when the wails grew Zeppelin-esque in their decibel level, she looked to his bassinet, stopped feeding and began to make what I imagine were sympathy noises. She was concerned for her brother – at least it seemed that way to me – and she wouldn’t take another dollop of milk before he was placated.
I calmed him down, and when I returned to her side, she finished her bottle, looking at me with her big blues the entire time.
Developmentally, I don’t know whether she knows much of anything that goes on around her. But I think she does. And I think she’s beginning to love her brother.
She’s got to be ahead of the learning curve on that one.
Josh Katzowitz lives in Atlanta and covers the NFL for CBSSports.com. He is a featured contributor to ManoftheHouse.com and author of the book, Bearcats Rising. He's currently working on a book about pro football that is scheduled to be released in 2012.
