Hey there and welcome to Life Noggin.
Quite a lot happens in the first year of your life!
Unlike all my human friends, I was created from a few special pixels, but things are
a bit different for you!
So what really happens in the first year after you’re born?
To begin, let’s take a look at that sweet noggin of yours.
That’s right, you’re brain!
When you’re born, your brain has about all of the neurons that it will ever have.
It doubles in size in the first year, reaching about 80 percent of its adult volume by age
3.
The volume of your cerebellum increases substantially during year one, which appears to be related
to the quick development of your motor skills in this time.
Your power of recognition also dramatically shoots up, tied to significant growth occurring
in the hippocampus.
I wonder if you’d be able to remember even more as a baby if alligators went to your
temporal university?
No?
I guess we’re stuck with hippos in our mind campus then...
All joking aside your synapses are also formed at a faster rate in the first year or so of
you life than at any other time.
Your brain actually seems to create more synapses than it needs, eliminating some later on in
a process called /pruning/.
Furthermore, the language circuits in your front and temporal lobes are influenced strongly
by the language your infant ears hear.
By your first birthday, you can probably say your first couple of words!
But what about other parts of your little body?
From birth to about six months of age, babies typically grow about 1.5 to 2.5 centimeters
a month and gain about 5 to 7 ounces a week.
From six months to a year, a baby may grow around 1 centimeter a month and about 3 to
5 ounces a week.
It’s normal for babies to go through brief periods where they stop gaining weight, or
even lose a little, but babies typically triple their birth weight by the end of their first
year in this wonderful world.
And while that scale is likely reading triple the amount it once did, you might have already
taken your first few steps!
Babies typically start the walking process around year one.
You’ve also probably started to feed yourself.
Babies tend to master the “pincer grasp” at around this age, meaning you can hold small
objects with those cute, little hands of yours!
That's why your parents probably have pictures of you eating Cheerios or other O-shaped cereal
around this time.
I’d love any excuse to eat more cereal!
It also seems like love and nurturing care is very important to our development early
on in life.
With a recent study that looked at young brains, children whose mothers or caregivers nurtured
them early in their lives had brains with a larger hippocampus.
The children that were cared for and nurtured more were found to have hippocampal volumes
around 10 percent larger that children who were not as nurtured.
Not only can a caregiver’s nurturing be good for the development of a child, it might
also be physically changing their brains!
Awww, who's a good, smart baby!
So what do you think is the coolest thing that happens to you in the first year of your
life?
Let me know in the comments below, my friends!
Make sure you come back every Monday for a brand new video.
As always, I’m Blocko and this has been Life Noggin.
Don’t forget to keep on thinking!