© 2009 – 2022 Gwen Dewar, Ph.D., all rights reserved #author-byline-block_6233932cbf7d3 .author-byline-text{ font-size: 16px; color: rgb(34, 34, 34); } Could prenatal learning prompt babies to develop a liking for carrots? Or junk food? Or the flavor of alcohol? Experimental studies suggest that it’s possible. Flavors in a mother’s diet can...
© 2021 Gwen Dewar, Ph.D., all rights reserved Music in the womb? It’s become an almost cartoonish cliché of modern pregnancy — a pregnant mother-to-be playing tunes for her unborn baby. But is this really a thing? Do fetuses actually respond to music? Will they remember any of it later?...
© 2021 Gwen Dewar, Ph.D., all rights reserved A mother’s voice has special power. It can provide comfort — and improve outcomes — for babies hospitalized in the NICU. It can shape the way infants process language in the brain. And it can help children cope with pain and stress....
© 2021 Gwen Dewar, Ph.D., all rights reserved Yes, newborns spend most of their time sleeping and eating. But babies are more than mere survival machines. At birth, they are primed and ready for social input, and our loving care has profound effects on their development. Decades ago, people underestimated...
© 2021 Gwen Dewar, Ph.D., all rights reserved What is colic? The quick facts are these: “Infantile colic” is the term that doctors use for excessive crying and fussing that has no obvious cause. To make a diagnosis, many use the “rule of three,” which identifies a baby as colicky if he or she...
© 2009 – 2021 Gwen Dewar, Ph.D., all rights reserved What are the effects of television on language learning? Studies report a link between TV and language development in young children. The more time kids spend watching television, the more slowly they learn to talk. What’s going on? Some people...
© 2017 – 2021 Gwen Dewar, Ph.D., all rights reserved The infant feeding schedule reconsidered In the past, Western “baby experts” often instructed parents to feed their babies at regularly-spaced intervals of 3- or 4-hours. Today, official medical recommendations have shifted in favor of letting babies decide. Why the change? There...
© 2021 Gwen Dewar, Ph.D., all rights reserved Does the composition of breast milk change over the course of the 24-hour day? Yes. The “drowsy” hormone, melatonin, reaches peak concentrations in breast milk at night. Cortisol — a stress hormone that promotes alertness — is typically at its highest in the morning....
© 2021 Gwen Dewar, Ph.D., all rights reserved Studies suggest that most babies begin to “sleep through the night” (at least 5-6 hours without parental intervention) by 3-6 months of age. But some infants take longer, and the road to progress can be bumpy. Even after babies experience their first,...
© 2021 Gwen Dewar, all rights reserved In Western countries like the United States, many children begin toilet training sometime between 24 and 36 months. But from an historical and cross-cultural standpoint, this timing is very late, and it comes with a downside. So what’s the right potty training age?...
