Okay, serious question about babies and cuteness?

Question

My previous question brought to mind something I once read in an article- I believe it was a TIME magazine article about human relationships and communication, body language, and things of that nature.

Wait; I just found the article:

"...Babies do this much the way adults do: by flirting. Within a couple of months, infants may move and coo, bob and blink in concert with anyone who's paying attention to them. Smiling is a critical and cleverly timed part of this phase. Babies usually manage a first smile by six weeks old, which, coincidentally or not, is about the time the novelty of a newborn has worn off and sleep-deprived parents are craving some peace. A smile can be a powerful way to win them back..."

I'm not going to type the whole thing, but it tells how being cute is a survival instinct during infancy, helping in everything to needing to be held, to keeping us from harming them.

Does anyone find that to ring true, any part of that? I know right around the time I was starting to ask myself "What have I gotten myself into by having this baby?", my baby started making those first coos and won my heart, became irresistible in every possible sense.

Your thoughts?

Answer 1

i agree totally~!!!! my daughter started smiling around 5 weeks, before then i felt like i was going crazy and wondered "oh my god, why did i do this!!" but now she is almost 7 weeks and those feelings have gone away completely!! Now it was definitely all worth it!!

Answer 2

'I'm not going to type the whole thing, but it tells how being cute is a survival instinct during infancy, helping in everything to needing to be held, to keeping us from harming them.'

LOL. I just choked on my candy when I read that about 'keeping us from harming them.'

That was the funniest thing I've seen on here in awhile, THANK YOU! I needed that =]

Anyway, yes, I totally agree that IS why babies are so cute! Because honestly, if my husband thrashed my house and flung his food all over my kitchen the way my son does, he'd be sleeping outside! =]

.. my 13 month old son however, usually gets a huge smile from Mommy as he's throwing his pieces of banana clear accross my kitchen =]

Answer 3

That is very interesting. I understand what they are saying, like if your baby is just sooo cute and smiles and coos alot it will kinda ease your mind, even though your so tired and want to scream or like the article said harm your baby, that the cuteness keeps you from doing this. It is hard to harm something so cute and precious. But if you had a crying baby that never smiles or connects with you in a loving nature or isnt that cute then it may be more possible to harm it? Hmmm, that makes since acually, even though I couldnt harm any baby. Its like what I have heard a lot being pregnant with my first one, that even though you have to give up alot of stuff and get fat and go through painfull labor that in the end when you see the baby, it all seems so worth it. Its like the best worst thing ever to raise a baby. I guess thats why you have a lot of women that say its hard to be a mom but they love every minute of it, I guess those little smiles and coos are all worth it at the end of the day.

Very good article...

Answer 4

Actually I can totally relate to this. My son was very colicky from 3 weeks until just before 3 months. He would cry all day and well into the evening. He was also waking every hour throughout the night and we were having MAJOR breast feeding issues.

Around 7 weeks I reached my breaking point. Until that point I had kept my cool and stayed very calm about the whole situation (while I was alone with him...believe me I shed tears when my husband had him). I was holding him and he was sobbing in my arms. After an hour of trying everything to soothe him I lost it and started sobbing myself.

For some reason he found this to be absolutely hysterical! He stopped crying and starting smiling and giving me his first baby giggles. It melted my heart and I found the strength to cope with the next month+ of colic.

Interesting article. Thanks for sharing :-)

Answer 5

Interesting hypothesis!  My two-year-old son tries my nerves multiple times a day.  When he knows I'm mad, he'll come up to me and laugh or hug me or do something else silly.  He definitely knows how to play us.

Answer 6

Aaron has developed his own survival technique.  In the couple of times I have had a hard time putting him down for bed and I have been, for what ever reason, less then thrilled to be spending an hour with a squirmy, slapping, hair-pulling baby on my chest, I have (IN JEST) picked him up and pretended to be upset with him(I was a little ticked)(waved my fist and told him O, you little devil) he just got the biggest smile on his face.  He would stop from a full cry to stop and mock me!  Now, I do it just to see the cute look on his face.  It's as if he is saying " Come on Mom, you know you can't be mad at me with this face."

Answer 7

I believe it.

We're survivors from the moment of conception!

Swimming through and beating the other sperms to home base.

Only the strongest survive. Babies know this too.

Answer 8

This is interesting and I agree with it.  I'm usually tired and not always in the mood to clean poo, give baths, and nurse but as soon as I hold my baby I start smiling and singing like there's no other cares in the world.  My husband asked me why I was such in a good mood.  I told him I really wasn't but why take it out on our baby when I can just have fun with him.

Answer 9

It sounds right.  There's a rhyme and reason for everything.  The article just makes them that much cuter!

Answer 10

I would have to say... yes.

Have you ever smiled and couldn't control it?  Laughed?  These aren't things we are taught nor a learned behavior... they are things that happen naturally.  I would call it an instinct or something similar.

Anyway, I don't think it is a coincidence but more of part of the master plan.  God knows we are imperfect humans and has made exceptions to that.

Answer 11

i believe it is true . those coos and smiles somehow bring back joy when you were just ready to snap . even when they are bigger . if my daughter is doing something bad and she sees me coming she will start singing or dancing or bouncing?  

Answer 12

There's nothing better than a baby's laugh! Yeah, it seems pretty true.  

Answer 13

Completely correct.... from all the crying and diapers, and then they give you a smile a giggle, All the that hard work just drops like a rock...your a whimpering mommy.  And I am proud to be one :)

Answer 14

I believe it!  Those days when I think I just can't take it anymore I look at my daughter's adorable face, listen to her cute laugh and it makes it all so worth it.

My hubby and I used to joke when Reese was just a few weeks old (had colic and acid reflux) that if she wasn't so cute she'd be in a box by the side of the road with a sign saying "free to a good home." LOL!  So yes, the article is true.