Body Language Series 2 - The eyes have it
Updated: Jul 7, 2019
Aren't babies sooooo cute?
Babies are born with a brilliant arsenal of ‘weapons’ to ensure that they are well looked after and well-loved by their parents. The mere presence of a little one induces an ‘awwwww factor’. Their large eyes, set low on their face, their high foreheads, their smell, all promote a very strong nurturing instinct in adults. One of the most, powerful, but the subtlest forms of body language that a baby can share with you is dilation of the pupils. This completely involuntary action is subconsciously interpreted as a sign of admiration imbues the parent with the sense of being accepted and adored, which further strengthens the bond between parents and child. After all, what else would engender feeling of powerful devotion than being the object of someone’s affection?
Studies into the effects of pupil dilation involved showing heterosexual men two pictures of the same woman, the pictures were the same, except for the size of the pupils. Without exception, each man decided that the woman with the larger pupils was more attractive. Larger pupils are more attractive and indicate a subconscious attraction to someone else. The men chose the women with the larger pupils because she was displaying classic signs of mutual attraction.
You probably have noticed that there are many times when your new-born just gazes off at what seems like nothing at all, or when their eyes don’t appear to be working together, no need to panic, that is all perfectly normal. When they are new, the eyes of a new-born are only strong enough to see a very short distance, 7-12 inches to be exact, the same distance from a mother’s breast to her face. When babies try to focus on anything further than that their eyes don’t have the strength, and this sometimes causes them to go out of unison, but this fades when their muscles start to get stronger. There is a good reason why babies can’t see very far, it is an efficient guard against unnecessary stress. If they could see all the world around them and all the potential threats, especially in their vulnerable state it would give them a lot of anxiety. It isn’t necessary for them to see beyond their mother’s face…so they can’t
Mellow Baby runs Baby Massage & Baby Sign Language classes at regular intervals. If you would like more information please check out the registration page, and follow along with this series to learn more about your baby's body language.
