KIDS GUIDE 2021

BUMPS & BEYOND

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Percentage of babies born in the two weeks after their “due date” 40

Percentage of babies that are born on their calculated “due date”

3.3 Average weight, in kilograms, of a newborn (with boys being slightly larger on average than girls) 51 Average length, in centimetres, of a newborn 300 Approximate amount of blood, in millilitres, in a newborn (compared to 5 litres in an adult) 42 Current age, in years, of the English woman who was the first person ever born from IVF conception

5 3

Approximate age, in months, of a baby when it first begins to laugh

Approximate time in months that it takes a newborn to double its weight

“Fetomaternal microchimerism” is the term given to the way a baby in the womb transfers stem cells into its mother’s organs if she has suffered some damage. While research into this is ongoing, it appears possible that a foetus can help repair mum’s body in some way. Amazing!

7,000 Number of nappies a baby might use between birth and toilet training 3 Approximate number of times a newborn urinates every hour 260 Number of new babies born every minute around the world, according to UN statistics 10,000 Number of pregnancies for every one instance of triplets

The word “ inf ant ” comes from the Latin word infans , meaning “speechless” or “unable to speak”. Fair enough, too: most babies are a year old before they can start using simple words, thoughmany can understand basic words (“no” and “bye-bye”, to give two English- language examples) by nine months.

The first baby born in Antarctica arrived on 7 January, 1978. Emilio Marcos Palma was born to Argentinian parents at the Esperanza Base near the tip of the Antarctic Peninsula. Since then, around ten more births have been recorded in the world’s coldest continent.

KIDS’ GUIDE2021

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