They Are Trying to Communicate As early as three months, babies learn to recognize their parents or primary caregivers. And there staring is their way to communicate. Babies can't quite interact yet for the first few months, so their staring is their way of communicating with you.
Babies are drawn to attractive people
A decades-old experiment found that newborns and young infants spent more time staring at faces that adults deemed attractive. The study consisted of images (chosen by adults) of faces that are considered beautiful and others that are considered less attractive.
Human infants, just a few days of age, are known to prefer attractive human faces. We examined whether this preference is human-specific. Three- to 4-month-olds preferred attractive over unattractive domestic and wild cat (tiger) faces (Experiments 1 and 3).
Babies stare to get to know you…and the world around them!
And they stare at the world as they try to make out all of the new and exciting sights around them. Your infant's early days mark a burst of brain development—growing by about 1% every day in the first 3 months of life!
And research suggests that babies evaluate people in much the same way, preferring people who like the same foods, clothes, and toys that they like. This preference helps us to form social bonds, but it can also have a dark side.
In fact, it's actually quite common for babies and toddlers to pick a favorite parent or caregiver—and for that preference to switch back and forth over time.
They Are Drawn to Something Attractive
Naturally, babies tend to draw their attention to something attractive. It can be moving objects, high-contrast images, or even interesting features of an attractive person. Yes! Babies stare longer at attractive people.
Blame it on curiosity
Like children and adults, babies are generally curious beings and tend to stare as they get to know you. They are also naturally drawn to faces and might be attracted to interesting features like glasses or a bushy beard.
If your baby cries and screams around unfamiliar faces, he may have stranger anxiety. Learn how to cope with this common newborn condition. Most babies get cranky around people they don't recognize, whether it's a complete stranger or a grandparent who lives in another state.
A baby's vision develops slowly over their first six to eight months, notes Gritchen, which is one of the reasons why high contrast objects and moving objects like ceiling fans are more likely to attract the baby's attention.
tion the infants looked longer at the attractive faces. These findings are clear evidence that newborn infants use information about internal facial features in making prefer- ences based on attractiveness.
Babies as young as six months can distinguish between good and bad people, according to a study in which babies observed characters being helpful or unhelpful. Scientists had thought that social judgments developed with language at about 18 months to two years old.
Research shows that babies are born with a sense of beauty that develops in the womb as part of an innate ability to recognise human faces. Tests on babies as young as a few hours old have shown they are not just able to distinguish between faces but show a definite preference.
And research suggests that babies evaluate people in much the same way, preferring people who like the same foods, clothes, and toys that they like. This preference helps us to form social bonds, but it can also have a dark side.
learned. Alan Slater and his colleagues at the University of Exeter showed paired images of faces to babies as young a one day old and found that they spent more time fixated on the more attractive face. “Attractiveness is not in the eye of the beholder, it's innate to a newborn infant,” says Slater.
It happens as your baby develops a healthy attachment to familiar people – like you. Because babies prefer familiar adults, they might react to strangers by crying or fussing, going very quiet, looking fearful or hiding. Fear of strangers starts at 5-6 months and usually becomes more intense at 7-10 months of age.
Babies Are Attracted To Beauty
Because beautiful faces are easier for the brain to perceive. Researchers studying infants find that babies gaze at more symmetrical faces longer, and learn to recognize them faster.
When infants display anger and aggression, it is often due to discomfort, pain or frustration. Older babies will use aggression to protect themselves, to express anger or to get what they want. When your baby is aggressive, it is because he has not learned a better way of behaving.
Studies suggest that babies do not always prefer female faces, but, in fact, show a strong preference for human faces of the same gender as the primary caregiver. Since most babies are primarily cared for by females, most babies prefer to look at female faces.
In short, yes: Babies do feel love. Even though it will be quite a while before they're able to verbalize their feelings, they can and do understand emotional attachment. Affection, for example can be felt.
While a baby's first attachment is usually with their mother, the bonds that babies form with their fathers are just as important. Though babies form attachment relationships with other adults who care for them, the bonds with their parents are the most important ones.
The stubbornly uttered phrase of, “Daddy do it, not Mommy!” is familiar to many parents of little ones, and it's hard not to take it personally. But it's good to know it's quite common.
And of course babies aren't flirting at all; they are simply enjoying natural parts of their development. "Babies who appear to 'flirt' with you are building brain connections through social interactions,” says Dr. King. That's also the case when babies interact with other tots during playdates.
However, one of the signs of an intelligent child is that they can focus on a task for long periods at a very early age, usually before six months old. For example, you might see your highly intelligent five-month-old focussing intently on playing with wooden blocks without getting distracted.