Things I have learned, Vol. 2

-A baby can't regulate its heart rate until it is about one-year-old. This came about in conversation with our OB/GYN sometime around pregnancy month 7 when I noticed that Emmett's heart rate had dropped from about 160 at 3 months to about 130 at this point. Our doctor informed me that a baby's heart rate will go along at a high rate and also unregulated until the baby is about 1-year-old. At this point the heart rate can be modulated to match exercise level, etc. When the doctor told me this, I said something about how it is good that a baby isn't running around as their heart couldn't keep up, but only later put it together that a baby takes its first step near the end of the first year and doesn't really start walking around well until after that. Hmmm... coincidence? I think not. Is evolution removing from the gene pool the kids that get up and walk at 6 months? Makes one wonder.

-A baby's sleep is exactly opposite of an adult's: they go into REM sleep immediately and then go into a deeper sleep later on. You can actually hear him cycle through these as he sleeps because he will have irregular, loud breathing in the REM time and when he goes to sleep deeply everything is smooth and quiet---the REM sleep is much harder to sleep next to. The part that any parent knows and we only learned a little while ago is that if you try to move a REM baby to another sleeping position he will probably wake up, but the deep sleeper you can pretty much toss around without waking.