Are babies born or made? New research has the answer

Are babies born or made? New research has the answer

Scientists at Stanford University have just shed new light on one of parenting’s oldest questions: how much of who your baby becomes is down to their genes, and how much is down to you?

Their answer, published earlier this year, is both hopeful and fascinating. The brain has innate organising principles from birth, but it is not rigidly determined. There is significant capacity for flexibility and development through experience. Stanford University

In other words, your baby arrives with a blueprint. But what gets built is very much shaped by you.

This is not a new idea in developmental science. Back in the 1940s, psychiatrist René Spitz compared two groups of babies who both had food, warmth and medical care. The only difference was human connection. The babies who received consistent attention, touch and interaction developed normally. Those who did not, did not. His findings changed how the world thinks about early childhood.

What the latest research adds is detail. The brain is not simply waiting to express what genes have determined. It is actively being wired by experience, and this capacity is extraordinarily heightened in infancy. MU Extension

That means the ordinary moments matter more than most parents realise. The way you respond when your baby cries. The songs you repeat. The eye contact during a nappy change. None of this needs to be elaborate. It just needs to be consistent and warm.

At Baby College, this is at the heart of everything we do. Every class is designed as much for parents as for babies, because when you understand what is happening in your baby’s brain, you can support it with confidence every single day.

Find a baby class near you at babycollege.co.uk/find-a-class