baby's first hour

love this timeline of baby's first hour 

detailing instinctual behaviours when left to their own devices!

 

photo via

 Key milestones in the first hour and 10 mins of babies life (presented in median minutes):

Minute 0: Babies wail a robust, angry birth cry that helps wake up the lungs.

Minute 2: After all that wailing, babies spend less than a minute relaxing, holding perfectly still on their mothers’ chests. The authors speculate that this silent, still break might have evolved to keep babies hidden from predators.

Minute 2.5: As they start to wake up, newborns open their eyes for the first time. Babies gradually start moving their heads and mouths.

Minute 8: Babies become even more active, keeping their eyes open for five minutes or longer at a time. During this active phase, newborns seem to grow interested in eating, looking at their mothers’ faces and breasts, making sweet little “hungry” noises and moving their hands toward their mouths.

Minute 18: That was exhausting. Time for another rest.

Minute 36: Recharged newborns really kick it into high gear and begin scooting toward their mothers’ breasts, relying heavily on a sense of smell to navigate.

Minute 62: Babies nurse, most likely getting small amounts of colostrum, a pre-milk substance packed with protein and immune molecules. This early suckling stimulates the breasts to make milk and also helps mom’s uterus contract back to its pre-pregnancy size.

Minute 70: Babies fall asleep for a well-deserved break.