The magical journey of your newborn recognizing you

In the early stages of life, infants heavily rely on their senses of hearing and smell to become acquainted with the people around them. As their eyesight continues to develop, facial recognition might take a little extra time.

The genesis of recognition

Identification through sound: Infants become acquainted with their biological mother’s voice even before they are born. After their arrival in the world, the voices of primary caregivers quickly become familiar to them. The journey of language learning for your baby commences with recognizing voices. The sound of a known voice, even in a recording, sparks the activity in their brain’s language-processing area.

Recognition through scent: Similar to sound, an infant’s sense of smell begins its development in the womb. They start sensing (and tasting) their mother’s amniotic fluid while still in utero. Within just a few days after birth, they are capable of identifying—and start to favor—the scent of their primary caregiver.

Recognition through sight: It could take a few weeks, or even up to 2 months, for a baby to visually recognize their primary caregiver. At this stage, their vision extends only 20 to 30 cm from their face, so close cuddles can help. As they grow, their ability to recognize people by sight will enhance. Research even indicates that 6-month-old infants are more skilled at identifying individual faces from a crowd than adults!

Remember, every child develops at their own pace. Some might take longer to recognize caregivers by sight or sound. However, with time, patience, and lots of cuddles, they’ll soon start to recognize and react to the familiar people in their lives.