The first three months of a baby’s life is an outside-the-uterus period of intense development, a biological bridge from fetal life to preparation for the real world. The fourth trimester has more in common with the nine months that came before than with the lifetime that follows. This comprehensive, intimate, and much-needed “operating manual” for newborns presents a new paradigm of a baby's early life that shifts our focus and alters our priorities. Combining the latest scientific findings with real-life stories and experiences, Susan Brink examines critical dimensions of newborn development such as eating and nutrition, bonding and attachment, sleep patterns, sensory development, pain and pleasure, and the creation of foundations for future advancement. Brink offers well-informed, practical information and the reasons behind her advice so that parents and caretakers can make their own decisions about how to care for a newborn during this crucial period. The Fourth Trimester assures readers that infants are as biologically capable as they are physically helpless. They thrive on what is readily available in every household: consistent, loving attention. In this important work, Brink shows us something rare in the baby book world: an author that knows who parents are, what they need, what is supportive, and what is really good science. She knows the distinctions between value judgments and what we know to be true, scientifically. Brink's ideas couldn't be more appropriate to our historical moment. James. J. McKenna, P.h.D., Director, Mother-Baby Behavioral Sleep Laboratory, University of Notre Dame " " The Fourth Trimester will appeal to the audience of young parents. It has lots of helpful information and the idea of a fourth trimester is a helpful concept. Very readable!" Penny Glass, Developmental Psychologist, Head of Child Development Program, Children's Hospital, Washington D.C. “In this important work, Brink shows us something rare in the baby book world: an author that knows who parents are, what they need, what is supportive, and what is really good science. She knows the distinctions between value judgments and what we know to be true, scientifically. Brink's ideas couldn't be more appropriate to our historical moment.”―James. J. McKenna, P.h.D., Director, Mother-Baby Behavioral Sleep Laboratory, University of Notre Dame " " The Fourth Trimester will appeal to the audience of young parents. It has lots of helpful information and the idea of a fourth trimester is a helpful concept. Very readable!"―Penny Glass, Developmental Psychologist, Head of Child Development Program, Children's Hospital, Washington D.C. Susan Brink is a medical journalist and a former staff reporter for U.S. News & World Report and the Los Angeles Times. She is coauthor of A Change of Heart: How the Framingham Heart Study Helped Unravel the Mysteries of Cardiovascular Disease. The Fourth Trimester Understanding, Protecting, and Nurturing an Infant through the First Three Months By Susan Brink UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA PRESS Copyright © 2013 Susan Brink All rights reserved. ISBN: 978-0-520-26712-1 Contents Preface, ix, Introduction: A Transition from the Comfort of the Womb to the Reality of the World, 1, 1. Evolution and the Primitive Brain of a Newborn: Why Infants Arrive Unfinished, 15, 2. Crying: The Wakeup Call That Says Everything Has Changed, 28, 3. Sleeping: Irregular and Sporadic Sleep Is Normal in the Fourth Trimester, 50, 4. Feeding: Breast Milk and Formula, 71, 5. Sound: Laying the Foundation for Speech, 92, 6. Sight: From Forms to Faces, 107, 7. Touch: Pain and Pleasure, 128, 8. Physical Development: Getting Ready to Crawl, Walk, and Run, 142, 9. Stimulation: Keep It Real, Keep It Simple, 155, 10. Mom and Dad: The Parents' Fourth Trimester, 166, Notes, 185, Acknowledgments, 203, Index, 205, CHAPTER 1 Evolution and the Primitive Brain of a Newborn Why Infants Arrive Unfinished Blame Lucy. In the throes of labor contractions and delivery, remember that it was this 3.2-million-year-old human ancestor who first had the big idea to stand up and walk on two feet. Lucy is considered by many scientists to be the mother of humankind, and her skeletal remains, discovered in 1974, provided scientific evidence of one of the first upright walkers in our family tree. From that point onward, the human ability to walk on two feet would demand some reworking of the adult pelvis and a major overhaul of the birth canal. Those evolving alterations would, in all descendant female hominids leading up to Homo sapiens, introduce a host of inefficient twists and turns, making the process long and painful for mothers and a brutal challenge for babies. Lucy's hypothetical offspring, no longer able to survive with the limited brainpower required to climb a tree or flee from danger on four legs, needed more time to grow a bigger brain in order to outwit predators. But a maximum of f