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The reactions are so strong and so similar. Why? Because they have no idea what is happening... or because their trip through the birth canal is so recent? Am I going to be emerging into a completely different life?
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33 comments:
"Am I going to be emerging into a completely different life? "
Yes. New Jersey.
Because they have no idea what is happening (Yes)... or because their trip through the birth canal is so recent? (No)
Quayle, funny! ^
How is this different than experimenting on cats?
I have noticed the same thing with car washes and babies.
Showed that one to my kids a couple nights ago. When they asked me what the babies were all thinking, all I could come up with was, "Oh, no...not again!"
It's possible that reaction is just fascination, but it sure looks like alarm.
A hard wired fight or flight response to a sudden shadow falling over them? Dogs and cats do it too. Even a fly will flee when a shadow covers it. I'm glad flies don't turn and attack instead.
Come on. The birth tunnel experience would be a completely different sensory experience.
I bet they feel the car tunnel air pressure change in their ears.
It could also mean that Mom is going to have a diaper change in the near future. The baby's diaper that is.
I think the real lesson is that babies need a calm environment. Flashing lights and big shifts from light to dark are really upsetting.
Note that the bright light does not make the baby squint or close its eyes. It makes the baby open its eyes very wide (with lots of white showing above the iris, indicating fear).
@Curious George Oh, really?!
Some of the reactions look like fear, terror even. Others are more like awe and fascination. Personality may be revealing itself early.
Not shown in the video: Babies who had a different reaction.
Selection bias.
My son loved tunnels as a baby and still loves them as a toddler.
He hated the car wash and found it frightening.
Early signs of Vagina Fear. Thank goodness the tunnel does not have teeth.
I am Laslo.
Incidentally when my son was born his fetal heart rate monitor showed that his heart beat remained steady even as his head was being squeezed through the birth canal.
Once he was out, and he got injections, THEN his rate went up (and he screamed of course).
I would argue though that he didn't really feel fear, as an adult uses the word, until he was about one.
I learned this from his immunizations. Babies don't hold still, so they pretty much stab a baby in the thigh to give them an injection. He would always yell AFTERWARD, and then he was immediately soothed.
But once he got to be about one, the yelling was accompanied by shaking and crying that didn't stop for several minutes afteward, which I interpreted as he was old enough to understand what had just happened, including my role in it.
Tunnels are a microaggression against the youngest and weakest of humanity and should abolished in favor of over-mountain catapults.
I saw the same reaction when I brought a baby to a tittty bar.
Laslo Spatula said...
Early signs of Vagina Fear. Thank goodness the tunnel does not have teeth.
I am Laslo.
1/30/15, 8:13 AM
...vagina dentate...:-)...
...sorry about the spelling...vagina dentata...
@EDH
I saw the same reaction when I brought a baby to a tittty bar.
The tears come when they realize all those big titties hold not one drop of milk.
Generic startle reactions in babies are generic.
What I like are reactions of small children to experiences completely novel to them. A child seeing its own shadow for the first time - that is priceless.
Or the person who made the video deliberately chose clips where the babies had similar reactions.
"The Tunnel Monologues"
Oh the horror!
Every morning when we wake up, we're emerging into a completely different life.
The babies in the tunnels just let us know that they haven't forgotten that fact.
EDH said... [hush][hide comment]
I saw the same reaction when I brought a baby to a tittty bar.
Wow, That was you? What a small world. I'm the guy who helped you put your baby in the carseat when you left because you were to drunk to do it unassisted, go figure.
p.s. Under new management now, ok for you to come back.
Their eyes fly open to adjust to the sudden darkness. We associate wide eyes with fear which I doubt they are experiencing. Car washes are a different story. My kids all hated them.
For some reason the title of this post reminded me of this old SNL skit.
kzookitty
"Did you know how alarming it is for the baby when you drive the car through a tunnel?"
No.
No, they're looking at the lights
Let's have an experiment: different reaction from C-sections babies?
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