Fear of Falling

Earlier this week, I spent a long loooooooooooooong morning in my midwife's office (I failed the initial glucose screen and had to take the 3 hour test - BTW I passed) and I spent most of that time reading magazines. One magazine had an article that talked about the two fears all babies are born with. One is the fear of loud noises. I have to be honest. When Caleb was a newborn and heard a loud noise like all babies he had the startle reflex. It was the funniest thing. I hate to think now that he was paralyzed with fear! But those little newborn reflexes are some of the things I'm looking forward to with this new baby...they go away so fast.

The second fear is fear of falling. I, like the writer of the article, found this surprising. I mean, doesn't it seem like they should be more afraid of being abandoned or not being able to eat? I thought more about this interesting bit of trivia later in the week while watching Caleb climb up onto our bed. When he was first learning how to climb things and first learning how to walk, I always hovered around him like a cheerleader spotter. But time taught me that he had a little better sense of balance than I thought. I wonder if this inborn fear of falling has anything to do with learning to walk and learning to climb. Maybe it's what gives you that sense of wobbly correction when you feel yourself falling.

I searched more about these fears online and found an interesting discussion about how the fear of falling is why newborns often freak out when you change their diaper (until I read the article, I thought Caleb was the only one). It said that by just holding their head or wedging a rolled blanket next to them, they'll feel more secure and won't be quite as afraid. I wish I knew that back then! It probably also explains why Caleb lost it everytime we tried to give him a bath on that little newborn bath sling. I gave up on that pretty quickly and just gave him sponge baths.