I’ve read a few things in the past that say that babies pound for pound are stronger than bulls. Also they seem to have ridiculously strong cores (abs) without training. Plenty of videos show them being able to hold their legs up over grass for large amounts of time when they don’t want to touch it. How are they able to achieve this without training? What advantage does this give them if they can’t naturally cling on to mom or dad?
In: Biology
Babies have bonkers grip strength for their size. The whole purpose is that they can cling on to their parent to move to safety if needed, and to develop the ability to roll or raise their head to avoid suffocating as early as possible.
This is explained by the square-cube law. In short, strength and durability are proportional to the size squared (X*X) and weight is proportional to the cube of the size (X*X*X) so if you take a human and shrink him proportionally to half size, he will become 4 times weaker but 8 times lighter, so in total it would be twice (8/4) as easy for him to lift his own body.
Babies have different proportions and their muscles are less developed, of course, but still they are much smaller than adults so it’s easier for them to do these tricks. Babies appear to have lots of strength, but it’s realistically only in relation to their size.
They are super good at clinging to their parent. Their strength doesn’t “go away” as they age, it just doesn’t grow proportionally to their size. They do get stronger as they age, but they get a lot heavier too so some of that “innate strength” (and the strength they gain) goes towards just lifting their increased bodyweight rather than feats of strength like holding their legs up easily.
Essentially, they have evolved to have freakishly strong fingers and arms. Indeed, many newborns can support their own bodyweight for several minutes, far longer than most adults.
The reason is probably evolutionary. Human babies, like no other animal, need support from a care giver. Without it he/she will quickly die and from an evolutionary point of view fizzle out. As such, especially prior to modern societies it makes sense to prioritise being able to hold on to someone who can feed you instead of being able to hold your head up.
Human infants, like most primate infants, have extreme grip strength in comparison to their size as an evolved feature allowing them to cling to their parents, trees, etc for safety. Now this ability is not as developed in humans as the other primates due to humans being bipedal and able to hold the child reducing the need of the child to cling.
I saw a video once and right after birth a doctor let a baby hold onto a horizontal stick he was holding and the baby was able to hold it’s bodyweight basically right after birth. Amazing grip strength.
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