Curious as to how babies have such a strong grip on things they get their hands on even at such a young age
In: Biology
Did you know that new borns can naturally swim? And then they quickly lose that ability only to have to learn it back.
It only seems strong because babies put 100% of their effort into gripping things by reflex. Watch some videos of a baby holding on to a bar and hanging. After a few seconds, the Palmar Grasp Reflex ends and the grip fails. Even if their forearms are in pain, there is no “let go” option for them, just grip failure. They are not choosing to hold on or let go, it is reflex.
Our biological ancestors likely had a stronger version of this reflex, and relied on it. For Homo Sapiens, it is a vestigial curiosity.
The more impressive thing that babies do is cry – loudly and often. That’s a lot of air for such a small creature to be moving so rapidly. Nothing vestigial about that! Crying strengthens the lungs and diaphragm in early days. If babies didn’t cry regularly, they would end up weaker overall. So bear it with dignity, parents!
They’re not strong.
You are just choosing to be weak against them to not hurt them.
If you applied the same force to handle them as you would a grown man, you would seriously hurt them and they’d have no chance against you.
It’s a psychological factor that happens subconsciously and is an evolutionary trait we evolved… for obvious reasons.
Sociopaths lack this emotional bond / limitation,
which is why so many injured/killed babies happen in homes where one or both parents are either psychopaths or sociopaths.
Babies lack fine motor control. Their little muscles are basically firing in an in all or nothing state, so when it comes time to grab they grip with everything they have. This is super helpful because other ape babies need to be able to hold onto mom as she swings from trees. Put a little one on some monkey bars and be amazed at how long they’ll hold for how tiny and helpless they are usually.
Be honest with us, OP, have you been stealing candy from babies?
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