Early childhood blog

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ensuring success in children age 0-5 in hardin and marshall county, iowa

Early Childhood Interesting Facts
Building Blocks 

I would like to think that even as an adult, I am always learning. 

Here are some interesting facts about early childhood you may not know.

  • That's Nuts! Babies' stomachs are the size of a walnut. No wonder they require constant feedings.
  • Human babies are the only primates who smile at their parents.
  • In the United States, more babies are born on Wednesdays than on other days of the week. Sunday is the slowest day.
  • When your baby is born they have a total of 300 bones, but by the time they reach adulthood, it will only have 206 bones. This is because a number of bones, such as the skull, fuse together as your child ages.
  • A baby will eat an estimated 15 pounds of cereal per year.
  • A baby cannot taste salt until it is 4 months old. The delay may be related to the development of kidneys, which start to process sodium at about that age.
  • In the first few years of a child’s life, more than 1 million new neural connections per second.
  • At the age of 18 months, disparities in vocabulary begin to appear.
  • Eighty percent of the human brain’s structure takes shape between the ages of 0-3 and 95 percent of the human brain’s structure takes shape until the age of 5.
  • By the time your little one turns one year, they have likely tripled their birth weight and grown around 12 inches (or 1 to 1 ½ inches per month). If your baby’s body kept pace with how quickly their brain is growing they would weigh a whopping 170 pounds by their first birthday.
  • Up until the time your child turns 6-7 months, they are capable of breathing and swallowing at the same time, a skill that will be lost near the half-year mark. Go ahead and try it!
  • For every dollar invested in early childhood programming, the return on investment is $4 - $9.
  • Per 1,000 people, Utah has the highest birth rate in the U.S., at about 21 babies, and Vermont has the lowest birth rate, with slightly more than 10 babies. In comparison, Iowa has about 12 babies born per 1,000 people, with Hardin County at 8.9 and Marshall County at 12.3 babies.
  • In 2021, the top female baby name in Iowa was Charolette. For males, it was Oliver.


 The more we all know about early childhood development, the more we can advocate for quality services, build stronger relationships, and increase investments. Together we can produce better outcomes for our youngest citizens.

Carrie Kube
Iowa River Valley Early Childhood Area Director
iarivervalleyeca@gmail.com
www.iowarivervalleyeca.com

Disclosure: Carrie Kube is a Director for the Iowa River Valley Early Childhood Area Board.  All thoughts and opinions expressed are that of the author and not the Board and/or its community partners.