New documentary series explores the life of babies

Filmed over three years, the new 12-part series, ‘Babies’, available on Netflix from Friday (21 February), covers children’s first major developmental milestones, from bonding with their parents to learning to feed, sleeping through the night, crawling, speaking their first words, and learning how to walk.

The series features the latest research from eminent scientists including Rebecca Spencer from the University of Massachusetts (UMASS) who discusses her study on the importance of naps for a baby’s learning and Professor Ruth Feldman from the Interdisciplinary Center at Yale Child Studies Center in Israel, who discovered that the surge in Oxytocin, ‘the bonding hormone’, that occurs in new mothers can also take place in men.

Episodes

In the first episode, three scientists examine how the deep emotional bond between a baby and their parents is developed. They discover that fatherhood changes the brain as much as motherhood and when fathers are hands-on with their babies, their brains change as much as a mother’s.

The second episode looks at the moment the babies try their first foods. The episode covers:

• The uniqueness of a mother’s breastmilk.
• How dirty houses are good for baby.
• How living with pets better protect children from developing asthma and allergies.

Jane Root, chief executive of Nutopia, the production company behind ‘Babies’, said, ‘This series showcases incredible, ground-breaking science revealing the developmental leaps and bounds babies go through in the first year of life while capturing the personal and emotional journey of the family as a whole.

‘For many of the parents on the team, both in front and behind the camera, this has been one of the most rewarding and insightful projects to be a part of.’