Someone explain this to me

[RB TexLa]

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/three_armed_baby

The article doesn't say any of the arms are going to cause a problem and does say that they are all three developed. Is it just understood that the third arm is going to cause this? If not what surgery is needed?

[Richard D]

1. I can think of a lot of uses

for a third arm. Often wished that I had one.

[panader0]

5. Yeah, then I could still lay bricks AND hold my beer

[TomInTib]

2. Speaking for the Good Doctor Frist..

I'm saying lop off the outer left arm.

Balance and symmetry, you know.

[seriousstan]

3. I would think it would depend on the structure of the bones. It can't

be normal. I thought the original design was pretty good, so a change must be looked at with a bit of prejudice.

[Viva_La_Revolution]

4. two month old babies don't smile

"Jie-jie cried when either of his left arms was touched, but smiled and responded normally to other stimuli, the reports said."

There's more that doesn't make sense in this article, but let's start with that one. :eyes:

[seriousstan]

6. You obviously have never had a baby.

[Viva_La_Revolution]

8. I've had 3, and cared for several

Real smiles, as a reaction from pleasure don't happen till about 3 months. Laughter at about 5 months.

As they are learning, several facial expressions can look like smiles to us, but they are a bit deceptive. Other signals like a widening of the eyes, and relaxing of the body at 2 months, but not 'real smiles'.

[pnwmom]

9. I've had three also, and my babies all smiled back -- when I smiled

for several seconds at them or bobbed my head and acted silly -- by the age of six weeks. They were laughing out out loud by two months. Alas, stranger anxiety also kicked in much earlier than the books say -- 4 months rather than 8 months.

I have dozens of pictures of my oldest with huge smiles -- raised eyebrows and all -- at the age of 4 weeks. I would put the camera on a tripod, jump around or squeeze a squeaky toy, and voila -- a big smile to send to grandma. (This child is an adult now and still is amazingly cheerful, despite a number of challenges. Maybe she was just born that way.)

The old books are wrong. But maybe they create a self-fulfilling prophecy. If parents believe them, they might not do things to elicit smiles.

Perhaps the Chinese books say something different than ours do.

[Viva_La_Revolution]

11. I'm not going by the old books, I'm going by experience...

I suppose my memory could be faulty, it was 14 years ago when I had my last.

I always counted the first smile as the one they seemed to be in control of, not fleeting grins, but where I saw the pleasure reflected in their eyes. The most recent was just a year ago, he was 4 months before I saw a real smile out of him. A late bloomer. :)

[pnwmom]

13. I'm not talking about fleeting grins, or those "smiles of satiety" at the

breast. You can't get fleeting grins with a camera -- not with my reflexes, anyway. I'm talking about the exact same smiles that a four month old makes. The only thing that looks different in the pictures of my daughter smiling at 4 weeks and at 4 months is the amount of fat in her cheeks. And I got her to smile by doing the same things.

You know that all babies don't walk at the same age. Some walk at 8 months, some walk at 16 months, or even later. And there are early talkers and late talkers. Why would they all be smiling at the same age?

[RB TexLa]

7. I didn't know that, I've never been around them

Thanks

[renate]

10. peer pressure, maybe?

Man, when I think of how self-conscious I was about my nose as I was growing up... to have to try to hide an entire ARM?

Kids can be just as mean in China as here. I'm guessing that the idea behind surgery is simply to give him as normal a life as possible.

[rucky]

12. Both left arms aren't functional.

I suppose the surgery is primarily cosmetic.