Baby, you're a genius!

They're born looking so helpless, but babies are clever. From recognising mum's voice to having favourite tunes, they're wired to thrive. Tanith Carey's new book, What's my Baby Thinking? Practical Child Psychology for Modern Parents, explains what makes these bundles of joy so smart

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They recognise mum's voice the moment they meet them: Newborns may emerge into the world looking a little bewildered, as if they're not quite sure what's happening.

But they are already easily able to recognise their mum when she talks. That's because their hearing system has been working well enough to pick up sounds from around week 25 in the womb. Even though surrounded by amniotic fluid, mum’s speech still cut through.

Also, because babies are born wired to seek connection and protection from the outset, the first thing they do after birth is try to match the face to the familiar sound.

Research shows that within minutes of being born, infants turn their heads towards their mum because they recognise the sound of her talking.

They’ve even picked up your accent:

To the adult ear, a baby's cry at the age of nine months may just sound like a call for attention. But you may not realise they have already picked up your accent.

This is because even before they were born, they were already working out how to mimic what they heard.

Several studies have found that as soon as they come into their world, babies already prefer listening to the language they heard in the womb.

To discover this, researchers at the Centre for Pre-speech Development and Developmental Disorders at Germany's Würzburg University studied the cry “melodies” of 60 healthy newborns. Thirty were French and 30 were German.