Babies

Come on, push.

Give it a good push, Rachel. Good push.

Push down! Push down! Push down!

Well done.

Now look who we have! Look who we have! A little girl!

Oh, my...

I waited so long for you!

Well done.

Well done, Rachel.

Let's take off this sheet. You okay?

Look at her. She's perfect.

Wow!

Oh, my baby!

- Hey! - Well done.

- She's perfect. - She is. She looks like her.

I'm just going to switch the towel. Thank you.

Hello, pretty.

Where have you been?

Where have you been?

It's over.

- It's Willow. - Willow.

Willow.

When we look at a baby...

you can't help but wonder...

What is going on inside?

Where does its personality come from?

How do they become who they are?

As a scientist and a new parent,

I realize that babies are born totally helpless.

But they're going to grow up to be masters of the universe.

How does that happen?

What's exciting right now

is we have so many new ways to answer those questions.

We realize now that even the very youngest babies

already know more and learn more

than we ever would've thought possible.

I'm gonna forget about that.

15 BABIES FILMED OVER ONE YEAR

36 WORLD RENOWNED SCIENTISTS

REVEALING HOW WE ALL BEGIN

Isn't it amazing

that the answer to what it means to be human

lies in the smallest,

youngest creatures?

Cheeky boy!

Our babies.

Da-da...

Da-da!

LONDON UK

That's for Mummy.

Mummy's gonna be happy to see you.

Let's see.

Let's see Mummy.

Let's see. Which way?

Down there.

Ah!

Hello!

Who's that?

- Hello. - Go and give your Mummy a hug.

Oh.

Hello, darling.

RACHEL

- Babe. - Where's the babe?

Don't know.

Who's that?

It's Willow.

Are you gonna show Willow what you bought her?

What have you bought Willow?

- What's in there? - You gonna give it to Willow?

Aww!

Good girl.

- Aww, that's very kind. - Good girl.

Who's this?

Who's this?

Gentle. Gentle. Gentle.

Good girl.

That your sister, give her a kiss.

TEL AVIV ISRAEL

The Beatles... Sergeant Pepper

The relationship with our parents is the most meaningful experience.

It has such a huge impact on how a baby develops

and experiences the world.

Okay. "My Father's Eyes."

I was 22 when Estie, my oldest daughter, was born.

She was placed on my chest...

and I think at that moment I felt what it means to love.

Then, being a scientist, I wanted to understand

what's happening in the brain when we fall in love with our babies.

What is the biology of bonding?

Back in the early '90s, we didn't have a full understanding

of how the bonding between mother and baby develops.

IDC HERZLIYA

In my research,

I came across several scientific papers

that described the importance of the hormone oxytocin

to bonding in mammals.

And that really opened my eyes.

So I wondered if oxytocin would be involved in the bonding

I experienced with my own children.

In 2001,

we started the first study

to test the role of oxytocin

in parent/infant bonding.

This was a real adventure.

We recruited about 80 mothers,

and we traveled up and down the country to collect the samples

throughout pregnancy,

and in the first month after childbirth.

And what we found was

that oxytocin levels in mothers

rise during pregnancy,

and they stay high throughout pregnancy

and right after childbirth.

What we also realized,

that when mother and infant touch each other a lot...

the oxytocin levels in both go higher,

and this makes you want to engage

with the baby more.

The brain gives the mother the sense of intense reward.

So the higher the oxytocin the mother had,

the more she bonded with her infant.

But I always knew that this is only half of the equation.

Give me a kiss.

I began to wonder what's going on with fathers.

See how red they are?

Did you know you're four months old today?

Yeah.

That's better. That looks so much better.

You leave daddy's ear alone!

Ooh! That's a good pinch!

Have you been practicing?

That's what the tiger did.

Dad.

- Dad, Daddy. - Yeah.

Step.

That's it.

- She's walking on her own! - That's it.

Good girl!

Ooh!

Dakota, you're getting so big on me so fast.

Mommy doesn't want you to grow just yet.

Slow down.

Slow down.

As soon as she came out, it was just like, "Oh, this is my baby."

Look.

She is so precious, and it was an instant love connection

of love that you've never experienced before.

Yeah, this is better.

It's actually when she lays her head sideways,

I know that's when she's going to sleep.

'Cause she's not moving, she's not trying to climb no more.

She's getting real comfortable.

But this is me and Dakota's thing right here.

Just on my shoulder, walking back and forth.

Once she relaxes her arm, then I know,

"Okay. No matter what I do, I'mma get at least a half an hour."

For the next study,

we wanted to see if there's an impact

on the level of oxytocin in fathers.

So this is our lab.

I'm gonna ask you, um, to spit into these tubes,

about one milliliter.

So we recruited 80 couples.

And we measured oxytocin in fathers,

in the first months, right after the child's birth.

Great, thank you.

And when we looked at the results...

it was really shocking.

Mothers' and fathers' level of oxytocin were identical.

And that was a huge surprise.

We know for over a hundred years

that mothers get a surge of oxytocin

during pregnancy, childbirth,

and nursing.

And here we go!

But how do fathers get so much oxytocin?

We discovered that the more you do with a baby...

and really lift your sleeves, and take care of the child, and wash it,

and feed it, engage in a parental role...

the more your oxytocin system

will activate.

Papa!

And this is amazing.

Fatherhood is biological.

It's as deep as motherhood.

Okay.

Don't open it all the way.

- It goes to the back of one of these? - Yeah.

And this is the pump, this side?

Look, you see that other box at the other end?

That's the actual pump down there.

I had always been planning on going back to work.

Her pediatrician yesterday informed us

that to spread out the feedings every two to three hours,

and, um, just try to find another way to comfort her and console her,

and also to give her time to allow her to self-soothe.

- And to wait till she finishes. - So that way, we're not...

you know,

just using me all the time,

'cause then I'll never be able to go to work.