Why Baby Loves You

You love her, but it seems like all you ever do is try to appease the little tyrant. She can have your milk, your body, your arms, your world, if only she'll stop crying. And what do you get in return? Mostly just the chance to wake up tomorrow morning (or in the middle of the night) and do it all over again. Why, aside from the fact that your baby is so ridiculously cute, do you kill yourself to please someone who can't even say "thank you"? Because deep down you know your baby loves you. She may not smile, yet, and she sure doesn't say it in words. But if she had her pick of all the milk joints in the world, she'd still head to yours, and here are 10 good reasons why.

Babies seem to recognize their mother instantly. "I've seen it so many times," says Laura Riley, MD, obstetrician and author of You and Your Baby: Pregnancy (Meredith). "The baby has just been born, his vision is not great, but the moment the mother starts to talk in a soothing voice, the baby will turn toward her or open his eyes." That's because he could hear Mom's voice from the womb. Baby listens to you talking for weeks before he's born. Further proof that you're special: a newborn may turn his head away from a stranger because of the unfamiliar voice and scent. "If I pick a baby up and cuddle him in the same way as the mother, I don't get the same response," Dr. Riley says.