https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2021/11/merriam-webster-dictionary-adds-fourth-trimester-describe-newborns-fetus-like-baby-like/
Merriam-Webster Dictionary Adds ‘Fourth-Trimester’ to Describe Newborns as ‘More Fetus-Like Than Baby-Like’
By Cassandra Fairbanks
Published November 15, 2021 at 10:00am
Comment
https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/the-fourth-trimester–a-new-addition-to-the-merriam-webster-dictionary-301423281.html
The Fourth Trimester. A new addition to the Merriam-Webster Dictionary!
NEWS PROVIDED BY
Happiest Baby, Inc.
Nov 15, 2021, 08:37 ET
LOS ANGELES, Nov. 15, 2021 /PRNewswire/ – About 20 years ago, pediatrician Dr. Harvey Karp wrote a parent guide, The Happiest Baby on the Block. In it, he shared his belief that one of the most important things for new parents to understand was a pretty unknown idea called the fourth trimester. Today, that obscure name has so thoroughly penetrated the minds of parents and doctors that the celebrated Merriam-Webster dictionary has included it in their newest edition. Inclusion in the dictionary acknowledges that fourth trimester is a part of a worldwide cultural awakening to the importance of this stage of life…not only for babies but for new parents, too.
What is the fourth trimester?
The fourth trimester is the first three to four months of a baby's life after birth. The word "trimester" implies that the baby is still a fetus…and that's on purpose! A newborn's brain and nervous system are not fully developed at birth, making them more fetus-like than baby-like.
Where did the term "fourth trimester" come from?
Dr. Karp first heard the term in the late 1970s when he was working on the child abuse team at UCLA. At that time, he saw so many babies come in who were severely injured—even killed—for the simple offense of crying. He became deeply curious about what medical doctors had not been able to figure out—the cause of colic (severe persistent crying seen among babies 1-4 months of age).
He found that, thanks to evolutionary changes, human babies are born about three months before they're technically "ready." In fact, they had to be born three months early because a baby's developing brain and skull have gotten so big by the end of the third trimester that they can barely safely fit through the birth canal.