{"id":1092,"date":"2026-05-17T13:11:14","date_gmt":"2026-05-17T13:11:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mehuman.io\/wordpress\/?p=1092"},"modified":"2026-05-17T13:11:14","modified_gmt":"2026-05-17T13:11:14","slug":"baby-grow","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mehuman.io\/wordpress\/mh\/1092","title":{"rendered":"Baby Grow"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><script>\nwindow.location.replace(\"https:\/\/mehuman.io\/babygrow\/baby-grow.html\");\n<\/script><\/p>\n<section style=\"max-width:800px; margin:0 auto 3em;\">\n<h1>Baby Grow<\/h1>\n<p>The Baby Grow project follows an extraordinary experiment revealing how the way infants wriggle, from birth, helps prepare their brains and bodies to navigate a complex physical and social world.<\/p>\n<p>Did you know that meeting motor milestones is highly associated with neurotypical social and communication development?<\/p>\n<p>Did you know that although motor differences and difficulties are not represented in the diagnostic criterion of autism, between <strong>88%<\/strong> of individuals diagnosed with autism have a co-occurring motor condition?<\/p>\n<p>The Baby Grow project is finding new, evidence-based, ways of assessing if a baby&#8217;s development is healthy. We&#8217;re seeking to reveal a much-needed early detection system for conditions such as autism.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Over 100 families<\/strong> have agreed to participate in our pioneering project at the University of Sussex.<\/p>\n<p>For the first eight months, they film their babies in their own homes from the same angle, the camera looking down on the baby, who&#8217;s wearing a Baby Grow onesie and lying on a Baby Grow yoga mat \u00e2\u20ac\u201d enabling our team to use AI software to analyse every twitch or fidget, kick and stretch.<\/p>\n<p>Our project monitors these babies for the <strong>30 months<\/strong> of their lives\u2026 exploring how their early movements are connected to their later social and communication abilities.<\/p>\n<\/section>\n<p><!-- TEAM --><\/p>\n<section style=\"max-width:900px; margin:0 auto 3em;\">\n<h2>Meet the Team<\/h2>\n<div style=\"display:flex; flex-wrap:wrap; gap:2em; margin-top:1.5em;\">\n<p>    <!-- Repeat this block for each team member --><\/p>\n<div style=\"flex:1 1 180px; max-width:220px; text-align:center;\">\n      <img decoding=\"async\" src=\"[PHOTO_URL_1]\" alt=\"[TEAM_MEMBER_NAME_1]\" style=\"width:100%; border-radius:50%; aspect-ratio:1\/1; object-fit:cover;\"><\/p>\n<h3 style=\"margin:0.75em 0 0.25em;\">[TEAM_MEMBER_NAME_1]<\/h3>\n<p><a href=\"[PROFILE_LINK_1]\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">[Role \/ Institution]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div style=\"flex:1 1 180px; max-width:220px; text-align:center;\">\n      <img decoding=\"async\" src=\"[PHOTO_URL_2]\" alt=\"[TEAM_MEMBER_NAME_2]\" style=\"width:100%; border-radius:50%; aspect-ratio:1\/1; object-fit:cover;\"><\/p>\n<h3 style=\"margin:0.75em 0 0.25em;\">[TEAM_MEMBER_NAME_2]<\/h3>\n<p><a href=\"[PROFILE_LINK_2]\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">[Role \/ Institution]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div style=\"flex:1 1 180px; max-width:220px; text-align:center;\">\n      <img decoding=\"async\" src=\"[PHOTO_URL_3]\" alt=\"[TEAM_MEMBER_NAME_3]\" style=\"width:100%; border-radius:50%; aspect-ratio:1\/1; object-fit:cover;\"><\/p>\n<h3 style=\"margin:0.75em 0 0.25em;\">[TEAM_MEMBER_NAME_3]<\/h3>\n<p><a href=\"[PROFILE_LINK_3]\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">[Role \/ Institution]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><!-- Add more team member blocks here as needed --><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/section>\n<p><!-- PODCAST & DOCUMENTARY --><\/p>\n<section style=\"max-width:800px; margin:0 auto 3em;\">\n<h2>The Podcast and Video Documentary<\/h2>\n<h3>Episode 1 \u2014 The First Eight Months<\/h3>\n<p>This podcast and video documentary are for anyone interested in how social and communication skills emerge over the first years of life, and explores whether the quality of a baby&#8217;s first movements can act as an early detection system for neurodevelopmental conditions like autism.<\/p>\n<p>Join us for Episode 1 as we follow how parents are trained to capture key moments of their baby&#8217;s development over the first eight months of life in the comfort of their own homes. Meet the scientists using the latest technology to reveal key features of infant movements \u00e2\u20ac\u201d which are now showing promise as an early autism screening tool. In this episode we get up close and personal with three of the Baby Grow project&#8217;s 100 families who have been working side-by-side with the scientists to provide the most detailed view of early child development ever reported.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Acknowledgements<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><em>This podcast episode was written and presented by [xxx], produced by Will Hood of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theacademicpodcast.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">The Academic Podcast Agency<\/a>, funded by the Simons Foundation and with support from the University of Sussex.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>This documentary episode was written and presented by [xxx], produced by Andrew Smith of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.fleetingyearfilms.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Fleeting Year Films<\/a>, funded by the Simons Foundation and with support from the University of Sussex.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/section>\n<p><!-- RESEARCH & SOURCES --><\/p>\n<section style=\"max-width:800px; margin:0 auto 3em;\">\n<h2>Research and Recommended Sources<\/h2>\n<ul style=\"line-height:2;\">\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.bbc.co.uk\/reel\/video\/p0ggy0fn\/how-i-rewired-my-brain-in-six-weeks\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">BBC Reels<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=dDnPhP-gPuY\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">University of Sussex (YouTube)<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.newsweek.com\/baby-movements-predict-neurodivergence-1920020\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Newsweek<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/eismart.co.uk\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">EI: SMART<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.mehuman.io\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Me Human<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.gillianforrester.com\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Prof Gilly Forrester \u2014 media site<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/profiles.sussex.ac.uk\/p170236-gillian-forrester\/about\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Prof Gilly Forrester \u2014 University of Sussex profile<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/section>\n<p><!-- PUBLICATIONS --><\/p>\n<section style=\"max-width:800px; margin:0 auto 3em;\">\n<h2>Publications<\/h2>\n<p>Sotoodeh S, Ossmy O, Hall J, Rowan H, Donati G, Forrester GS (2026). Automatic Pose Estimation in Newborn Infants: Lessons from the Baby Grow Study, <em>Behavior Research Methods<\/em>. <a href=\"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3758\/s13428-026-02943-z\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3758\/s13428-026-02943-z<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Ossmy O, Rowan H, Sotoodeh S, Hall J, Donati G, Forrester GS (2025). Frequent, Scalable and Global Use of \u201cIntelligent Onesies\u201d to Quantify Newborns\u2019 Spontaneous Movements in Natural Settings, 54, <em>IEEE International Conference on Development and Learning (ICDL)<\/em>, Prague. <a href=\"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1109\/ICDL63968.2025.11204424\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1109\/ICDL63968.2025.11204424<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Ossmy O, Donati G, Kaur A, Sotoodeh MS, Forrester GS (2025). Towards automatic assessment of atypical early motor development? <em>Brain Research Bulletin<\/em>. <a href=\"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1016\/j.brainresbull.2025.111311\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1016\/j.brainresbull.2025.111311<\/a><\/p>\n<\/section>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Baby Grow The Baby Grow project follows an extraordinary experiment revealing how the way infants wriggle, from birth, helps prepare their brains and bodies to navigate a complex physical and social world. Did you know that meeting motor milestones is highly associated with neurotypical social and communication development? Did you know that although motor differences [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1092","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mehuman.io\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1092","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mehuman.io\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mehuman.io\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mehuman.io\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mehuman.io\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1092"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/mehuman.io\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1092\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1099,"href":"https:\/\/mehuman.io\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1092\/revisions\/1099"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mehuman.io\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1092"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mehuman.io\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1092"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mehuman.io\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1092"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}