Babies vs Infants
There are many different words to refer to children, especially small kids. People call them babies, infants, toddlers, kiddies, and so on with some terms being slangs and not even accepted English words. Of course, all these terms are used to refer to small children, but there is a clear cut difference between just a baby and an infant as infancy is a duration clearly defined by the doctors. It is not that infants are not babies; they are very much small kids we call babies. However, there are differences that will be highlighted in this article.
Babies
We are tempted to call any child below the age of 4 years as a baby. In fact, any human offspring that is very young is generally termed a baby. Of course, a newborn is a baby, and we refer to the young one as a baby when we visit a relative having given birth to a child. A small child is commonly referred to as a baby irrespective of his age though there are developmental stages in the first few years of the life of a human offspring. The smallest of babies are the newborns in the first few days of their lives. Infant is a word that is reserved for a kid before the age of 1 year. So, if you have a baby boy or girl who is a few months old, the doctor would refer to him or her as an infant.
However, there are many grandmothers and grandfather who would take exception of this definition and call their grandchildren babies even when they are much older because of their extreme love for their grandkids.
Infant
A human baby in his first year of life is referred to as an infant. However, until they complete first three months of their lives, small babies are newborns and technically they are infants between 3-12 months of age. However, there are places where human babies up to 3 years of age are referred to as infants. In fact, it is common to refer to a newborn baby within his first month of life as an infant who is a neonate or a newborn. Life in this world begins with infancy which is a term that has been derived from a Latin word that means speechless or someone who cannot speak.
What is the difference between Babies and Infants?
• It is common to refer to very young human offspring as babies though infant is a word that is common among doctors.
• Human babies between the ages of 1-12 months are referred to as infants though in some countries babies up to the age of 3 years are referred to as infants.
• Infant is a word derived from Latin infans that means someone who is unable to speak.
• Infancy is a stage in the development of a human baby, and it is not wrong to call an infant a baby.
• The confusion arises because of the presence of infant formula and baby formula making people think as if the two words are used for different ages.