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Emory professor featured in new Netflix documentary series 'Babies’'

The third episode of the new Netflix documentary series “Babies” features Emory anthropologist Michelle Lampl’s groundbreaking research that proved babies and children really do have growth spurts.

Emory professor Michelle Lampl is among more than 30 internationally renowned scientists featured in the new Netflix documentary series “Babies.”

Lampl, Charles Howard Candler and Samuel Candler Dobbs Professor of Anthropology, holds both an MD and a PhD. She is the director of Emory’s innovative Center for the Study of Human Health.

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With 12 episodes, “Babies” offers a comprehensive investigation into the science of the first year of life, covering the epic journey that humans make from infancy to toddlerhood. The program highlights pioneering research from eminent scientists from across the globe, including the United States, France, Israel, Singapore, Canada, Scandinavia and the United Kingdom.

Lampl is featured in episode three, “Crawling.” The episode highlights her paradigm-shifting research on infant growth that documented for the first time that babies and children do indeed grow in spurts.

“It’s important to know that babies do not grow all the time, and when they do it is notable,” Lampl says. “I hope that parents watching the documentary get the affirmation of what they see and experience with their children: that their babies grow in spurts, and at these times their baby’s behavior changes. They are fussy and irritable, hungry, experience sleep disruptions and finally experience longer sleep.”

“I would like my ongoing research to be a voice for infants who cannot express in any other way that they are growing, and for caregivers to understand that the chemistry behind such growth spurts is responsible for these behavioral changes which temporarily require more comfort, support and food,” she says.

The series debuted Feb. 21 and is currently available on Netflix. Filming took place on the Emory campus last May as well as offsite to capture Lampl in action measuring the growth of a baby in their home as part of her ongoing research.


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