Why does a Human age go to 0 when they are born when they have been developing for 9 Months already?

Question

I'm very interested if there is a specific reason as to why the 9 months in womb don't count in a person age?

Answer 1

I used to ask that same question, and like you probably, got no answers or at least no good ones.

I also just searched the net and could not find anything either.

I am assuming that they count from the time he arrives in the world.

After all he is only growing in the womb, not really all together in there. But when he is ready to submerge safely after all toes and eyebrows are set in place, then he is considered old enough to be born and day one on this earth begins.

Answer 2

The very first problem, of course, is the date of conception. There's no real way to determine this. You can back-calculate and make a guess, and of course if your parents only had sex once a month it's not much of a mystery. But most women aren't even aware they're pregnant until a few weeks after the fact; many aren't sure for another month or two after that; and there's even the occasional time when the whole thing is a surprise (believe it or not). So that's your first reason - a birthday is obvious and easy to determine, but a conception day is usually neither.

There are also cultural reasons which are a little less relevant now. It wasn't too long ago (and is still the case in some places) that many children did not survive birth. Nor was it even too long ago that many children did not survive being children. In some cultures, it was considered normal not to even NAME a child until they were several years old, because mortality rates were so high it was pointless to become too attached to them. Even now a stillborn or miscarried pregnancy is not often considered part of the 'family tree' and is not counted among most people's compliments of brothers, sisters, and so on. Emotionally, it is sometimes easier to just let the event pass instead of giving it a name and such.

And of course not everyone DOES spend nine months in the womb. Some are born prematurely and some late. So it's not really appropriate to just tack on a standard nine months to everyone either.

Perhaps someday people will think differently about such things. Children come from parents... it's not so much that one life begins as old life is changing and renewing. At no point in the process are there really just non-living things, after all. Maybe instead of birthdays they'll just celebrate the continuity of all life.

Maybe.

Answer 3

The 9 months that the baby is (usually) inside the womb is a period of time in which the baby cannot maintain itself by his own means. From the moment he leaves the womb he is independent (moment zero). Also there is a practical reason. In order for the person responsible for the baby to give all the shots (vaccines) the baby needs, that person has to know when to give the shots, and since they have to be administered in months and not in years, it is easier to count from zero up. Instead of saying at one year and five months or 29 months, you can say five months. Its shorter, easier to remember.

Answer 4

Good question. When a person is in the womb, it's considered a developmental period. Once the child is born it's exposed to the outside world and begins it's life as a viable being. You're a person so to say and not an appendage of someone else.

Answer 5

The real reason is accuracy. As someone said, 9 months doesn't mean exactly those many days for every human ever conceived. It is cumbersome to keep up or to try and backdate conception age.
A baby who is born prematurely gets its age counted from that day onwards. Nobody tries to count and wait to nine months so that its birth date can begin there.

Answer 6

actually the soul enters the body of the baby in the 3rd month of pregnancy as i know,and then it becomes somehow alive and movement is noticed,but ,we say always that breathing is the sign of life ,and the baby doesn't breath until it is out of the womb.....also,the baby inside the mother's womb is a sign of incomplete development so u can't count the age of an incomplete human,that's what i think!!!

Answer 7

Well certainly not in most parts of the world - but it's more of a cultural thing

But the Chinese do! At least in rural parts of China, babies are counted as a year old when born.

Answer 8

Because despite argument from abortion protesters and the like, you're not alive until you come out.

This is just my opinion no scientific facts involved. Apparently this opinion was shared by the same people that originally determined how a persons age was going to be tracked.

Answer 9

Human perception. They don't count the time in the womb.

Answer 10

It is because you start the count only after you land on Earth - just like u can't say that u went to or via Switzerland by just flying past Swiss Alps.