# Why Shouldn't A Baby See Its Reflection? Superstition Question. **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [March 17, 2002, 3:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-shouldnt-a-baby-see-its-reflection-superstition-question/98683 "2002-03-17T03:10:12Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Mephisto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/48db29/32.png) [@Mephisto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mephisto)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2002, 3:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-shouldnt-a-baby-see-its-reflection-superstition-question/98683/1 "2002-03-17T03:10:12Z")
Well? Not long ago I was walking past a mirror with my infant daughter in my arms. As I did, I turned so she could see her reflection and said something like, “Who’s that pretty little girl?” or something equally corny and fatherlike. And was promptly reprimanded. Seems everybody in my wife’s family thinks a baby shouldn’t see her reflection or something bad will happen. This is a new one to me. What’s the bad thing, why would it happen, where did this superstition start. Just curious. Thanks in advance. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Blue\_Sky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d26b3c/32.png) [@Mr.Blue\_Sky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Blue_Sky)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2002, 3:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-shouldnt-a-baby-see-its-reflection-superstition-question/98683/2 "2002-03-17T03:26:34Z")
Supposedly, it will cause the baby to stutter later in life. :rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![JillGat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/9fc29f/32.png) [@JillGat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JillGat)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2002, 3:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-shouldnt-a-baby-see-its-reflection-superstition-question/98683/3 "2002-03-17T03:33:55Z")
In Jamaica, you can’t let your baby see their shadow or a ghost will follow them home. It won’t make them stutter, though. That only happens if you cut their hair before they start to talk. ---
**Author:** ![AWB](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/bb73d2/32.png) [@AWB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AWB)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2002, 3:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-shouldnt-a-baby-see-its-reflection-superstition-question/98683/4 "2002-03-17T03:34:51Z")
Definately a superstition, but not one I’ve ever heard of. Saying corny little things to my daughter is one of the joys in my life. 🙂 After almost every bath I give her, I hold her up to the mirror and ask, “Who’s that!?” She grins and giggles, and so far her soul hasn’t been stolen by the spirits of the mirror. :rolleyes: Your in-laws are just flaky. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Mephisto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/48db29/32.png) [@Mephisto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mephisto)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2002, 5:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-shouldnt-a-baby-see-its-reflection-superstition-question/98683/5 "2002-03-17T05:32:33Z")
> [@](#): > > Originally posted by Mr. Blue Sky: > \*\*Supposedly, it will cause the baby to stutter later in life. \*\* Weird, I wonder why? > [@](#): > > Originally posted by JillGat: > \*\*In Jamaica, you can’t let your baby see their shadow or a ghost will follow them home. > > It won’t make them stutter, though. That only happens if you cut their hair before they start to talk. \*\* Nuh-uh! You’re making that up! Aren’t you? Because that does sound kinda familiar . . . > [@](#): > > Originally posted by AWB: > > \*\*Your in-laws are just flaky. 😃 \*\* You can’t even begin to really understand . . . 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Exgineer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a88e4f/32.png) [@Exgineer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exgineer)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2002, 5:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-shouldnt-a-baby-see-its-reflection-superstition-question/98683/6 "2002-03-17T05:46:25Z")
Eh, don’t worry about the mirror thing. BUT, if you clip her toenails left-to-right, or if she was born under a new moon, you gots yerself some problems, brother. ---
**Author:** ![Cazzle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cazzle/32/75_2.png) [@Cazzle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cazzle)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2002, 7:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-shouldnt-a-baby-see-its-reflection-superstition-question/98683/7 "2002-03-17T07:41:39Z")
Your in laws are weird Everyone knows that it’s _PETS_ that aren’t supposed to see themselves in the mirror. Fancy getting babies and pets confused. :rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![kniz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/c37758/32.png) [@kniz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kniz)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2002, 3:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-shouldnt-a-baby-see-its-reflection-superstition-question/98683/8 "2002-03-17T15:57:07Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by cazzle \* > \*\*Fancy getting babies and pets confused. :rolleyes: \*\* Fact is that pets never reach the point of intelligence that they know they are looking at their own image. A baby also does not know this and there is a point at which they are able to do this just like a lot of other things. The fact that they don’t recognize themselves is probably the basis for the superstition. Only piece of advice I have is to pray your daughter does not stutter, because in-laws can make life miserable. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![cmkeller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cmkeller/32/118_2.png) [@cmkeller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cmkeller)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2002, 5:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-shouldnt-a-baby-see-its-reflection-superstition-question/98683/9 "2002-03-17T17:17:26Z")
In Orthodox Jewish circles, the baby-seeing-himself-in-the-mirror thing was a superstition that the kid will be conceited. I don’t know, however, how much of that has any genuine roots in Jewish tradition. ---
**Author:** ![Sofa\_King](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/58956e/32.png) [@Sofa\_King](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sofa_King)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2002, 6:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-shouldnt-a-baby-see-its-reflection-superstition-question/98683/10 "2002-03-17T18:16:59Z")
This is all a conspiracy on the part of behavioral scientists who want to conceal the fact that children really are animals, isn’t it? ---
**Author:** ![SpoilerVirgin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/4491bb/32.png) [@SpoilerVirgin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SpoilerVirgin)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2002, 11:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-shouldnt-a-baby-see-its-reflection-superstition-question/98683/11 "2002-03-17T23:41:30Z")
No word on origins, but according to [this](http://www.angelfire.com/pa/SpiritMystery/superstitions.html) page: > [@](#): > > If a baby is allowed to see itself in a looking-glass before it is some months old, it will die before the year is out, or develop the childish complaint, rickets. Apparently cutting her nails before she’s a year old will cause her to become a thief. My favorite from that page: > [@](#): > > Spit upon a new-born baby and you will bring it luck. ---
**Author:** ![Johanna](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johanna/32/8318_2.png) [@Johanna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johanna)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2002, 1:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-shouldnt-a-baby-see-its-reflection-superstition-question/98683/12 "2002-03-18T01:10:25Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by SpoilerVirgin \* > \*\* > > > [@](#): > > > > Spit upon a new-born baby and you will bring it luck. \*\* When anthropologist Louis S. B. Leakey was born in the bush in Kenya in 1903, the local Kikuyu tribesmen visited his cradle and “baptised” him by spitting all over him. In their culture it was considered a blessing on the newborn. ---
**Author:** ![JillGat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/9fc29f/32.png) [@JillGat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JillGat)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2002, 4:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-shouldnt-a-baby-see-its-reflection-superstition-question/98683/13 "2002-03-18T04:53:20Z")
[[Apparently cutting her nails before she’s a year old will cause her to become a thief.]] Many people in Jamaica say that, too. Well, not exactly that. They say, “Naw cut a fi im nail dem or im a ton tief.” ---
**Author:** ![KimisDream](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/67e7ee/32.png) [@KimisDream](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KimisDream)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2011, 2:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-shouldnt-a-baby-see-its-reflection-superstition-question/98683/14 "2011-06-12T14:14:34Z")
Apparently a baby shouldn’t see their reflection until they are one because it can mean an early death for them. ---
**Author:** ![YogSothoth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/8edcca/32.png) [@YogSothoth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/YogSothoth)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2011, 5:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-shouldnt-a-baby-see-its-reflection-superstition-question/98683/15 "2011-06-12T17:44:53Z")
How else are you supposed to see if the baby’s a vampire or not? ---
**Author:** ![Lasciel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e79b87/32.png) [@Lasciel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lasciel)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2011, 6:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-shouldnt-a-baby-see-its-reflection-superstition-question/98683/16 "2011-06-12T18:36:44Z")
There are so many stupid baby superstitions, it’s a wonder parents with newborns ever did anything at all. Cut their hair before they speak and they’ll stutter. Let them see their reflection before they’re a year old and they’ll die. Cut their toenails and they’ll become a thief. Let a baby girl touch the ground and she’ll become a streetwalker. I suggest inviting the in-laws over and doing all of those combined into a nice baby-parent-interpretive dance, and then giving the inlaws a look like: 😃 “What you going to do about it now?” ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2011, 10:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-shouldnt-a-baby-see-its-reflection-superstition-question/98683/17 "2011-06-12T22:19:07Z")
I’d have figured that, since the baby didn’t recognize their reflection, that their soul must be in the reflection. Thus you are creating a soulless child, or, at least one with less of a soul (having it split between the real and the reflection.) Stuttering seems like an odd thing to connect, unless there’s some connection with stuttering and having less of a soul. ---
**Author:** ![FeAudrey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/7feea3/32.png) [@FeAudrey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FeAudrey)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2011, 11:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-shouldnt-a-baby-see-its-reflection-superstition-question/98683/18 "2011-06-12T23:22:28Z")
> [@YogSosoth](#): > > How else are you supposed to see if the baby’s a vampire or not? Or a zombie! 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Waldelfe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/f08c70/32.png) [@Waldelfe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Waldelfe)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2011, 12:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-shouldnt-a-baby-see-its-reflection-superstition-question/98683/19 "2011-06-13T12:28:13Z")
My grandma always said that the baby will be vain if it looks in the mirror before the 1. birthday. And you’re not supposed to cut the hair, too so the stupidity can grow out. If you tickle the baby it will stutter. ---
**Author:** ![Markxxx](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/5daacb/32.png) [@Markxxx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Markxxx)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2011, 4:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-shouldnt-a-baby-see-its-reflection-superstition-question/98683/20 "2011-06-13T16:10:59Z")
> [@Waldelfe](#): > > My grandma always said that the baby will be vain if it looks in the mirror before the 1. birthday. > . This was the reason I always heard why babies shouldn’t look in mirrors [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-shouldnt-a-baby-see-its-reflection-superstition-question/98683.md?page=2)