Fun Facts!
Early Brain Development in Children
By: AuthorPamela Li
Posted onLast updated: May 4, 2023 Evidence Based
Early Brain Development
Early childhood is a time of tremendous brain development. The young developing brain literally changes shape and size in response to everything encountered in the early years. New environments, life experiences, caretakers, and relationships can all affect the way complex brain circuits are wired. This network of synaptic connections will ultimately determine brain function and the development of behavior.
Statistics
A baby’s brain at birth has roughly 86 billion brain cells (neurons)1, almost all the neurons the human brain will ever have2.
Although a newborn has about the same number of neurons as an adult, it has only 25% of the adult size.
Infant’s neurons are connected by only roughly 50 trillion new neural connections, called synapses, whereas an adult brain has about 500 trillion of them3.
By age 3, the synaptic connections have grown to 1000 trillion.
90% of brain development completes by the age of 54.
During early adulthood, the synaptic density will be half of that of a toddler at age two.
