Portrait of a newborn.

To discover whether the American woman has a preconceived idea of her newborn's appearance, ten primigravidas were asked to draw their newborns-to-be and were interviewed about their expectations. Responses were analyzed for recurring themes and compared with a stereotypical baby described by Lorenz. The informants' general descriptions of their newborns-to-be were specific to the particular family. The newborns were closer in appearance to an older baby than to a newborn. The informants' newborns had two of the Lorenz's six stereotypical attributes.