History Main / NoInfantileAmnesia

* Gems in ''WesternAnimation/StevenUniverse'' are fully cognizant from the instant they are BornAsAnAdult, and thus remember their own births. Peridot describes her own creation as simply, "I didn't exist. Then I did." This does not apply to [[HalfHumanHybrid Steven]], who can't at all remember the events of his first winter in "Three Gems and a Baby".

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This trope is quite far from TruthInTelevision; the inability to remember one's infancy is standard for humans and is known as [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Childhood_amnesia Childhood amnesia.]] What's worse, most people can be easily tricked into [[{{Gaslighting}} "remembering" things that never happened]] (as demonstrated by, among others, [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elizabeth_Loftus Elizabeth Loftus]]).

* ''Manga/The100GirlfriendsWhoReallyReallyReallyReallyReallyLoveYou'''s protagonist, Rentarou Aijou, distinctly remembers his first love at 8-months-old.
* ''Anime/DragonBallZ'': The first Broly movie. The titular villain has a deep, sadistic, personal hatred for Goku, because [[DisproportionateRetribution Goku's crying bothered him when they were newborns]]. For about one day maximum. Possibly [[JustifiedTrope justified]] in that this is an [[BizarreAlienBiology alien]] we're talking about, here. The only other time a Saiyan's infant memories are mentioned in the Anime/Manga is when Raditz asks if Goku received any head injuries when he was young. The way he talked, you'd almost expect that a Saiyan can recall their entire lives.

* ''Manga/TwentiethCenturyBoys'': Kanna can remember being held as a baby. She had ESP.
* ''Manga/MedakaBox'': Medaka and Zenkichi first met each other when they were two years old, at which time Medaka proposed but Zenkichi said no. Medaka remembers this [[JustifiedTrope because she's a superhuman being]] and assumes Zenkichi's feelings haven't changed; meanwhile, Zenkichi [[SubvertedTrope knows that they met but doesn't recall any specifics]], least of all the proposal (and even if he did, he probably wouldn't take it seriously). As a result, each of them has feelings for the other but wrongly assumes it's one-sided. [[spoiler:At least until Zenkichi wins the Student Council election.]]
* ''Anime/YugiohZexal'': One of Astral's recovered memories is his own birth.
* Ray from ''Manga/ThePromisedNeverland'' has this condition, which allowed him to figure out the truth of the orphanage; he lampshades it as being very rare. He also remembers [[spoiler:the song that his mother would hum to him while he was still in her womb, which eventually leads to him figuring out that Isabella is his mother.]]
* ''Anime/YuYuHakusho'': Hiei states that he can see and hear before he was born and as a newborn can understand what is happening around him. It may be justified since he's a demon, but it appears his twin sister Yukina does not remember this time.

* ''Manga/DrStone'': A man from Kohaku's village who goes nameless for much of the story is shown to have perfect recall of his arrival in the village and even of his father's face, despite both happening when he was an infant, which was also the last time he saw his father. This villager, [[spoiler:named Soyuz after the space capsule that brought astronauts back to Earth after everyone turned to stone]], is the son of the leader of a island country whose heads would choose wives for their strong memory to better retain the 100 Tales which tells their lore.

* ''Manga/AyakashiTriangle'': Suzu being the {{reincarnation}} of the ayakashi medium made her fully conscious since her own birth--even though previous lives only regained their memories gradually as they grew up. "Suzu" doesn't remember it ''anymore'', though, because she's a SplitPersonality lacking most of her memories before diverging in early childhood, but the original personality still does.

* UsefulNotes/{{The Silver Age|OfComicBooks}} ''ComicBook/{{Superman}}'' had total recall as one of his many, many super-powers; he remembered Krypton quite well, even though he was about three when he left. However, repeated exposure to Kryptonite could cause gaps in his memory, which he compensated for with a special memory-viewing device (Generally as a springboard for flashback stories).
* ''ComicBook/TheAdventuresOfBarryWeenBoyGenius'' plays it straight. The titular boy genius was conscious and self-aware in the womb. He hypothesizes he has at most ten years from his current age (7? 10?) before his hyperintelligence drives him irreparably crazy, so he wants to live life to the fullest now.
* In ''ComicBook/ElfQuest'', it's probably caused by OurElvesAreDifferent.

*** The elven infants stay in the womb for two years or more. They are also become capable of telepathy while in the womb, at least with the mother, and possibly with the father. (For comparison, in humans brain waves of the 'dreaming' type are detectable at at least five weeks.) It is entirely possible an elven child's brain is at a different level of development at birth.
* ''ComicBook/CaptainAmerica'': Cap's enemy the Red Skull once claimed that he could remember being in his mother's ''womb''.

* In ''ComicBook/NewTitans: ComicBook/WhoIsDonnaTroy'', [[Characters/WonderGirlDonnaTroy Donna]] has pretty clear memories of events that happened when she was 3 at oldest.

* Averted in ''ComicStrip/CalvinAndHobbes''. Six-year old Calvin gives up writing his autobiography because he can't remember the whole first half of his life.
** In a later comic where Calvin notes that he doesn't remember anything from before he was three, even freaking out and wondering if someone had brainwashed him to keep some secrets hidden, [[MaybeMagicMaybeMundane Hobbes]] comments that he remembers Calvin spending a lot of time burping up. If you take the view that Hobbes is a creation of Calvin's mind, then it's possible that Calvin still has his earliest memories but can't consciously access them. If you consider Hobbes a separate entity, however, it's a subtle retcon of how the two met as it implies he was always around from the start of Calvin's life in one way or another.
* In ''ComicStrip/FoxTrot'', Jason implies that he could remember some bits before age 5, as well as making advanced calculations. Likewise, in another comic strip, he once claimed that he wanted ''VideoGame/StarCraft'' since he was in the womb, with even Roger vouching for him, causing a {{squick}}ed Andy Fox to cancel the Dentist's appointment.

* {{Downplayed}} in ''Fanfic/BetterOffNotKnowing'': The protagonist's neonatal memory seems to be limited to the "bone-crushing cold" [[spoiler:of [[TheBrute her biological mother's]] TailorMadePrison at the North Pole]].

* In Fanfic/Gensokyo20XX, we have two examples of this. In Yukari's case, this is played straight, in that she can recall things from when she was two, then again, she is a youkai, so this could be explainable, if not justified. In the case with Maribel and Renko, this is a tad downplayed in that they can remember bits and pieces from the past surrounding the time a little before and while meeting Yukari. Of course, they can only describe the very little they know. In Reimu's scenario, this is possibly averted in that she probably doesn't remember much a little before and during imprisonment.

* Like in canon, Dexter in ''Fanfic/InvisibleSun'' was a BrainyBaby who understood adults from a very, very young age. He still remembers much of his infancy. Unfortunately, he remembers things he wasn't supposed to understand, such as [[spoiler:how he was an unplanned pregnancy]]. He also remembers his parents [[spoiler:frequently complaining about him]].
* This is averted in ''Webcomic/KillLaKillAU'' with Ryuuko, who cannot remember anything before three-years old. This is noted in Part 2/part 4 of comic 25, where she is currently eight and doesn't remember what happened to Ragyo six years prior but she does feel her absence, describing it as "the warmth that had been gone from her life for some time". Satsuki, however, can remember things from when she was two, stating that is when her memories first began, along with that being the age she learned how to change diapers. Of course, Nui lampshades it by saying, "There is no fucking way you remember that."

* In the Literature/{{Discworld}} young Witch Rebecka Smith-Rhodes gives her mother great big flashes of guilt when she remembers seeing a line of four men dangling from ropes, but can't quite remember when or if it happened at all. Her mother clearly remembers [[https://www.fanfiction.net/s/12650047/4/Strandpiel attending the execution of four men who tried to kill her]]. She took Bekki. Who was only a couple of months old at the time. [[note]]The fic is ''Strandpiel'' by Creator/AAPessimal[[/note]]

* WesternAnimation/{{Megamind}} can remember the last thing his parents said to him before he was sent away as an infant. Granted, he's a supergenius alien and seemed to find living with his parents at eight days old to be 'embarrassing', so his mind probably works differently.
* In ''WesternAnimation/ThePrinceOfEgypt'', after trying but failing to convince her long-lost brother Moses of his Hebrew origins, Miriam sadly sings the lullaby their mother sang when she [[MosesInTheBulrushes set him afloat on the river as a baby]] - Moses recognizes the song, making him begin to realize that her claim is true.
* Disney's ''WesternAnimation/{{Tangled}}'' includes a scene in which [[spoiler:Rapunzel has an epiphany and remembers being the king's and queen's baby. The flashback is pretty blurry, though]]. The opening narration implies [[spoiler:she was one day old at the time. [[ThreeMonthOldNewborn She had a lot of hair and was very... active for a day old infant]], so it could be the magic of the flower or something.]]
* A large part of ''WesternAnimation/TheBossBaby'' is that the villain [[spoiler:Francis E. Francis was once a Boss Baby himself. He remembers everything since the day he was in essence "born" into a family after the Boss Baby formula stopped working on him, which fuels his motivation to destroy Baby Corp.. [[JustifiedTrope It's justified]] because he kept his Baby Corp. pacifier which allowed him to retain his memories.]]

* Averted in ''Film/BabyGeniuses'', where it is revealed that babies before the age of 2 are ridiculously smart (thanks to the experiences of their past life). Around the age of 2, they "cross over" and forget everything that happened before, becoming normal children. The main characters' adopted father actually manages to teach himself to understand infants' "speech".
** This may be a ShoutOut to the ''Literature/MaryPoppins'' books by P.L. Travers in which it's revealed that all infants have memories of their lives just before birth and can even communicate with animals--until they reach the age of two or so. Then they become regular children. Only Mary Poppins herself seems to have retained her infantile memories and ability to communicate with animals.
** In the sequel, one of the characters is a baby whose aging was halted before age two thanks to his father's invention. He'll always be a genius, but he'll also never be able to grow up.
* ''Film/{{Blade}}'': A flashback shows his dying mother bleeding from the neck reaching out to him after he was born. It moves Blade to help the doctor who is in a similar plight.
* In ''Film/BlindChance'' Witek apparently remembers his own birth. Which involves his mother in labour, left to her own devices on the hospital's floor, while the doctors are busy with an influx of wounded and dying protesters.
* Defied in ''Film/DonnieDarko'', when Donnie says during a class presentation that anyone who claims to remember anything from before the age of three is lying.
* In ''Film/{{Flash Gordon|1980}}'', when Zarkov is reprogrammed by Ming's secret police, they rewind his memories all the way back to his birth, and even to the womb.
* ''Film/ForrestGump'': Averted: Forrest Gump explicitly states that he has absolutely no recollection of his birth.

* Briefly mentioned near the beginning of ''Film/{{Ladyhawke}}'', where "the Mouse", in an aside, compares his escape from TheAlcatraz to leaving his mother's womb -- "God, what a memory!"

* In ''Film/StarTrekVTheFinalFrontier'', Sybok conjures Spock's most distressing, self-torturing memory, which turns out to be his father dissing him seconds after his own birth.
-->'''Sarek:''' So human.
** Interestingly, a deleted scene in the rebooted ''Film/StarTrek2009'' also shows a similar birth scene, except Sarek expresses nothing but pride for his son. Possibly, this was done because few people like the fifth film.
* ''Franchise/StarWars'': In ''Film/ReturnOfTheJedi'', Princess Leia remembers her "real mother", giving her a description of "very beautiful, kind, but sad." Padmé fell to DeathByChildbirth in ''Film/RevengeOfTheSith'', making it this trope retroactively. Her brother doesn't remember her. That, or Leia had a succession of three mothers, including Padmé. The first {{novelization}} to that movie, written long before the prequels with the full approval of George Lucas, expands on those memories, mentioning one of being hidden in a trunk and a traumatic parting -- "flesh torn from flesh". There is no WordOfGod on the issue, but a common {{Fanon}} theory held that the "real mother" Leia remembers is Bail Organa's wife at the time, Breha, who died when Leia was a young child. However, this theory was {{jossed}} by the ContinuityReboot, which established that Breha Organa died with Alderaan, and that Leia's adoption was public knowledge on Alderaan. The other popular theory, that Leia unconsciously used the Force to look into the past, is still possible.

* In ''The Secret Commonwealth'', the second novel in the ''Literature/TheBookOfDust'' series, Lyra tells a minor character about her memory of being brought to Oxford as a baby. The memory isn't entirely accurate, for instance she admits she isn't certain if the horse she remembers riding on was real, but the memory has enough similarity to the actual events of her arrival in Oxford, as told in the first book of the series ''La Belle Sauvage'', to suggest she may be partially remembering the actual events of her arrival. Lyra was an infant at the time this happened.
* ''Literature/{{Dune}}'': Alia mentions being able to remember when she was in the ''womb''. Justified in that her mother Jessica [[spoiler:OD'd on spice while (unknowingly at the time) pregnant, resulting in Alia's genetic memories awakening when she was still in utero, and when the Fremen who had her take the spice realize she was pregnant they're horrified since if they'd known they wouldn't have made her do it]]. All of the novels toy with this trope. In the sequels more characters are introduced who, like Alia, are infants but already have adult-level intelligence and memories from past lives.
* In ''Literature/EndersShadow'', Bean is able to remember a fair amount of his own infancy, and was lucid enough to hide just before the "clean room" where he has been cared for is raided. This is justified by his eidetic memory. And his genetically-enhanced, ultra-powerful intellect; he was not just remembering it, he was fully conscious, although almost totally non-socialised.
* ''Literature/SmallGods'': Brutha, the hero, has an eidetic memory. He reports that his first memory was a bright light, and then someone slapped him.
* The Icarii (Magical birdmen) of ''Literature/TheWayfarerRedemption'' can remember everything from the time they're born due to their magical nature. The Acharites (Humans) and Avar aren't so lucky however.
* In ''Literature/TheBelgariad's'' 'autobiography' of Polgara, she starts the story off describing her time in the womb. Her earliest memory is apparently when she and her twin sister split from one embryo to two. Needless to say, she also recalls her babyhood. Polgara is ''weird'': the daughter of an immortal sorcerer and his shapeshifting wife.
** It's specifically mentioned that Polgara's mother did this ''deliberately'', with the assistance of the god Aldur, to better prepare her daughters for their future. That power was also used to alter Polgara in the womb, explaining why she is a BrainyBrunette (her sister had HairOfGold) and seems stronger physically than average.
* Justified in the ''Series/DoctorWho'' Literature/EighthDoctorAdventures novel ''[=EarthWorld=]''. A device is used to read Fitz's mind, causing him to remember his entire life in reverse:
-->"''Aaaaargh!''" Fitz yelled... "I was being born! Oh my god, I was being born!"

* Alias from the ''TabletopGame/ForgottenRealms'' novel ''Literature/AzureBonds'' has vivid memories of the day she was born. [[spoiler:Except the memories are fake, she's a construct created just a few days before the novel began. This means that her ''creator'' succumbed to an in-character use of this trope, when he gave her those memories.]]
* ''Franchise/ConanTheBarbarian'': In Creator/RobertEHoward's story "A Witch Shall Be Born", the witch remembers being exposed.
-->''But the life in me was stronger than the life in common folk, for it partakes of the essence of the forces that seethe in the black gulfs beyond mortal ken. The hours passed, and the sun slashed down like the molten flames of hell, but I did not die--aye, something of that torment I remember, faintly and far away, as one remembers a dim, formless dream.''
* Creator/RayBradbury's "The Small Assassin". Like [[ComicBook/TheAdventuresOfBarryWeenBoyGenius Barry Ween]], he remembers being in the womb. And he's not too happy to have been expelled from it...
* In ''Literature/TheDemonata'', [[CreepyChild Bec]] is stated to have a memory so uncannily accurate, she not only remembers being born, but ''being in the womb itself.''
* It was clearly hyperbole but, according to the Franchise/StarWarsExpandedUniverse, there are chemical interrogation techniques so effective that the test subject will remember things that his/her mother forgot while the subject was in utero.
* Although ''Literature/SirAproposOfNothing'' relays the story of his mother's conception of him via rape and his birth, he very explicitly states that the stories were told to him by his mother and the owner of the inn where he worked.
* In the ''Literature/{{Temeraire}}'' series, dragons can remember the later parts of gestation. Temeraire himself comments that dragons hatch because being in the egg is not very interesting.
* In Barbara Kingsolver's ''Literature/AnimalDreams'', protagonist Codi has a recurring nightmare of a "[[HellIsThatNoise shattering pop]]" and a [[BlindedByTheLight blinding flash]]. [[spoiler:Turns out that it's from the flashbulb on her father's camera when he took a picture of her as a newborn.]]
* In ''Literature/TheRedTent'', Zilpah claims to have memories of her time as a fetus in utero.
* Invoked in Jeramey Kraatz's [[Literature/TheCloakSociety Fall of Heroes]]. Amp's parents fell in battle when he was four. Now he is fourteen, and remembers them more from photographs than real life -- which he finds surprising. [[spoiler:Especially after the discovery they are still alive and the unsettling realization they are strangers to him.]]
* In ''{{Literature/Remnants}},'' Billy can remember infancy in Chechnya, including his birth mother nursing him. However, this trope is explicitly set up as a sign that [[PsychicPowers there's something weird about him]].
* In [[http://akaichounokoe.deviantart.com/art/Doki-s-Chronicles-I-342986274 Doki's Chronicles]], Doki recalls bits and pieces of when she born, although she did state that she doesn't remember much aside from what she's described.

* Moon from ''Literature/{{Bravelands}}'' can remember playing with her mother when she was only a few weeks ago and barely older than a newborn elephant calf. This was right before her mother was brutally killed by lions.
* ''Literature/ATaleOf'': ''Tangled'''s usage of this is justified in this continuity. Rapunzel can remember a moment from just after her birth because a witch put a spell on her allowing her to remember it.
* In ''Literature/{{Seraphina}}'', the title character remembers being in the womb. Presumably this is a trait of her half-dragon heritage.
* In ''Literature/TheShipWho Sang'', as a result of being [[ManInTheMachine enshelled]] in infancy [[WetwareCPU shellpeople]] are quite prodigal at young ages. Helva doesn't recall her short time outside of her shell, but has clear memories of being under a year old. She was "walking" (wheeling) and talking by then.
* In ''Literature/TheIrregularAtMagicHighSchool'', this trope is one reason Tatsuya has always suspected that Miyuki (who is a few months younger than him) isn't his "real" sister. He knows that infants don't have memories, and there's no way of proving he's right...yet he distinctly recalls being in a cradle, with Miya, his mother, bending over him. Miya didn't look pregnant, in the way she would have were Miyuki really born when everyone says she was. [[spoiler:He later discovers that Miyuki was artificially created by geneticists.]]
* In ''Literature/TheGirlWhoDrankTheMoon'' Luna remembers her birth mother and the Day of Sacrifice even though she was less than a year old at the time.
* In ''Literature/TheMysteriousBenedictSociety'', this is Zig-Zagged with [[spoiler:Constance Contraire. She remembers the events of the first book for the rest of the series despite being two years old at the time, but remembers next to nothing before that. However, those memories are also wedged in the back of her mind, not completely forgotten. It's noted that since she does have a hyper-developed mind, her memories also work differently. Her memories are eventually brought back through the reprogrammed Whisperer in ''The Prisoner's Dilemma''.]]
-->[[spoiler:'''Constance:''']] I'm [[spoiler:three and a half]], and besides, my mind is hardly typical. Isn't that the point of all these stupid exercises?
* ''Literature/TheWhiteBone'': Mud's memory, like that of all elephants, starts at birth. She experienced everything at the time, including being orphaned, LeftForDead, and adopted by a new family, as an incomprehensible barrage of sensation, which she could only make sense of later.
* ''Literature/DiaryOfAWimpyKid: The Third Wheel'': Greg claims this applies to him at the beginning of the book. He goes on to explain that he was born three weeks early because he couldn't take all the noise he heard from the outside world (especially because Mom was using prenatal speakers to talk to and play classical music for him) and that as a result he has been trying to catch up on all the sleep he missed out on ever since. His love of long baths also stems from memories of peacefully floating in the womb.
* ''Literature/TheHampdenshireWonder'': When the ChildProdigy Victor is six months old, Challis tells his mother, "It is very necessary that the child should have air." When Victor is four, he tells Challis, "It is very necessary to have air." Challis is shocked, thinking that Victor remembers what he said back then, but Lewes thinks it's just a coincidence.

* Olive in ''Series/ANTFarm'' claims to be able to remember, not just her birthday, but her actual birth day.

* ''Series/TheBigBangTheory'': [[InsufferableGenius Sheldon Cooper]] insists he hasn't forgotten one thing since his mother stopped breastfeeding him. (Note that it doesn't say how old he was.)
-->'''Sheldon:''' It was a drizzly Tuesday...
** This gets reiterated in the spinoff prequel ''Series/YoungSheldon''. In one episode, George and Mary instruct Sheldon to forget something he's heard, and he tersely reminds them that he's ''incapable'' of forgetting. He claims to be able to remember his own birth, adding that it was a horrible experience.
* Lampshaded and justified in ''Series/BirdsOfPrey2002''; the character who says he remembers something from the age of 2 has superpowered memory.

* This is what leads to the murder of the victim of the week in an episode of ''Series/{{Castle|2009}}''. The victim was [[spoiler:subconsciously drawing his own mother, apparently having witnessed her murder by his nanny when he was at most two years old. Once the nanny figured out he was remembering she had to kill him.]]
* ''Series/DoctorWho'': In [[Recap/DoctorWhoS32E7AGoodManGoesToWar "A Good Man Goes to War"]], River Song remembers the Doctor's cot, despite only having been in it for a few moments as a baby. (Then again, the fact that she's [[spoiler:part Time Lord]] could explain her having such an excellent memory).

-->"I'm being born. There's my dad. Oooooh, I'm being pushed back in!"
* During an argument Series/{{Frasier}} pins Niles down and starts trying to choke him which triggers a very specific memory for the latter.

* ''Series/{{House}}'': Dr. House has a rather interesting variation in one episode of Season 3. Although the patient, a child, doesn't actually remember anything in the womb, he does think he was kidnapped by aliens. Eventually, House deduces (by mockingly trying to talk to Cuddy's stomach as if she were pregnant) that the patient's Kidnapped by Aliens beliefs were actually the byproduct of portions of his twin being absorbed into his brain during fetal development.
* On ''Series/{{Limitless}}'' the drug NZT gives its users the ability to perfectly recall any memory. Eddie Morra, who has been using the drug daily for years, tells Brian that he likes to recall the memories of his time in his mother's womb because he finds them extremely relaxing.
* On ''Series/{{Lost}}'', Ben and Locke both have flashback episodes that include their own births. ("The Man Behind the Curtain" and "Cabin Fever", respectively.)
* The Child/Grogu in ''Series/TheMandalorian'' remembers the tragedy of Order 66. Justified more than most as he is a long lived alien child so it's not unreasonable to assume he could remember stuff like this despite appearing to be an infant/early toddler to most other beings.
* A kid in an episode of ''Series/MalcolmInTheMiddle'' recalled being born. Despite Malcolm's insistence that such a thing was impossible and that no one could remember their own birth, the episode played it up as truth.
* ''{{Series/Monk}}'': In "Mr. Monk and the Naked Man", Adrian Monk remembers ''how he was born''. Then again, this is played as just [[PhotographicMemory another way in which Monk's mind doesn't work like everyone else's]].

* ''Series/StarTrekVoyager''
** Harry Kim claims to remember being in the womb. However, this is never confirmed to be a true memory and Paris thinks it's absurd.
** In the episode "Q2", Q's son voices how annoyed he was when Janeway cooed over him as a baby. She's surprised he can remember that, but of course, the Q are [[SufficientlyAdvancedAlien Sufficiently Advanced Aliens]].

* The title character in ''Series/{{Hanna}}'' remembers to the car crash where her mother died--when Hanna was just a few months old.

* ''VideoGame/AnotherCode'':
** Ashley Mizuki Robbins is able to recall events from a little before and up to the day of her third birthday with decent clarity, as she's implied to have some kind of super memory. It's not perfect, as she mostly remembers her third birthday as a FlashbackNightmare and the events before it were only restored once she got back to the areas where they happened.
** This is actually discussed - a scientist working with her father is a specialist in memory and specifically states that the brain doesn't develop to remember long-term memories in children younger than the age of 3 so he is actually skeptical about some of the things she claims to remember [[spoiler:and is also a bit nervous, since some of the events she is recalling link to the time her mother was forced by her boss into a partial MindWipe when she quit in disgust at the direction their project was taking as well as possibly linking him as the BigBad of the series.]]
* In the ''Franchise/AssassinsCreed'' games, genetic memory is apparently detailed enough that one can relive the birth of an ancestor through the Animus. When Altaïr impregnates Maria Thorpe, we find out that genetic memory even lets one remember being ''sperm''!
* In ''[[VideoGame/DragonBallZBudokai Dragon Ball Z: Shin Budokai]]'', when Broly and Frieza encounter each other before fighting each other, it is implied that Broly also remembers when Planet Vegeta was destroyed and how he barely escaped with his father before they were killed by the explosion, in addition to Goku crying next to him. The same scene also implies that this incident in his life also contributed to his AxCrazy nature.
* ''VideoGame/DragonQuest'':

* In ''VideoGame/GoldenSunDarkDawn'', Eoleo comments on Kraden [[{{Immortality}} having not aged a day]] since they encountered in ''VideoGame/GoldenSunTheLostAge'', at which time Eoleo was a toddler. It's immediately commented on, with the excuse that he was a [[LittleProfessorDialog very precocious toddler]].
** Pointedly averted in the first two games, where it's a plot point that Ivan doesn't remember his birth family.

* Notably averted in ''VideoGame/JakIIRenegade'', when Samos comments at the end that "It's funny, the boy won't remember any of this." To which [[spoiler:older Jak]] replies that he ''does'' remember [[{{Precursors}} the light]].

* Averted in ''VideoGame/MassEffect2'', the Drell have eidetic memory but they don't perfectly remember their very early childhood. Thane Krios dryly speculates that if they remembered the birthing trauma, they would never recover from it.
* It is implied in the original Japanese script and the script for the remake of ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolid'', as well as stated in the Director's Commentary for the same game, that Psycho Mantis subconsciously remembers his own mother giving up her own life to give birth to him.
** Similarly, its implied that Raiden has some memories of his birth in ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolid4GunsOfThePatriots'', as he mentions that he was "born on a rainy day." As his parents were murdered by Solidus while he was still very young, it's unlikely that they would have told him.

* "WebAnimation/BattleForDreamIsland" : Exaggerated; Eggy vividly remembers when she was, as she put it, "an egg inside of an egg."

[[folder:Web Comics]]

* In ''Webcomic/DragonTails'', Goldy's oldest memories are from ''within his own egg!'' Bluey's comments suggest he remembers that event, too.

* ''WesternAnimation/AdventureTime'': In the episode "Memories of Boom-Boom Mountain", Finn vividly recalls being abandoned in the woods as an infant and being taken in by Jake's parents, though he doesn't remember how and why he was abandoned in the first place.
* In the GrandFinale of ''WesternAnimation/{{Arthur}}'', the DistantFinale epilogue mentions that Kate, who was a baby during the show's main timeline, is now a college student writing a short story about a baby who can communicate with animals. During the show's lifetime, several episodes focused on Kate doing exactly that, communicating with animals and imaginary friends, suggesting Kate subconsciously remembered her time doing so.
* The same thing happens to Beavis in ''WesternAnimation/BeavisAndButtHeadDoAmerica''. However, it was most likely a hallucination brought on by dehydration.

* Stewie from ''WesternAnimation/FamilyGuy'' also remembers being a [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Homunculus#Homunculi_in_preformationism homunculus]] within a sperm cell, as does his half-brother, Bertram. Then again, they're mutant supergeniuses. Or something. Stewie is an odd case, since he not only ''remembers'' being born; he is depicted as having been fully functioning and able to speak, write, and draw a map of Europe prior to his birth. (In one rather disgusting off-hand comment, he tells Brian that he carved "[[Film/TheShawshankRedemption Brooks was here]]" in the wall of the birth canal.)
* An odd case from ''WesternAnimation/{{Futurama}}''. Amy expresses surprise that Bender remembers his own birth. Bender replies, "Sure, it was only four years ago."

* The "Banana Formula" arc of ''WesternAnimation/RockyAndBullwinkle'' had a plot point of Bullwinkle having a PhotographicMemory when it came to whatever he ate. Rocky tests the degree of Bullwinkle's talent by asking him what he had for dinner 25 years ago. Bullwinkle replies that it was moose milk, then adds that he was a baby at the time, so he ''always'' had moose milk for dinner back then.
* ''WesternAnimation/{{Rugrats}}''
** In "Mothers Day", the babies discussed their earliest memories. Tommy's was being born or, rather, being in an incubator. Of course, Tommy is only a year old and the entire point of the show is babies with more cognitive skills than probable. Likewise, said episode, Phil and Lil reminisce on when their mother used to breastfeed them.
** In "Stu Makers Elves", Chuckie describes a recurring nightmare which the viewer will realize is his birth. Oddly, as shown in "Mother's Day", even though he's about two, he doesn't have any memory of his mother [[spoiler:Melinda]] before she passed away but he does remember her as "the nice lady from his dreams"
** In ''WesternAnimation/AllGrownUp'', a spinoff where the babies were now pre-teens, it is shown on several occasions that the kids still remember things they've done when they were babies. For example, Tommy mentions that he used to keep a screwdriver in his diaper in "Rachel Rachel" and "The Curse of Reptar" has the gang remember that Reptar was the subject of the first movie they saw and the first ice show they saw, referencing the original series episodes "At the Movies" and "Reptar on Ice" respectively.
* ''WesternAnimation/SheRaAndThePrincessesOfPower'': A minor dramatic aversion. Light Hope, the AI overseeing the planet, knows all about Adora's past, including the part where [[spoiler:Adora ended up on the planet by falling through a portal as a baby]]. When Adora demands to know why Light Hope never mentioned it, Light Hope just says that Adora was there; why would Light Hope need to remind her?

* In an episode of ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'', Groundkeeper Willie recalls how his father never said anything kind to him and just chewed him out. Cue the {{Flashback}} to Willie's father doing just this. The camera zooms back, and it is revealed that this happened just moments after Willie's birth. Back in the present, Willie claims that these were the last words his father ever said to him.
** Another episode opened with Homer dreaming of being a baby happily swimming in the womb, only to start screaming when the water broke.
** In "The War of the Simpsons", Bart is able to recognize a babysitter he hasn't seen since he was a baby.

* PlayedForLaughs in ''[[WesternAnimation/SecretSquirrel Super Secret Secret Squirrel]]'' when Morocco Mole asks his EvilTwin Scirocco [[CainAndAbel why he hates him so much]]. This segues into flashbacks within flashbacks, from when they were children, when they were infants, when they were ''embryos''... Secret stops this lunacy before Embryo!Scirroco can explain how the circumstances of their parents meeting led to his hatred of Morocco.

** Downplayed in ''WesternAnimation/WeBareBearsTheMovie'', where Grizz at first has trouble remembering how he and his brothers escaped an approaching train shortly after they first met.

* UsefulNotes/{{The Silver Age|OfComicBooks}} ''ComicBook/{{Superman}}'' had total recall as one of his many, many super-powers; he remembered Krypton quite well, even though he was about three when he left.

* Even if a person may not be able to remember things clearly from when they were a baby, things that happened to them during that time still affect their brain and mental development. People who were abused as babies are sometimes still affected by that trauma later in life, even if the abuse happened only when they were a baby and then never again.

* In ''ComicBook/TheNewTeenTitans: ComicBook/WhoIsDonnaTroy'', [[ComicBook/WonderGirl Donna]] has pretty clear memories of events that happened when she was 3 at oldest.

* Even if a person may not be able to remember things clearly from when they were a baby, things that happened to them during that time can still affect their brain and mental development. People who were abused as babies are sometimes still affected by that trauma later in life, even if the abuse happened only when they were a baby and then never again.

* Even if a person may not be able to remember things clearly from when they were a baby, things that happened to them during that time can still affect their brain and mental development. People who were abused as babies are sometimes still affected by trauma later in life, even if the abuse happened only when they were a baby and then never again.

* This is averted in Webcomic/KillLaKillAU with Ryuuko, who cannot remember anything before three-years old. This is noted in Part 2/part 4 of comic 25, where she is currently eight and doesn't remember what happened to Ragyo six years prior but she does feel her absence, describing it as "the warmth that had been gone from her life for some time". Satsuki, however, can remember things from when she was two, stating that is when her memories first began, along with that being the age she learned how to change diapers. Of course, Nui lampshades it by saying, "There is no fucking way you remember that."

** In a later comic where Calvin notes that he doesn't remember anything from before he was three, even freaking out and wondering if someone had brainwashed him to keep some secrets hidden, Hobbes comments that he remembers Calvin spending a lot of time burping up. If you take the view that Hobbes is a creation of Calvin's mind, then it's possible that Calvin still has his earliest memories but can't consciously access them. If you consider Hobbes a separate entity, however, it's a subtle retcon of how the two met as it implies he was always around from the start of Calvin's life in one way or another.

* This is what leads to the murder of the victim of the week in an episode of ''Series/{{Castle}}''. The victim was [[spoiler:subconsciously drawing his own mother, apparently having witnessed her murder by his nanny when he was at most two years old. Once the nanny figured out he was remembering she had to kill him.]]

* ''ComicBook/{{Batman}}'': At age three, [[ComicBook/RobinSeries Tim Drake]] went to Haly's Circus and met the Flying Graysons. Six years later he remembered it well enough to identify Dick Grayson on sight when he saw Robin on television.

* UsefulNotes/{{The Silver Age|OfComicBooks}} ''Franchise/{{Superman}}'' had total recall as one of his many, many super-powers; he remembered Krypton quite well, even though he was about three when he left.

* ''ComicBook/CaptainAmerica'': The Cap's enemy the ComicBook/RedSkull once claimed he could remember being in his mother's ''womb''.

** ComicBook/{{Storm}} is said to remember her infancy perfectly, including being born in New York City and moving with her parents to Cairo while still a toddler. What this has to do with weather control is anyone's guess, but Storm has long been a poster-girl for NewPowersAsThePlotDemands.

* In ''ComicBook/TheNewTeenTitans: ComicBook/WhoIsDonnaTroy'' [[ComicBook/WonderGirl Donna]] has pretty clear memories of events that happened when she was 3 at oldest.

* ''Anime/YuYuHakusho'': Hiei states that he can see and hear before he was born and as a newborn can understand what is happening around him. It appears his twin sister Yukina does not remember this time, averting this trope.

* ''WesternAnimation/PhineasAndFerb'': {{Invoked|Trope}} with Dr. Doofenschmirtz, who claims that his parents somehow missed witnessing his birth date, even though logically his mom should've been present.

** In ''Mothers Day'', the babies discussed their earliest memories. Tommy's was being born or, rather, being in an incubator. Of course, Tommy is only a year old and the entire point of the show is babies with more cognitive skills than probable. Likewise, said episode, Phil and Lil reminisce on when their mother used to breastfeed them.
** In ''Stu Makers Elves'', Chuckie describes a recurring nightmare which the viewer will realize is his birth. Oddly, as shown in ''Mother's Day'', even though he's about two, he doesn't have any memory of his mother [[spoiler:Melinda]] before she passed away but he does remember her as "the nice lady from his dreams"

* In ''Literature/TheMysteriousBenedictSociety'', this is Zig-Zagged with [[spoiler:Constance Constraire. She remembers the events of the first book for the rest of the series despite being two years old at the time, but remembers next to nothing before that. However, those memories are also wedged in the back of her mind, not completely forgotten. It’s noted that since she does have a hyper-developed mind, her memories also work differently. Her memories are eventually brought back through the reprogrammed Whisperer in ''The Prisoner’s Dilemma''.]]

* In ''LightNovel/TheIrregularAtMagicHighSchool'', this trope is one reason Tatsuya has always suspected that Miyuki (who is a few months younger than him) isn't his "real" sister. He knows that infants don't have memories, and there's no way of proving he's right...yet he distinctly recalls being in a cradle, with Miya, his mother, bending over him. Miya didn't look pregnant, in the way she would have were Miyuki really born when everyone says she was. [[spoiler:He later discovers that Miyuki was artificially created by geneticists.]]

* Alias from the ''TabletopGame/ForgottenRealms'' novel ''Azure Bonds'' has vivid memories of the day she was born. [[spoiler:Except the memories are fake, she's a construct created just a few days before the novel began. This means that her ''creator'' succumbed to an in-character use of this trope, when he gave her those memories.]]

* In the ''Manga/TheLegendOfZeldaOcarinaOfTime'' manga, Link has a flashback to his mother taking him to the Great Deku Tree as an infant.

This trope is quite far from TruthInTelevision; the inability to remember one's infancy is standard for humans and is known as [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Childhood_amnesia Childhood amnesia]]. What's worse, most people can be easily tricked into [[{{Gaslighting}} "remembering" things that never happened]] (as demonstrated by, among others, [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elizabeth_Loftus Elizabeth Loftus]]).

* ''Manga/DrStone'': A man from Kohaku's village who goes nameless for much of the story is shown to have perfect recall of his arrival in the village and even of his father's face, despite both happening when he was an infant, which was also the last time he saw his father. This villager, [[spoiler: named Soyuz after the space capsule that brought astronauts back to Earth after everyone turned to stone]], is the son of the leader of a island country whose heads would choose wives for their strong memory to better retain the 100 Tales which tells their lore.

* ''Fanfic/CellarSecrets'': Being the [[spoiler: titular cellar secret]], Ryuuko doesn't remember much and her formative years memories are limited to knowing her mother was abusive and that her father wasn't, along with having small bits of recollections here and there (i.e, recognizing the sound of shaking chain-link fence).

* In ''Literature/TheMysteriousBenedictSociety'', this is Zig-Zagged with [[spoiler: Constance Constraire. She remembers the events of the first book for the rest of the series despite being two years old at the time, but remembers next to nothing before that. However, those memories are also wedged in the back of her mind, not completely forgotten. It’s noted that since she does have a hyper-developed mind, her memories also work differently. Her memories are eventually brought back through the reprogrammed Whisperer in ''The Prisoner’s Dilemma''.]]
-->[[spoiler: '''Constance:''']] I’m [[spoiler: three and a half]], and besides, my mind is hardly typical. Isn’t that the point of all these stupid exercises?

* This is what leads to the murder of the victim of the week in an episode of ''Series/{{Castle}}''. The victim was [[spoiler: subconsciously drawing his own mother, apparently having witnessed her murder by his nanny when he was at most two years old. Once the nanny figured out he was remembering she had to kill him.]]

** This is actually discussed - a scientist working with her father is a specialist in memory and specifically states that the brain doesn't develop to remember long-term memories in children younger than the age of 3 so he is actually skeptical about some of the things she claims to remember [[spoiler: and is also a bit nervous, since some of the events she is recalling link to the time her mother was forced by her boss into a partial MindWipe when she quit in disgust at the direction their project was taking as well as possibly linking him as the BigBad of the series.]]

** In ''Stu Makers Elves'', Chuckie describes a recurring nightmare which the viewer will realize is his birth. Oddly, as shown in ''Mother's Day'', even though he's about two, he doesn't have any memory of his mother [[spoiler: Melinda]] before she passed away but he does remember her as "the nice lady from his dreams"

* This is what leads to the murder of the victim of the week in an episode of ''Series/Castle''. The victim was [[spoiler: subconsciously drawing his own mother, apparently having witnessed her murder by his nanny when he was at most two years old. Once the nanny figured out he was remembering she had to kill him.]]

* In ''VideoGame/{{Psychonauts}}'', Sasha's first memory vault sequence takes place when he was a baby.
* This is commented on in ''VideoGame/{{Galatea}}'', where the title character says she remembers how she was constructed, while others don't remember how they were born.
* Averted in ''VideoGame/MassEffect2'', the Drell have eidetic memory but they don't perfectly remember their very early childhood. Thane Krios dryly speculates that if they remembered the birthing trauma, they would never recover from it.
* In ''[[VideoGame/DragonBallZBudokai Dragon Ball Z: Shin Budokai]]'', when Broly and Frieza encounter each other before fighting each other, it is implied that Broly also remembers when Planet Vegeta was destroyed and how he barely escaped with his father before they were killed by the explosion, in addition to Goku crying next to him. The same scene also implies that this incident in his life also contributed to his AxCrazy nature.

* Notably averted in ''VideoGame/JakIIRenegade'', when Samos comments at the end that "It's funny, the boy won't remember any of this." To which [[spoiler:older Jak]] replies that he ''does'' remember [[{{Precursors}} the light]].

* It is implied in the original Japanese script and the script for the remake of ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolid'', as well as stated in the Director's Commentary for the same game, that Psycho Mantis subconsciously remembers his own mother giving up her own life to give birth to him.
** Similarly, its implied that Raiden has some memories of his birth in ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolid4GunsOfThePatriots'', as he mentions that he was "born on a rainy day." As his parents were murdered by Solidus while he was still very young, it's unlikely that they would have told him.

* In ''Manga/OnePiece'', Vinsmoke Reiju clearly remembers the fight her pregnant mom had with her dad about manipulating the unborn Vinsmoke quadruplets' bloodline elements. Given that she's three years older than her younger brothers, she must have been around two at the time. She admits that she didn't truly understood what the fight was about until she was older, but fact remains that she remembers what her parents said in the situation word-for-word.