I'm still reading about plants (not just MJ) and how they work, didn't do biology in school either but I'm going to try to explain watering as I understand it as simply as I can:
When it rains (watering) the plant uses its roots to 'suck up' the water and evaporate it thru the leaves and they only do this during the day. Therefore, the plant needs a good root system AND enough leaves to do this efficiently. There's a lot more that goes on when they do this, you'll read about that in the book. It's called 'transpiration'.
When it first rains, the ground is saturated, ie. little to no oxygen in the soil, so the plant 'shuts down' to prevent drowning (that is why leaves sometimes droop after watering) until the water has dissapated a bit (this can take a few minutes to a few hours and is one reason why good drainage is essential), then it 'wakes up' and kicks into action sucking up the water (and goodness in the water) and grows more above ground to enable this to go faster. Your babies are too small to 'suck up and evaporate' huge amounts of water, they'll drown before they do
. Being watered too often means your plant keeps 'shutting down' (no growth when its in this state) just as it starts to 'wake up'. If you keep watering before the plant has a chance to 'wake up' the roots suffocate and the plant dies. (All thanks to riddleme for explaining this to me kiss-ass)
What I would do (may not be the correct solution, but it seems logical
someone PLEASE disagree with me if this is wrong!!) is pour a small amount of water around the stem in a small circle about an inch away from the stem instead of directly on it to encourage the roots to spread out and 'find' that water, don't water again until the 'circle of water' has dried to at least an inch down (stick your finger in to check). Don't worry about growth above the soil, when your babies have strong roots to carry what the plant needs to grow, the rest will follow.
Em