During the first year, baby is developing in many ways — physically, cognitively and emotionally — but in the early months the most important aspect of baby’s development is a sense of confidence and connection with his parents. In fact, most parents are probably already helping baby along without even realizing it. Every song sung, every word spoken, every time eye contact is made or baby gets a cuddle serves a developmental purpose, say the experts.

photo credit: creativesam

“Babies need more than just food to develop normally,” says Meri Wallace, a child and family therapist and author of Birth Order Blues and Keys to Parenting Your Four Year Old. “Everything you do that is responsive and affectionate and loving is supporting the baby’s development. The baby who is not getting that, even if she is being fed and having her diaper changed regularly, is not going to thrive or develop normally.”

According to Dr. Robin Chernoff, director of the Family/Behavior Clinic at Johns Hopkins Children’s Center, the first year will be marked by developments in fine motor skills — picking things up, moving objects from hand to hand — and gross motor skills such as crawling and walking. Although your baby will be cooing, babbling and possibly even saying a few choice words (like mama and dada) during the first year of life, language skills don’t really take off until the second year. However, you’ll be laying the foundation for these skills, and others, from the day baby is born.

Wallace said parent’s role in helping baby develop is vital. While you probably can’t speed the developmental process a great deal — baby will walk when baby is ready to walk — you can certainly slow it down by failing to help baby develop. “If you keep your baby in a crib all the time she’s still going to learn to walk eventually but she may do it later than she would otherwise,” says Wallace. “So we know there are things we can do to make it harder for a child to develop.”

Below are some activities Wallace and Chernoff suggest for helping baby develop. Although we know baby can be either a he or a she, we’ll refer to baby by the feminine to make things simple. Keep in mind that many of the activities below are ones you’ll start doing early on and will continue, possibly with adjustments, as baby grows.

Birth to 6 Weeks

Snuggle up:
At this age, you need not worry about holding baby too much, says Chernoff. “You really can’t spoil a child in the first six months,” she says. “You need to respond to her cues, pick her up and hold her because that’s when she’s developing her attachments and discovering that the world is a safe place.” Of course, keep the stimulation to a minimum at night, so that baby will learn the difference between night and day — and so that you’ll get some sleep.

Develop her senses:
In the first six weeks of life, baby’s eyesight is not nearly as good as her hearing, so you’ll need to keep objects close to baby’s face — eight to 12 inches away. Fortunately for you, your baby is most interested in the human face, so merely holding your face close to hers can provide stimulation and entertainment. To help develop her ability to “track” or follow objects, try holding a toy in front of or above her and moving it in an arc. You can also begin introducing textures by touching her skin with different objects — a feather, a piece of material, a soft toy, suggests Wallace.

Introduce baby to herself:

photo credit: Mish Mish
Hold baby in front of a mirror and point out her eyes, nose, ears and mouth. She won’t understand for a while, but labeling baby’s world for her will help her later.

Sing a song:
Singing is not only soothing but it also helps baby develop a sensitivity to sound. As baby gets older you can get her involved physically by moving her legs and hands in time to the music, says Wallace.

Build muscles:
As baby grows her neck muscles will strengthen, although she won’t gain head control until she is about 4 months old. Help baby build neck muscles by lying down on your back, putting baby face down on your chest with her toes pointing toward your toes, and lifting your head up slightly. She’ll attempt to look at your face, which will encourage her to lift her head, strengthening those baby neck muscles.

Offer a varied view:
Give baby a taste of different environments by changing her view throughout the day. Take her with you as you move from room to room. If she enjoys sitting in a swing, be sure to face it in different directions so she can look at new things.

6 Weeks to 3 Months

Encourage tummy time:
Since babies spend all night on their backs (to reduce the risk of Sudden Infant Death Syndrome) it’s important to put them face down during the day, while you are closely supervising them. This “tummy time” will help them develop their neck and upper body muscles.

Stimulate rolling over:
Babies usually roll over somewhere between 4 and 6 months of age, but you can start encouraging her to roll over before then. Try lying baby on her side on your lap and then putting a toy a few inches away, says Wallace. Make sure her arms are free so that she can roll without having them pinned to her side. Another method: lie baby on an activity mat with one arm straight down by her side. Then roll her over on that side.

Develop body awareness:
Help baby develop awareness of her hands by singing “Pat-A-Cake,” “The Itsy Bitsy Spider” or other songs that involve hand movements (you can make them up too). Don’t forget to get baby’s feet involved. Sock rattles can also help her become aware of her feet. Babies at this age are also beginning to develop recognition of facial characteristics, so keep pointing out facial features in the mirror. Some parents use flash cards with features pictured and labeled. And take advantage of bath-time fun to help baby label body parts too.

Sound identification:
Record the sounds of normal activities — a dog barking, a door opening, footsteps — and play them back for baby while explaining what they are, suggests Wallace. Baby will also probably get a kick out of hearing his own laughter played back. A hand-held tape recorder is ideal for this purpose.

Keep in mind that all babies develop at their own pace and that what may be normal for one will not be for another. Your goal in helping baby to grown and learn is not to develop a “superbaby,” but rather to help your child develop to her full potential. Tomorrow we will learn what we can do to help 3 Months – 1 year baby growing.

Tags: Child development, baby growth, child development education, early child development, fetal development, development of child, child development centre, child care development, child development stages, baby development, infant development

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