Baby Brain Development

Baby brain development is one of the most dramatic events happening in your child’s body during the first three years. The amount of change in the early years is unmatched during the rest of her life. Your child's brain development starts taking place even before she learns how to walk and talk. A major contributing factor to brain development at this stage is the interaction and care provided by the parents. It may be surprising but just the sight of the mother while feeding the child or the lullaby sung by the father help greatly. Other contributing factors to brain development are rich and varied experiences provided to the five developing senses of the baby and physical activity.

Good nutrition is essential for your child's brain development. Give her a variety of foods from different food groups. You must also work out some age appropriate experiences for your child to carry out in her day-to-day life. Studies have indicated that there is a direct relationship between brain activity and brain growth. Both nature and nurture play equally important roles in your child's brain development.

Stimulating Baby Brain Development

• Of all the senses, the sense of vision and the sense of hearing are the ones that develop the earliest. You can stimulate these by exposing her to various people, sounds, colours, shapes and so on.
• Talk to the child often and interact with her as much as you can. This encourages the child's speech development in her later years. In the earlier years, she may not understand what you say. But she grasps the different sounds made by the words. As she grows older, you can also sing and read to her.
• The baby's playful movement of her hands and legs is a key physical activity that helps in developing his motor skills. Very soon he will learn to how to grasp objects with his fingers.
• A warm, healthy and caring environment stimulated by the parents at home help the baby in his social and emotional development.

Milestones in Baby Brain Development

How Parents Can Enhance Brain Development in Children

• Babies cannot communicate with words to get your attention. Usually they have different kinds of cries to let you know what they want. Try to identify them and respond to them immediately with a warm smile. This assures them that you care for them.
• Provide your child with as much skin to skin contact as possible. This can be in various ways such as touching, hugging and snuggling close to her. Children deprived of this skin-to-skin contact miss out on getting your affection which helps them enhance their trust with others.
• Do not over stimulate your child by providing him with more toys or experiences than he can tackle. Too much of this can be stressful on the child and you will have to find ways to calm her.
• Make sure that your child's environment is safe for her to explore and is free of physical threats.