Babies begin to hear sounds in the last few months of pregnancy. They are well equipped for hearing when they are born.
1-3 Months - Studies have shown that a newborn will choose to listen to their parents voice by turning their head to that sound rather then the voice of a stranger. Your baby will love to listen to your voice. Your voice is associated with comfort and food. At this age your baby will enjoy music and listening to familiar sound in her world. Infants will respond well to high pitched, rhythmic, and singsong, vocalizations. You will notice that your baby can often be consoled by your voice. This response is setting the stage for future communication.
4-7 Months- Your baby will begin to understand the different parts of speech. Your baby will begin to differentiate various sounds and is beginning to learn that words make sentences. By seven months she will respond to her name. There will be more babbling at this age as your baby experiments with speech and sounds.
8-12 Months- Your baby's first sounds should be GA, BA, and DA. Now you know your baby has been listening to you. Around this age your baby will begin to respond to simple verbal requests such as " Wave by, by". Your baby should begin trying to use the sounds she can make to communicate with you and play. Keep talking and encouraging your baby!
1-2 Years- Your baby will begin using words at this stage. A lot of progress is being made with building word vocabulary in this year. Your baby is sure to understand even more then she can say. Your baby should begin to follow simple commands and instructions. Your baby will begin to learn to identify and label items in her environment. Your baby will begin to love to listen and participate in baby songs such as " Open Shut Them" and " Eensy Beensy Spider". Your baby will begin to enjoy really listening to stories and talking about the story book's pictures. Your baby will begin to point to pictures that you name for her. Speaking, singing, and laughing are now a part of your baby's routine.
How amazing is your baby's development in just 2 short years!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Saturday, January 21, 2012
Monday, January 16, 2012
Your Baby's First Expereinces Effect On Brain Development
The brain is the most immature of all organs at birth. How it grows was thought to be determined by genetics, scientists now believe that it is highly dependent on the child's experiences. The belief is that the "plasticity" of the brain (it's ability to grow and develop in different and changing ways) will cause the brain to adopt to it's experiences, environment and needs.
The brain consists of many areas. Each area has millions of neurons ( nerve cells) that speak to each other by sending messages through synapses. These synapses are your brains wiring system. The areas of the brain communicate to each other in this manner. Neurons (nerve cells) have branches on them called dendrites and axons. Dendrites bring information to the nerve cells and axons take information away from the nerve cell. Information is passed from one nerve cell to another through a synapse.
The number of connections will influence how the brain functions. For the most part we do not develop new nerve cells but rather we develop new synapses. In early childhood the brain is programmed to create new synapses. This is our window of opportunity. By facilitating varied and new experiences for our children, particularly before three years old, we facilitate the creation of new synapses. We now understand that what a child experiences in the first years of life will effect how his brain will develop and how he will interact with the world throughout his life.
So get creative with your baby and enjoy the variety of experiences that life has to offer.
The brain consists of many areas. Each area has millions of neurons ( nerve cells) that speak to each other by sending messages through synapses. These synapses are your brains wiring system. The areas of the brain communicate to each other in this manner. Neurons (nerve cells) have branches on them called dendrites and axons. Dendrites bring information to the nerve cells and axons take information away from the nerve cell. Information is passed from one nerve cell to another through a synapse.
The number of connections will influence how the brain functions. For the most part we do not develop new nerve cells but rather we develop new synapses. In early childhood the brain is programmed to create new synapses. This is our window of opportunity. By facilitating varied and new experiences for our children, particularly before three years old, we facilitate the creation of new synapses. We now understand that what a child experiences in the first years of life will effect how his brain will develop and how he will interact with the world throughout his life.
So get creative with your baby and enjoy the variety of experiences that life has to offer.
Sunday, January 8, 2012
Language and Communication
You can make a big difference when it comes to your child's language and vocabulary development!!! How? Actively engage your baby socially by fostering eye contact, facial expressions, and lots of conversation.
Respond to your babies sounds and cooing noises. Babbling is your baby's first attempt to speak. Verbal responses from you will not only encourage your baby but will help her develop attention, listening, and language recognition. Holding and talking to your baby is one of the most important things you can do to help encourage her cognitive and language skills. Use the opportunities of visual alertness in your baby to foster eye contact or "Face Time". Face time will help to establish communication with your baby that will enhance your bond and stimulate interaction.
Talk through all your routines such as feeding, changing, and bathing. Tell your baby what is going on, where she is going and label items in her environment. Repeated words form your will help build her comprehension as well as her expressive language. Reward your baby with animated expressions and conversation and in a short time you can be sure that she will reciprocate.
Respond to your babies sounds and cooing noises. Babbling is your baby's first attempt to speak. Verbal responses from you will not only encourage your baby but will help her develop attention, listening, and language recognition. Holding and talking to your baby is one of the most important things you can do to help encourage her cognitive and language skills. Use the opportunities of visual alertness in your baby to foster eye contact or "Face Time". Face time will help to establish communication with your baby that will enhance your bond and stimulate interaction.
Talk through all your routines such as feeding, changing, and bathing. Tell your baby what is going on, where she is going and label items in her environment. Repeated words form your will help build her comprehension as well as her expressive language. Reward your baby with animated expressions and conversation and in a short time you can be sure that she will reciprocate.
Sunday, December 25, 2011
Calming your Infant and Nightime Routines
The best way to calm your infant is by mimicking his environment in the womb. Mothers have been doing this instinctively for years by rocking their babies, while holding them tightly next to their bodies saying "sh sh" in a rhythmic fashion. Others ways to mimic the womb include swaddling your baby, an infant swing, rhythmic and gentle rocking and bouncing, dim lights, limited inconsistent sounds, and your soothing voice.
Keeping these ideas in mind lets address night time routines. Getting your newborn to sleep for longer stretches of time at night is a parents dream and actually a necessity for sanity sake. Don't wait for your baby to do this on his own but rather help facilitate this happening. When your baby is about 4 to 6 weeks and older try to help him stay up in the evening. You do this by keeping your baby in a brightly lit noisy room and changing his position frequently. If your baby doses off don't transfer him to a his quiet crib or basinet keep him in the busy environment you set him up in so his snooze will be a short one.
When you decide it is time for you baby to go to bed for the night start his routine. The routine should begin apporoximately 30 minutes to 1 hour before his next feeding is expected. The routine should consist of a physical activity, cognitive activity, massage, and music. An example of the routine I used with my babies is starts off with tummy time while listening to the music of the mobile. When the baby tires roll him onto his back and do some toy tracking activities. Use a black and white or bright object, rattles that make gentle sounds are recommended. Have your baby track the object, about 8 inches from his face, to the right and left, up and down, in circular and diagonal directions, slowly and carefully. Follow this up with a nice full body massage. Make eye contact and sing to your baby through out the massage. A consistent song or two at this time is recommended. Your baby will begin to relax and calm down from the massage, the expected song, and sound of your voice. Following the massage you can do some gentle moving of your babies arms and legs such as bicycle feet riding and arm lifting and clapping. Your baby will have worked hard and will be ready for his nice warm bath. Encourage your baby to kick his feet and splash his hands in the tub and just enjoy the warmth and feeling of the warm water surrounding his body before you wash him. Following the bath and pajama time your baby will be ready for his bedtime feeding. This feeding is the most important feeding of the day since you will be wanting your baby to fuel up for his long sleep stretch. Swaddle your baby dim the lights and get ready to settle in for the last feeding of the day. Your baby should be tired and might have difficulty finishing the full feeding at this point. Wiggle, jostle and talk to your baby as necessary to ensure that he eats as much as possible before he falls into a deep delicious sleep.
Feel free to mix this routine up to fit your baby's needs.
After you do this with your baby for a few nights he should begin to sleep for longer and longer periods of time.
Good luck, and let me know how it goes!
Keeping these ideas in mind lets address night time routines. Getting your newborn to sleep for longer stretches of time at night is a parents dream and actually a necessity for sanity sake. Don't wait for your baby to do this on his own but rather help facilitate this happening. When your baby is about 4 to 6 weeks and older try to help him stay up in the evening. You do this by keeping your baby in a brightly lit noisy room and changing his position frequently. If your baby doses off don't transfer him to a his quiet crib or basinet keep him in the busy environment you set him up in so his snooze will be a short one.
When you decide it is time for you baby to go to bed for the night start his routine. The routine should begin apporoximately 30 minutes to 1 hour before his next feeding is expected. The routine should consist of a physical activity, cognitive activity, massage, and music. An example of the routine I used with my babies is starts off with tummy time while listening to the music of the mobile. When the baby tires roll him onto his back and do some toy tracking activities. Use a black and white or bright object, rattles that make gentle sounds are recommended. Have your baby track the object, about 8 inches from his face, to the right and left, up and down, in circular and diagonal directions, slowly and carefully. Follow this up with a nice full body massage. Make eye contact and sing to your baby through out the massage. A consistent song or two at this time is recommended. Your baby will begin to relax and calm down from the massage, the expected song, and sound of your voice. Following the massage you can do some gentle moving of your babies arms and legs such as bicycle feet riding and arm lifting and clapping. Your baby will have worked hard and will be ready for his nice warm bath. Encourage your baby to kick his feet and splash his hands in the tub and just enjoy the warmth and feeling of the warm water surrounding his body before you wash him. Following the bath and pajama time your baby will be ready for his bedtime feeding. This feeding is the most important feeding of the day since you will be wanting your baby to fuel up for his long sleep stretch. Swaddle your baby dim the lights and get ready to settle in for the last feeding of the day. Your baby should be tired and might have difficulty finishing the full feeding at this point. Wiggle, jostle and talk to your baby as necessary to ensure that he eats as much as possible before he falls into a deep delicious sleep.
Feel free to mix this routine up to fit your baby's needs.
After you do this with your baby for a few nights he should begin to sleep for longer and longer periods of time.
Good luck, and let me know how it goes!
Saturday, December 17, 2011
Teaching Very Young Children to Share
This topic really hits home for me since getting my 2 and 3 year old to share is challenging. As we hit the holiday season this topic is relevant since it can be hard to share new and very desired items. Here are some tips to help deal with this important issue.
First of all we really need to understand and respect our child's difficulty with sharing. Very small children are just learning about themselves and the world around them. They can become very territorial about their own items as they view there things as extensions of themselves. They are also organizing their world and can become stuck on this is "mine" as well as this is "yours". My 3 year old becomes agitated when one of her older sisters uses the item of another sibling. This difficulty under standing that an item can "belong" to someone when someone else uses it will come with time and patience.
Some ways to facilitate sharing are:
Introduce the concept of turn taking. Use a simple game that does not require a long wait for each turn to come. You can use block stacking, doll feeding, or a similar simple task to talk about "your turn, my turn". Once this topic has been taught you can then use it for when it counts and your young child can understand that it will the her turn very soon.
When your child is having trouble sharing verbalizing and labeling their emotions around this challenge can be helpful. Letting them know that you understand how they feel and giving their feelings words will go a long way toward helping them through the process.
Provide a lot of positive feed back every time your young child shares something or takes turns nicely. She might not mind sharing her snack but might have hard time sharing a toy. The positive encouragement she received from the "easier" sharing experience will help to reinforce her sharing with the "harder" expereince
Be prepared for play dates and neighbor and family visitors. If you know that your child is attached to one or two particular items respect that. Remove highly desired items from the scene. This will make sharing less challenging and easier to do.
Good luck to everyone and HAPPY SHARING!!!!
First of all we really need to understand and respect our child's difficulty with sharing. Very small children are just learning about themselves and the world around them. They can become very territorial about their own items as they view there things as extensions of themselves. They are also organizing their world and can become stuck on this is "mine" as well as this is "yours". My 3 year old becomes agitated when one of her older sisters uses the item of another sibling. This difficulty under standing that an item can "belong" to someone when someone else uses it will come with time and patience.
Some ways to facilitate sharing are:
Introduce the concept of turn taking. Use a simple game that does not require a long wait for each turn to come. You can use block stacking, doll feeding, or a similar simple task to talk about "your turn, my turn". Once this topic has been taught you can then use it for when it counts and your young child can understand that it will the her turn very soon.
When your child is having trouble sharing verbalizing and labeling their emotions around this challenge can be helpful. Letting them know that you understand how they feel and giving their feelings words will go a long way toward helping them through the process.
Provide a lot of positive feed back every time your young child shares something or takes turns nicely. She might not mind sharing her snack but might have hard time sharing a toy. The positive encouragement she received from the "easier" sharing experience will help to reinforce her sharing with the "harder" expereince
Be prepared for play dates and neighbor and family visitors. If you know that your child is attached to one or two particular items respect that. Remove highly desired items from the scene. This will make sharing less challenging and easier to do.
Good luck to everyone and HAPPY SHARING!!!!
Tuesday, December 13, 2011
Communication and Mirror Neurons
Communication and language is not just about words and building your child's vocabulary it is also about gestures and expressions. The development of your baby's communication skills are aided by tiny brain cells that fire not only when they complete an action but also by seeing an action, gesture or expression. This concept is known as mirror neurons. This means that a baby's development is not just influenced by personal experiences we help the babies to engage in but also by the many experiences they view other human beings completing. In fact a newborn as young as two weeks old can imitate and adult opening their mouth or sticking their tongue out. Our babies are learning by observing. We can now prove how significant it is for us to engage with our infants in face to face dialogue with much facial expression. They will learn how to move their mouth and lips to make words, how to use their bodies to gesture reinforcing their needs, and the difference between an angry, sad, tired, or happy face. When helping children learn a new skill watching the task completed will aid in the learning process.
Monday, December 5, 2011
How Does Your Baby's Visual System Develop?
Sense of sight develops gradually from birth until about 6-8 months. By 8 months your baby sees just about as well as you! When first born your newborn will only be able to seee as far as your face when you hold him. Clarity and distance will grow from month to month until your baby has their full visual system in place.
1-2 months- Your baby will begin to track moving objects and recognize the contrast of your face. Your baby will respond with visual interest to complex patterns.
* Your moving face is the most interesting thing your baby can track.
2-3 months- Tracking has become stronger and your baby is now interested in colors and patterns. Introduce new and interesting items to your baby to help build his visual attention and awareness.
* Place pictures with contrast patterns at the side of the crib for your baby to gaze at.
3-4 months- Your baby will begin seeing things as objects. As he learns to use his hands to reach for the objects he now sees offer him rattle and items to grasp for.
* Now is the time for an overhead gymini toy.
4-8 months- Your baby will start to recognize people and objects across the room.
* Enjoy your baby's smile as he recognizes you as soon as you enter the room.
DON'T FORGET, a mobile is the most important toy you can offer your baby during this stage of visual development.
1-2 months- Your baby will begin to track moving objects and recognize the contrast of your face. Your baby will respond with visual interest to complex patterns.
* Your moving face is the most interesting thing your baby can track.
2-3 months- Tracking has become stronger and your baby is now interested in colors and patterns. Introduce new and interesting items to your baby to help build his visual attention and awareness.
* Place pictures with contrast patterns at the side of the crib for your baby to gaze at.
3-4 months- Your baby will begin seeing things as objects. As he learns to use his hands to reach for the objects he now sees offer him rattle and items to grasp for.
* Now is the time for an overhead gymini toy.
4-8 months- Your baby will start to recognize people and objects across the room.
* Enjoy your baby's smile as he recognizes you as soon as you enter the room.
DON'T FORGET, a mobile is the most important toy you can offer your baby during this stage of visual development.
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