In this video, I'm going to show you the most powerful thing you can do to positively impact
the development of your baby's brain architecture, which provides a foundation for all future
learning, behaviour and emotional and mental health.
To say this is important is an understatement.
The activities you choose and the way you interact with your baby on a day-to-day basis
has a huge impact on their brain development.
And these impacts are lifelong.
This technique I'm going to show you works so well because of the way your baby's brain
develops.
When your baby is born, they've already formed the majority of brain cells they'll ever need.
But what they haven't formed yet are the connections between these cells.
These connections are what enable them to move, think, communicate and do just about
everything else.
And these connections are shaped by everyday experiences.
Every time you engage with your little one, whether it's playing, chatting or even feeding
them, you're actually building and strengthening these connections in their brain.
In those first few years, your baby's brain is on overdrive, creating over a million neural
connections every single second.
As your baby's brain matures, it starts to tidy up these connections, keeping the strongest
ones and pruning away the less used ones.
This helps their brain become more efficient and sharpens their ability to learn, think
and interact as they grow.
This means the way you engage with your child during their earliest days, weeks, months
and years decides which brain connections take root, setting the stage for how they'll
think, act and feel in the future.
Your interactions with your child during these formative years is literally shaping their
brain.
This was illustrated in a study by Koch and Collies, which involved 191 families.
In this study, the researchers observed the interaction between the children and their
parents from when they were one year of age until they reached four years of age.
And they observed how the parents responded to their children's needs and signals, assessing
their attentiveness, responsiveness and how well they were attuned to their children's
cues.
Then at eight years of age, these children had MRIs to study their brain structure.
And what they found, which I think is really interesting, was that the children who experienced
more sensitive and responsive care from their parents in early childhood had larger brain
volumes, more gray matter, which is actually crucial for processing and functioning.
And in the areas of the brain that were related to motor skills, sensory processing and decision
making, they were actually thicker.
In other words, they showed signs of more advanced brain development by age eight, which
means that just by being more sensitive and responsive, we can do that to our little ones
too.
But how do you actually do that?
One of the most effective ways to provide these high quality interactions with your
baby is using a technique known as serve and return.
Using this technique on a daily basis helps provide that sensitive and responsive care
that showed those amazing results.
Now, while the study started from age one, it's never too early to start.
In fact, the earlier you start, the better, because these brain connections are forming
from day one.
So how do you exactly play serve and return with your little one?
Well, I want you to think of serve and return as similar to a game of tennis, but instead
of balls, you're exchanging smiles, words and gestures with your baby.
Just like in a game of tennis, it starts with the serve.
And in this case, your baby is always the one that's serving! Their serve is anything they
do to grab your attention and start an interaction with you. Such as looking at you or a toy,
cooing, pointing to a toy or reaching out their tiny arms to be picked up.
These are their ways of saying, "Hey, let's play" or "Hey, I need something."
Once you notice your baby serve, it's your turn to return the serve by reacting.
For example, you might smile back, chat about the toy they're interested in, pick them up
if they're reaching out or soothe them if they seem upset.
After you've returned the serve, you wait and give your baby time to process your response.
Babies need time to gather their thoughts and plan their next serve, which may take
longer than you expect.
So by pausing, you're allowing them the space to do this.
When your baby does throw another serve, whether it's through a smile, a babble or a gesture,
it's your cue to return the serve once more.
And you continue this serve and return rhythm until your baby indicates that they've had
enough or they're ready to move on to something else.
So it might look a little like this.
Your little one is sitting at the table and they're eyeing the food on the bench and they
start to whinge.
That's their serve.
You notice and ask, "Do you want some food?" while pointing to the meal?
That's your return.
Your baby starts complaining more and waving their hands.
Another serve.
And you respond with, "Yes, you want some food!" and place the plate in front of them.
Next they grab the food and say,"Ot!" another serve.
And you acknowledge that by saying, "Yes, it's hot!" and starting to blow on the food.
Then your little one grabs a piece of cheese and holds it up to you as if to say, "Look
what I have!"
That's another serve.
And you return the serve by laughing and asking, "What have you got?"
Finally your baby looks away while they're eating.
This is their way of ending the serve and return game.
Now in that example, the serves were really easy to interpret.
The baby whinge to say she was hungry.
She waved her hands and nodded to say that she wanted the food.
And then when she got the food, she smiled and proudly held up the piece of cheese to
show it off.
What you will notice is as your baby gets older, your ability to correctly interpret
their serves becomes a lot easier.
And that's because they start using specific sounds and gestures and move around to communicate.
These are just one of the many exciting milestones your little one will achieve in their first
year of life.
And if you want to know exactly what else you can be expecting, then make sure you get
the free developmental milestone chart by clicking the link in the description below.
But when your baby is under six months of age, interpreting their serves can be quite
challenging.
And that's because serve and return interactions at this age are centered around recognising
and responding to your baby's earliest attempts at communication, which can sometimes be difficult
to decipher.
Of course, there'll be times when your baby serves are clear as day.
For example, if you're holding your newborn and they suddenly look at you and smile, that's
a straightforward serve.
When you smile back and they respond with an even bigger smile or open their mouth wide
as if talking to you, that's another serve.
However, there are also going to be those moments when interpreting their serves become
tricky as your baby may use the same gesture or expression to convey multiple messages.
For example, they might start squirming when they're tired, bored or hungry.
This presents a significant issue because a crucial aspect of the serve and return concept
involves responding appropriately to your baby's serves.
If your responses are inconsistent, inappropriate or lacking, it can interfere with the development
of their brain structure.
Therefore, to ensure that you can accurately interpret your newborn serves, it's essential
to understand the subtle signs they will use to communicate their needs and desires.
And that's where this video comes in.
In it, I'll guide you through the signs your newborn uses to communicate when they're tired,
hungry, ready to play or bored.
Once you're familiar with these signs, interpreting your baby serves becomes more intuitive, ensuring
that your responses during these crucial early months lay a solid foundation for their future
well-being and growth.
So make sure you watch that video next.