- More and more often when I speak to parents,
they're looking for the latest toy, accessory or technique
to accelerate their baby's development.
But honestly, if you've got a newborn,
there are only four things that you need to do
to promote secure attachment,
as well as encourage the development
of their cognitive, communication, social, emotional,
fine, and gross motor skills.
So let's talk about what those four things are.
But before we do, while we're on the topic of development.
If you want to know when to be expecting skills
and what to expect in your baby's first year of life,
make sure you download my free developmental checklist,
which you can get by clicking on the link
in the description box below.
So the very first thing that you can do to accelerate
your newborn's development is correctly read and respond
to their cues.
Now, although your newborn cannot talk,
they are communicating with you on their very first day.
And they're doing that by using facial expressions,
body movements, and of course crying.
Your newborn is going to use a variation
of facial expressions and body movements
to indicate to you whether or not they are
hungry, tired, wanting to play, or needing a break.
Once you can understand and correctly respond to these cues,
parenting your newborn is going to be so much easier.
Your newborn will soon learn
that when they communicate with you,
you are listening and you are going to meet their needs.
And this helps to build that relationship
between you both as well as develop secure attachment.
Now, this is extremely important
because when a newborn feels safe and secure,
they're going to start to play, learn and explore.
We also know that a strong relationship
with a primary caregiver, so you,
is vital for a baby's social and emotional development.
In fact, research found that babies
who had parents who correctly responded to their cues,
cried less and were more confident
in their interactions around others.
Now, of course, when your newborn is communicating with you,
it's important to talk back to them.
Not only will this help your little one identify your voice,
but it will also promote the development
of their language and communication skills.
This has also been backed up by research,
which showed that babies learn to talk earlier
and actually had a wider vocabulary
when they had parents who talked to them.
Now, talking to a newborn often doesn't feel natural.
So some of the things that you can do
is just comment about what you're doing in your day.
So you could say that you're going to go change your nappy
or it's time to cook dinner.
The other things that you could do
is read a book to your little one, or sing songs,
or comment on what they're doing in their play,
so if they're touching the carpet,
then you can comment on the carpet being fluffy.
Also, when your little one is trying to
communicate with you, you can try and communicate back
what you think they may be wanting from you.
So if your little one is starting to cry,
you might go, oh, you're very upset because you're hungry,
let's go get some food.
And lastly, what you can do is while your little one
is lying in your lap,
you can start to talk back and forward with them.
So you could make some noise or copy their noises
and then pause and then wait for them to respond.
And this teaches them that communication
is a backwards and forward action.
The second thing you want to do is give your little one,
lots and lots of floor time.
Now floor time can include playing
while lying on their back, lying on their side,
or lying on their tummy.
Now floor time is extremely important
because it gives them the ability to move around freely,
which is important when we're developing
our gross motor and fine motor skills.
It also assists with some cognitive development.
When your little one is playing while lying on the floor,
it gives them the opportunity to strengthen the muscles
that are required to roll over, sit up, crawl,
and eventually walk.
In particular, tummy time helps to gain head control,
strengthen the neck and upper body muscles,
as well as their back muscles.
It also provides an opportunity for your little one
to further develop their visual tracking
and depth perception skills.
It also provides the opportunity
for your little one to gain lots of
different sensory experiences.
So for example, your little one is able to touch
and interact with the floor surface
as well as shift their body weight
when they roll to their side
or shift their weight to one side to the other
when they're on their tummy.
And this helps in their movement development,
as well as their overall balance and body awareness.
In addition to the developmental benefits of tummy time,
tummy time can also help to prevent
positional plagiocephaly,
which is a flat spot developing on the back of a baby's head
as well as positional torticollis,
which is where the side of their neck muscle becomes tight
and results in their head falling to one side
and being difficult to turn.
The third thing you want to do is minimize the time
that your baby spends in infant carriers.
Now, infant carriers are any devices
which hold your baby still,
or limit their movement during playtime or transportation.
So in the newborn phase, this includes car seats,
baby carriers, prams, and recliners.
Now there are going to be times
when your little one obviously needs to use these devices
to keep them safe,
but you just want to limit the amount of time
that they're spending in it.
And that is because the overuse of infant equipment
can actually lead to positional torticollis,
which is the tightening of the neck muscle,
and that's purely because when a little one is in it,
they have limited ability to move their head
in the first place.
Their head typically falls to the side
when they're a newborn,
and if they can't move it back
and it's always falling to the same side,
then it will result in tightening of that neck muscle.
Also, they're higher risk of positional plagiocephaly
because the equipment that they're in often has
a very firm surface at the back,
which applies pressure to the back of their skull
and can result in flattening of the skull bone.
And lastly, too much time in this equipment
will obviously limit the amount of movement
that your little one can get,
which can then lead to delays in them achieving
their gross motor milestones, such as rolling over,
sitting up, crawling and walking.
Now, the last thing that you can do with your newborn,
which is going to significantly improve
their overall development is play with them.
Play is how your newborn learns
to interact with their world, as well as move around,
solve problems, communicate and socialize.
Playing with your little one is also another way
that you can build and develop that strong attachment.
Fortunately, and that times, unfortunately,
playing with a newborn is all about
that interaction with you.
You are your little one's best and most interesting toy.
Your newborn is going to love watching your face
and responding to your voice.
So a great way that you can encourage this play
is by making faces with your little one.
Your little one can, in fact, copy you,
when you poke out your tongue and smack their lips,
you just need to give them time to copy that movement.
They will also thoroughly enjoy playing with you
by letting you sing to them and reading with them
and talking to them.
You just want to remember to make sure
that you're only 20 to 30 centimeters away,
or if you're holding a book,
it's only 20 to 30 centimeters away from your little one,
because that is the distance that they see best
when they're are newborn.
Developmentally appropriate toys
can also help to grow your little one's
physical, social, emotional, and cognitive development.
Now newborns don't yet have the ability to hold a toy,
but they can still learn about the shape, color, size,
and feel of a toy.
And they do this two ways, either watching the toy.
So you might be able to hold the toy above them
and move it side to side, or use a baby gym,
or you can place the toy in their hand
and then help them gently touch the toy
so that they can explore it that way.
Now, personally,
I only think that there are three toys
that your newborn needs,
and you can find out which toys they are
by clicking this video here.
Also, if you want to know what the newborn cues are,
then check out this video.
Thanks for watching.
Make sure you click on that
free developmental checklist below.
And I will see you next week
where I'll share more parenting tips and tricks.
(upbeat music)