Hey Mums and Dads. My name's Emma.
I'm a paediatric occupational therapist and mum to two gorgeous children.
Looking at buying toys for your 0 - 3 month old baby,
but you want to do it on a budget. Well this video is for you.
Today I'm going to share with you 4 toys,
that I think are the only things that you need for your baby to ensure their
gross motor,
fine motor and communication skills developed during this period of time.
But before we start, I just want to let you know,
there's a free PDF document in the description box below,
which covers the developmental milestones you can be expecting for your Bub from
0 to 12 months of age.
Which you can print out and refer to through your baby's first year of life.
Also,
if you're wanting some tips and tricks to make your life as parents easier and
give your baby the best start to life,
make sure you subscribe to my channel and hit that bell button to be notified
when I release a new video every week.
And if you like this video give me a thumbs up.
So in your baby's first three months of life, they don't do a whole lot.
They're not able to grasp anything with their hands.
At the end of the three months, they'll be starting to bat toys.
So they'll just kind of reach out and hit toys, which is amazing.
But before then they're not doing a whole lot.
What they generally do with toys is they work on visually fixating on a toy.
They're looking at a toy and then as they get stronger,
they'll start to track it with their eyes. So, um,
that's basically what they're doing in the first three months.
They really enjoy engaging with you as a parent and as a human.
So basically you're their best toy.
So if you can engage and interact with your baby by sing lots of songs,
that's amazing.
If you want some ideas on how to play with your baby at this age,
just check out my video, which I've developed,
which will be in the description box below.
But what 4 toys do I really think that they need at this age,
particularly when you're on a budget? One and only toy,
I think is a must have for babies is a baby
gym.
So if you're really struggling financially and you just want to have one item,
then I would invest your money in a baby gym.
And that's because they're amazing.
Basically your baby will be able to lie underneath them on their back when
they're awake and they'll be starting to look at a toy and then visually track
it because they're hanging over an arch above their head and they move.
The other thing is that towards the end of three months,
your baby will start reaching out and batting the toy with their hand,
which is awesome. And when they start kicking their legs,
they'll also accidentally kick the toy.
The other thing is the baby gym toys are often detachable,
so you can pull them off (cause they hook on).
And if they're soft like this kind of one,
I would place it in the middle of your baby's chest so that they can start
playing with it towards the end of the 3 months,
where they will be able to play with toys and hold it
for a short, really short period of time.
So the baby gym is my must have equipment for a newborn baby.
The next toy you can get for your baby is a soft mirror and this to help with
tummy time. So you place it in front of the baby.
We know babies really like looking at their faces when they're doing tummy time.
So this keeps them in that position for a longer period of time.
And if they're in side lying,
they'll be able to look at themselves and see their reflection,
lights and everything. So they will be quite happy.
I would check out your baby gym first because mine actually came with a mirror.
So if you wanted to,
you could just put this mirror in front of a pillow or something where it's
resting and then your baby will still be able to see their face and you don't
need to purchase that soft mirror.
Or you could just place your baby in front of a mirror that's mounted on a
cupboard sliding door so that they'll be able to look at themselves that way.
So the third toy I think would be beneficial at this age is like a tactile book.
So initially they'll just be kind of scrunching it in their hands,
which is amazing. But it makes a lot of noise and it's really lightweight.
So when your baby's holding it and they accidentally drop it on them,
it's not going to hurt them, which would happen if you've got those board books.
You wouldn't be able to leave a newborn baby,
so a three month old with those books because they will hurt themselves.
So these books are made of material. They're really easy to turn.
Not that you're expecting your baby to turn it.
But you can turn it for your baby. It makes a lots and lots of noise.
There's often tags on it. So they'll be able to feel those tags.
They'll be able to hold it themselves at three months when you place it in the
middle of their body as well.
And the last toy I'd recommend at this age is the Oball. It's a really,
really lightweight toy, which is handy. The other thing is it's really squishy,
so it's not going to hurt your baby when they accidentally drop it on
themselves, which will happen.
The other thing is you can often mount these using a link that then attaches to
your baby gym. So your baby will be able to reach up and grab it.
This ball is really great because initially your baby will use their whole hand
to grab it without their thumb.
It's got so many holes that your baby will accidentally grab it and then they'll
let go.
Or they won't actually be able to let go because they don't even know they're
holding it at this stage.
So it's a really easy toy that they'll learn to hold and they're going to have
more success holding it, which is amazing because there's so many holes.
So if you are looking for toys for your newborn baby, make sure you get toys.
Is that a really lightweight, which is why I like the Oball.
And toys that are high in contrast. So babies can see in colour.
They just like toys that are high in contrast and they see best when they're
about the same distance as you're breastfeeding them.
So make sure you place toys that distance so that they'll be able to see the toy
and it's high contrast and it's lightweight.
But generally I only think you need those four toys. So that's the baby gym,
the Oball,
a tactile book and a soft mirror if you really want to.
So that's my toys that I recommend at this age,
particularly when you're on a budget. I hope you found that helpful.
Remember there's that free PDF document in the description box below,
which you can print out and refer to in your baby's first year of life. Also,
if you want more parenting tips and tricks to make your life as parents easier
and give your baby the best start to life,
subscribe my channel and hit that bell button to be notified when I release a
new video every week.
And hopefully I'll see you next week when I can share more parenting tips and
tricks. Thank you.