Boosting Baby’s Brain by Dana Smith Bader in OTR Blog
“Many people advise new mothers not to spend too much time holding their babies because they will ‘spoil’ the baby. However, research proves otherwise. This week, we take a look at how important a responsive, attentive mother is for boosting a baby’s brain development.”
It took 10 years of marriage for my eldest to arrive in my life. Once she came, I couldn’t get enough of her. I was content to just sit and hold her, to look at her and her perfect little features, and to feel her softness. I would spend hours playing with her and singing to her and talking to her about all the things that she would see in the world. It was a blessed time.
As I tried to enjoy just being with my little princess, however, slowly but surely my mother, my grandmother, and most of my husband’s family warned me not to spoil her. They believed the notion that the more time I spent with her, the more I would spoil her. She would get too used to me, and she would not be able to manage on her own. Being a first-time mother, I listened with my ears, but my heart did not agree. I honestly could not understand how spending less time with my child could be better for her. If I left her to “manage on her own” or to “cry it out,” how would she know I loved her? How would she learn about the world? How would she learn to talk? The possibility of spoiling her with too much attention just didn’t sit right with me.
As it turns out, I was right, and they were all wrong. Today, research shows that responding promptly when your baby cries and spending time talking, singing, and interacting with your baby are essential for your baby’s brain development. Moreover, most experts agree that you can spoil children with too many things, but you cannot spoil them with too much of your time.
More specifically, experts recommend 8 responsive, hands-on strategies for boosting your baby’s brain development:
- Respond promptly when your baby cries
- Build trust by being attentive and focused
- Use body massage
- Respond to coos with delighted vocalizations
- Be attentive
- Play games
- Set up a safe environment for crawling
- Sing songs…Click here to read the complete article
by Dana Smith Bader, Director, Over The Rainbow Nursery
