There are many important milestones that must be achieved in the first month. Infants experience a wealth of developmental and cognitive achievements in their first month of life. Stimulate your newborn’s sense is also part of this important milestones.
Here a few effective tips that you will find particularly useful to stimulate your newborn's senses and development, right from the beginning.
1. Make your baby touch fabrics of different textures, e.g., smooth, rough, cushiony. This would help develop her sense of touch.
2. Hold up bright colored blocks or other colorful objects 10 to 12 inches away from your baby's eyes. When she focuses, try moving it left and right, up and down and then in circles. Doing so will improve her sight.
3. Provide your baby high-contrast toys such as mobiles with black-and-white or primary color patterns, or hang them in the crib. These would help stimulate the parts of the brain controlling vision.
4. Play “Pat-a-Cake” while you hold your baby and gently move her hands.
5. Sing to your baby. Change the pitch of your voice from high to low. Doing so will help hold her attention. Babies generally respond well to mom’s singing and will often help her to settle.
6. Talk to your baby whenever you are with her; describe her all that you are doing to her: bathing, changing, feeding. “Are you enjoying your bath? Do you like your new soap? Here comes a new diaper for you.” This type of descriptive talking will not only liked by your baby but is also the base of communication between the two of you. The more you talk to your baby the more she is able to learn.
7. Encourage your baby to imitate you. Try sticking out your tongue. Most of the babies, when they are a couple of weeks old, imitate sticking out the tongue after you did so 2-3 times before them.
8. Get a crib mobile and hang it on your baby’s crib. When your baby is quiet and awake, she will gaze at it. This will help arouse her interest in the world outside the crib.
9. Get a wind chime and hang it where your baby can gaze at it, move and hear the pleasant music it plays. Doing so will stimulate her sense of seeing and hearing and she will learn to correlate a pleasant sight with a pleasant sound.
10. Shake a rattle before your baby. Shake it first on left side then on right. Allow your baby time to recognize that the rattle is producing the sound. This activity will also help your baby correlate sound with sight.
A number of scientific studies have shown the way a baby uses her senses in the early months of life is crucial to future development. A baby, whose senses are stimulated develop a sharper memory, inquisitiveness and a better concentration. Besides, babies who are stimulated attain developmental milestones earlier have superior muscle coordination, and a safer and sounder personality.
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