Boosting Baby’s Brain

Babies are like little sponges. Everything you say and do with them stimulates their senses and has the ability to create new brain cells and boost their brain power now and in the future. From simply smiling and laughing with your baby to playing games, every move you make is having an effect on your baby’s brain, which means that if you pay attention and implement specific activities, you can increase the power of your actions and make your baby smarter. Here are some actives you and baby can do together that will boost his or her brain at the same time:

Make Eye Contact

Researchers have found that making eye contact with your baby when they look at you and smiling or talking with them will encourage interplay between the two of you, help to build a connection and boost the part of their brain that deals with emotions and relationships.

Reading

Reading to your baby from an early age is one of the best things you can do if you want to boost their brainpower and help them grow into a smart young child. When reading, try to make it a sensory experience by rocking your baby and showing them pictures, even if they’re too young to really notice.

Touch

Touching your baby is something you probably do instinctively and without even thinking, but it is so important to the development of your child. Not only does regular touch help your child to become more self-aware, but it also helps to build knowledge of personal boundaries as they get older.

Play

Playing with children is a great way to teach them about interacting with their surroundings. For example, one of the first games babies intuitively play is the one where they throw their food on the floor and mommy, or daddy picks it up. This teaches them about cause and effect and the world in which they live.

When playing games, babies love predictability and repetition. There are lots of toys and games aimed at babies, which can offer this and help to develop their brainpower – just browse baby toys for games and objects that have pulling strings, repeating sounds and colors, etc., to help baby make the most of their play time.

Bathing

If you can stimulate your baby’s senses, you can help to boost their brain development. The feel of warm, soothing water and the skin to skin contact between parent and child is a great way of doing this, so try to make your baby’s bathtime as fun as possible for your little one.

Talk

Just talking to your baby as you would anyone else will help to boost their vocabulary, build a strong family bond and enable them to express their wants and needs, even in a nonverbal way to start with. The more new words you introduce to your child, the better their own vocabulary will be by the time they reach the age of 3!

Aromas

Introducing your baby to new aromas is another great way to stimulate senses and give them new experiences that will boost their brain. Pick some flowers and let them play with them, take them to the park, give them a massage with lavender oil – do whatever you can to stimulate their sense of smell.