Category: Books
The Importance of Reading to Baby
Jellycat Jungly Tails Book
It’s never too early to start reading to your baby.
Reading is a wonderful way to communicate and bond, as well as being a fun activity for both you and your baby.
As you read, your baby will listen to you talking and is comforted by your voice and being held close to you.
Reading encourages your baby to understand the different sounds of speech, the use of language and non-verbal communication through facial expressions and gestures.
Children whose parents read books to them when they are young often learn to talk, read and write more easily.
Parents, grandparents, siblings and friends can all share in the pleasures of reading to baby, making reading a varied and enjoyable learning experience.
Have fun reading to baby during playtime, in the bath and before bedtime:
Part of baby’s daily activity and play teaching baby about sound, texture, visual stimulus and music.
Have fun splishing about with bath time books suitable for water and lots of splish splash sploshing!
Help baby understand the routine of sleep with relaxation before slumber.
Development of Newborn Senses
Early Learning Activity Toys
SIGHT
Newborn’s can only see things close up, about 20cms away from them. So when your baby’s being held they’ll be able to see your face, which makes this close contact a great way to bond.
Contrasting colours such as black and white are great for newborns to look at. At around 2 months your baby can distinguish colours and will enjoy mobiles.
At 6 months, new faces and objects are catching your baby’s attention and at 8 months your baby’s vision will be fully developed.
TASTE
It’s no wonder babies like sweet tasting foods, milk is naturally sweet. From 3 months onwards your baby will probably try to put what they can into their mouth, and when teething starts this will heighten their desire to have a good chew on things!
HEARING
Your baby listened to your voice in utero so will recognise it when they’re born and associate this with comfort. Hearing isn’t properly developed when a baby is newborn. At around 1 month old they’ll react to loud noises. Babies learn to associate certain sounds with happy events, so it’s important to make singing and music a fun and special part of the day with your baby. Music is a wonderful way to soothe your baby and develop their hearing and sense of tone.
TOUCH
Touch is essential for babies, kisses and cuddles make your baby feel secure. Babies love to explore with their hands and when weaning, will often squash food before eating it to understand what it feels like. Toys and books with texture really encourage play and development.
SMELL
Newborns have a good sense of smell and will know your natural scent from birth. Babies find your natural scent comforting, so try not to wear any perfume or scented creams for the first few months so your baby can enjoy your natural scent. By the age of 1 your baby will be able to recognise foods by their smell.
For further baby sensory development and a great way to have fun with your baby, you can join a local Baby Sensory Class.
Struggling to Find the Best Baby Names?
Pregnancy is a doddle when compared to finding the perfect name for your baby.
My husband and I spent months, weeks, days and hours brainstorming, debating and deliberating on names.
And the craziest thing of all was that I despised the names he liked and he wouldn’t (perhaps it was out of spite for me not liking his names) agree to any of the names I came up with.
The clock was ticking and I began to envisage us in hospital, with our new baby in our arms and a blank name tag, whilst we continued to try and reach a decision.
We desperately needed some guidance.
My husband was coming up with more and more bizarre names in an effort to be the one to find the perfect name for our baby.
I feared he was close to approaching wacky celebrity baby name status where the likes of Apple, Sage Moonblood, Ocean and Blue Angel exist.
I went straight to the bookshop for some advice and can heartily recommend 60,001 Best Baby Names
It’s not easy. The name you give your baby is the name he or she will be stuck with forever (that’s if they don’t change it by deed poll)!
They say that a name can influence the life of a person, their career and even their ability to interact successfully with others. And if you’re not feeling the strains of future parenthood yet, the pressure is on you to get it right!
And if you’re wanting to know what the most popular names are for newborn boys and girls, check out Bounty who have just announced the Most Popular Baby Names for 2011.
