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Birth to Six Months
In the first six months, your baby's brain is making important connections to
the world around him. When you respond to his or her needs, your baby learns
that he/she matters and can affect the people and things around him/her. This
encourages your baby to try new things and to be curious about what else he/she
can do. Your baby communicates with you by the movement of the head or body,
makes faces with you and the way he/she looks at you.
Movement
| Facts: |
What you can do: |
Activities: |
 Young babies need to be handled gently.
Babies turn their heads
toward or away to "tell" you if they are enjoying an activity or
have had enough.
Your baby communicates with
you by the faces he makes, the way he looks at you and moves his body. |
Touch your baby gently and often.
Learn to "read"
your baby's signals.
Hold your baby in a way
that is comfortable for both of you.
Notice if your baby likes
to snuggle or wants to move more freely at times. Follow how your baby
feels. |
Place baby on back and talk or sing to him/her, watching face/body
reactions.
Hold toy/object that makes
interesting noise over child's head when in an infant seat or lying on
floor. Jiggle it to let the child "bat" at it.
Hold out a squeeze toy for
your 5-6 month old to grab. |
Language
| Facts: |
What you can do: |
Activities: |
 Babies learn to speak by listening to you speak to him. He also learns by
watching your face.
Talk to her early and
often, because she is developing speech connections now.
Your baby's brain builds
connections from sounds that make up words.
Babies enjoy listening to
stories. |
Speak in full sentences.
Talk to your baby while
diapering, feeding, bathing her.
Imitate the sounds he
makes.
Smile and praise baby for
learning something new.
Even though your baby
doesn't understand the words, read to him. He will learn that reading is a
pleasant activity. |
Sit
and rock your baby to the rhythm of nursery rhymes/poems.
Listen and talk to your
baby throughout the day. Respond to your baby's "babbles".
Demonstrate association
between words and objects. ("This is your bottle. I am giving it to
you.")
Repeat baby's name so he
will recognize it. |
Intellectual Development
| Facts: |
What you can do: |
Activities: |
 The
best times for learning is during feeding, diapering, bathing and
one-on-one work with a caring adult.
Babies learn from
experience that they can have an effect on the people and things around
them.
Baby's mouth will be used
to explore most objects, as it is the most sensitive of his senses. |
"Play" with your baby when she is quiet and alert.
Respond to baby's cries,
sounds, facial and body movements.
Use words such as hard,
soft, rough, wet, and dry to describe objects.
Read to your baby from
birth, since he loves the sound of your voice. |
Say
what you are doing as you feed, bathe, dress, and change your baby.
Lay baby in front of a
mirror to see his/her face and body movements.
Give your baby objects to
explore that are too large for baby to swallow, but that are of different
textures (hard, soft, smooth, rough).
Give baby simple directions
with love and gestures. |
Social/Emotional
| Facts: |
What you can do: |
Activities: |
 The
more a baby's needs are responded to, the more he'll be able to soothe
himself later.
Even very young babies need
to know that they are loved and valued.
Expressions of love,
affection and caring help her to adjust to the world positively.
Experiences with parents
and providers help his ability later to control emotions and behavior. |
Express warm, positive feelings toward baby.
Tell your baby with words
or gestures just how much she is loved.
Tell baby what you're going
to do with both words and gestures.
Have
"conversations" with baby by imitating faces and noises he makes
and waiting for a response.
Make feeding and bathing
relaxed, special times. |
Get
to know the meaning of your baby's cries and gestures. Let your baby know
that what he says and does is important.
Place baby on back and talk
or sing to him/her, watching face/body reactions.
Hold toy/object that makes
interesting noise over child's head when in an infant seat or lying on
floor. Jiggle it to let the child "bat" at it. |
Brought to you by "First
Impressions," a project funded by the Anne Arundel County Department of
Social Services and co-sponsored by Anne Arundel Child Care Resource and
Referral, Anne Arundel Community College and the Anne Arundel Public Library.
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