according to current research this is
how your newborn perceives the world a
blur of
out-of-focus images dulled colors and
muted sounds and sensations so how do
you connect with someone who is so
disconnected from the visible world and
how do you provide the proper
stimulation to help their brains grow
and adapt in today's video I'm going to
show you some fun and easy ways to both
stimulate and connect with your 0-2
three-month-old baby
not only do these activities encourage
brain growth in your little one they
will also provide opportunities for
bonding and learning about the world
together so let's hop to it and learn
some ways to play with your newborn baby
one of the easiest and possibly most
important ways to connect with your baby
is to offer them some FaceTime no not
that kind
this basically means to get close to
them and allow them to study your face
the latest studies show that babies
begin to recognize and distinguish
between faces long before they can
distinguish different shapes or patterns
in their environment they can focus on
parts of faces near to them and so by
allowing your baby time to study your
face not only do they familiarize
themselves with you but you begin to
simulate parts of their brain that are
associated with their visual experience
and their perceptual abilities this also
helps them to later be able to
distinguish relevant social information
like emotions babies as young as a few
days old can begin to mimic some of your
facial expressions as well so one fun
game is to get close to your baby and
stick your tongue out repeatedly and
slowly and they should begin to stick
their tongue out back at you as well as
they start to get a little older you can
also mimic their sounds and facial
expressions back to them and you might
even get a laugh another important
aspect of infant development is gaining
spatial awareness you can encourage this
by simply allowing your child to stretch
out on a blanket give them uninterrupted
time to recognize and study their hands
and the ways that their arms and legs
move this helps them to develop the
neural pathways necessary for controlled
movements
recognizing spatial concepts like
distance and may even play a role in
their mathematical abilities later on in
life
so give your baby time to stretch
another fun way to play with your baby
is to narrate your day to them show them
different rooms in your
home talk to them about what you are
doing or what they are seeing and let
them listen in on your phone calls all
of these activities have been shown to
increase a child's IQ and their
vocabulary range as they get older you
can also encourage development in your
baby's language center by initiating in
conversations where you give your child
time to respond to your question do you
have a really is that is that why you
won't nap oh yeah that's why you won't
nap
because you have a lot to talk about
another way to encourage communication
is to begin signing with your baby the
newborn phase is an excellent time to
introduce sign language for frequent
activities like changing the diaper or
nursing eros no longer cries during
diaper changes because I always show him
this sign first and he now knows what to
expect signs are amazing tools that
eventually allow your child to
communicate with you long before they
can speak you start practicing now
around five weeks of age your baby will
go through their first developmental
leap and they will start to notice
contrast and shadows so give them time
to study these as you encounter them
around your home going back to the
example of the newborn vision it's easy
to see why so many newborn toys have
black and white high contrast images on
them even with the most obscured vision
you can still pick out the high contrast
image if you don't have any black and
white newborn toys laying around you can
also make your own by using a card or a
piece of paper and just coloring and
obscured black and white image on it or
you can print them out online studying
these types of images encourages your
baby's brain development in several
areas and they can also be used to
encourage visual tracking as they are
highly interesting to your newborn
here's another high contrast game that
your baby will love shine a flashlight
on the wall in a darkened room and make
shadow puppets and watch as their eyes
light up also around five or six weeks
your baby will begin to exhibit their
first social smile so be sure to pull
out all the stops to get your baby to
last
smile at your antics around this time
your baby can also pick up on different
types of music so it's a good idea to
put some on in the background and let
them listen while they're stretching out
or maybe even pick up your child and go
for a dance around your living room or
your kitchen they really enjoy this
activity around seven weeks your baby
will also start to recognize patterns so
be sure to give them lots of times to
study the various patterns that you
encounter throughout your day another
skill that emerges around seven or eight
weeks is the ability to grasp and hold
on to a toy you can encourage this
behavior by offering your baby a small
rattle or some of these little teething
rings they offer unique textures and
they're easy and lightweight for a baby
to hold on to also after this mental
leap your baby will begin to clearly
recognize different facial expressions
so going back to giving them lots of
face time make sure that you make some
exaggerated expressions and give them
time to study your face lastly it's
important to note that babies learn so
much about their environment through
their sense of touch you can encourage
this learning and growth by offering
your baby a lot of unique sensory
experiences throughout their day one
sensory game that my little guy loves is
raising and lowering his muzzle and
blanket over him like this sometimes I
drop it on his belly so he can feel the
different weights of the blanket and
sometimes I just brush it across his
face he thinks this game is so much fun
another way to offer your baby some
sensory experiences is just to grab a
few different unique items from your
home and let your baby grasp them or
show them to them the other day I picked
up a lime and arrows who really loved
this I scratched the surface of it so
you could smell the strong citrus scent
and you really locked in on this and
kind of followed it everywhere that I
looped it another great tool for sensory
engagement are these sensory books that
they make for babies they have different
fabrics or textures on the pages is
great because not only does it give you
an opportunity to read to your child it
also gives them a lot of different
textures that they can experience and
it's all put together for you
those first three months are filled with
change your baby's brain will be growing
at such a rapid rate they'll becoming
more alert by the day and seem like
they're literally growing in front of
your eyes and while the days are a blur
of naps feedings and diapers changed I
hope you'll find some time to play with
your baby I also wanted to note that
whenever you're playing with your child
make sure you're looking for signs that
they're not overtired so if they're
sneezing or if they're looking away from
you and they're yawning or closing their
eyes those are signs that they could be
over stimulated or overtired and they're
not really in the mood to play all right
guys so that about wraps it up I hope
you enjoyed this week's video on how to
play with your 0 to 3 month old baby and
if you're not already please subscribe
to my channel and click that Bell
notification because this will be a
series that goes all the way through
baby's first year and I wouldn't want
you to miss out on any future episodes
and until next time adios
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