The Daily Bootie Newsletter for New Parents

Improve Your Baby’s Brain Development




The power of reading

One way to connect intimately with your baby’s growing mind is to read to her—no matter how young she is. The idea is not just to familiarize her with language.

“Reading together is a great way to strengthen those attachment relationships,” says Bales. “By holding a baby close, using an animated voice tone and sharing touch, smiles and laughter, parents are communicating love and caring, which helps build trust.”

But of course, language is at the heart of the shared reading experience. “It’s the one-on-one attention that really makes the experience so magical,” says Jill Stamm, author of Bright from the Start: The Simple, Science-Backed Way to Nurture Your Child’s Developing Mind from Birth to Age 3 (Gotham Books, 2007). “But you’re also pointing to an object in the book and explaining the picture or story, bathing that child in complex language and her brain is absorbing all of it.”

The brain is a pattern-seeking organ, Stamm explains. “In all aspects of a baby’s brain development, there is the search for patterns.” That’s why simple books that rely on word repetition can capture a baby’s attention. “Repetition strengthens the language connections in the brain,” agrees Bales. “Reading is an opportunity to hear the same words and phrases repeated over and over.”

NEXT: Brain-building stuff





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  1. Brain can change instantly according to how the mind relates to it. Brain is endlessly adaptable. Other organs of the body also respond to positive and negative thinking, but their response must come through the brain first; it functions as command central for the rest of the body. Beliefs, expectations, likes and dislikes that you hold inside are creating change at the level of brain circuitry. Form a better relationship with your brain is to realize that you have a relationship. Once you realize this, you can choose to pay attention to the relationship and nurture it.Thinking your brain into better functioning is the most efficient way to improve it. The best way to relate to your brain is to inspire it. Approach your brain as if it had great untapped potential.
    Take care of stress. Avoid dulling routine. Do something creative every day. Read poetry, spiritual material or anything else that makes you feel uplifted. Take time to be in nature. Bond with another person who is heartwarming. Pay attention to being happy. Make sure you take time every day by yourself to relax, meditate and self-reflect. Deal with negative emotions like anger and anxiety. Focus on activity that makes you feel fulfilled. Give of yourself. Follow a personal vision. Attach yourself to a cause that is bigger than you are. Take the risk to love and be loved. Music lessons and exercises could be used to improve certain brain skills. Being happier and more active help the brain more effective and compensating for pathological processes.

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