Baby development: Information for the science-minded parent

© 2009-2014 Gwen Dewar, Ph.D., all rights reserved

Researchers who study baby development aim to empathize ane of the world's most intriguing stories: How the man mind comes online.

The discoveries are fascinating for their own sake. But they also offer many practical insights for parents.

What does opens in a new windownormal baby sleep look like? How opens in a new windowoftentimes should a babe feed? When and how do you opens in a new windowstart a infant on solid foods? How exercise you get a babe to opens in a new windowswallow something new?

In these pages, I review research from a wide range of fields–including anthropology, medicine, psychology, evolutionary biology, and neuroscience.

If you lot have a new baby, yous might desire to first with these manufactures:

• Newborn sleep
• opens in a new windowThe newborn senses: What can your baby feel, see, hear, scent, and taste?
• The social heed of the newborn
• When to feed newborns
• Coping with postpartum stress
• opens in a new windowStress in babies
• opens in a new windowHow center contact helps babies tune into us and learn language

Otherwise, you lot can look upwards articles by topic (beneath).

Baby feeding

For thoughts about the timing or scheduling of feeding, see my commodity, opens in a new window"The infant feeding schedule." In improver, learn more than about opens in a new window"dream feeding," a tactic is designed to aid parents of young infants get more slumber.

Breastfeeding families can find a diversity of information about lactation in opens in a new windowthis drove of articles.

Introducing solids can be tricky, but you might make the transition easier by exposing babies to flavors before they begin weaning, or even earlier they are born. For more than information, see these manufactures about the opens in a new windowprenatal learning of food preferences and the opens in a new windowaffect of flavors in breast milk and baby formula.

Wondering when it's time to start solids? And how to begin? Read nearly the latest recommendations opens in a new windowhere.

Crying, fussing, and colic

All babies weep. But some do it a lot more than others.

For an overview and bear witness-based tips, see these manufactures near opens in a new windowcrying, colic, and fussing.

For information nearly what causes colic, encounter opens in a new windowthis guide.

And if y'all've got a difficult infant, bank check out my web log post opens in a new window about great outcomes for difficult babies who've been raised by sensitive, responsive parents.

Linguistic communication and communicating with babies

When exercise babies speak their beginning words? As I explicate elsewhere, well-nigh babies have achieved this milestone past their first birthdays. But experiments propose that some babies brainstorm to talk by the historic period of half dozen months. You can read more than about fascinating research opens in a new windowhither.

How do babies larn linguistic communication?

Cantankerous-cultural studies suggest that some babies tin learn language in a rather passive way — past merely listening to adults talk. But other research shows that babies benefit from beingness involved in ii-way "conversations" with their caregivers.

In fact, of the most important predictors of a baby's language development may exist the amount of time he spends in conversation with an older, competent speaker.

Does your vocalism change when yous address a babe? It does for many people, and babies like it. The slow, repetitive, musical mode of speaking is chosen opens in a new window"infant directed oral communication," and information technology appears to help babies understand our emotions. There is also bear witness it helps babies learn how to talk.

In addition, information technology makes a departure how nosotros relate to our babies. Studies suggest that opens in a new windowmaking centre contact during conversation helps babies "tune in." It's a signal that tells babies nosotros attempting to convey something meaningful.

And what we talk almost matters too. When we opens in a new windowaccurately label emotions and thoughts — sharing our insights about how our children experience, as well as how others feel — kids tend to develop more secure relationships and stronger social skills.

When do babies say their first words? Some babies begin to understand the meaning of words as early on as 6 months. For these babies, it'south possible that certain babbled syllables, like "ba-ba" are attempts to speak specific words (similar "bottle"). Only other don't outset talking until they're much older. Effectually the world, most babies have begun speaking their first words by 11-thirteen months. For more information, see this commodity about the development of infant spoken language.

What about baby sign linguistic communication?

Some people have claimed that we can give babe evolution a boost by instruction infants to communicate with gestures. These claims are not supported by the latest research.

Notwithstanding, in that location'due south evidence that nosotros help our babies decipher new words when we use expressive gestures, similar pointing at an object nosotros're talking about. And it's plausible that "baby sign language" improves communication between parents and infants, and this may do good the parent-kid relationship. To learn more, check out this article well-nigh the opens in a new windowscience of baby signing.

Learning, awareness, and retentivity

Once, the Western medical institution claimed that the mind of the newborn was a bare slate. Today we know meliorate.

As I annotation below, babies are born with opens in a new window potent biases for social interaction and social learning. Babies too evidence surprising intellectual abilities. For case, clever experiments reveal that your opens in a new windowbaby'due south mathematical listen is working fifty-fifty before she tin can talk.

What about claims that babies can't remember?  In opens in a new windowthis post for my blog on Psychology Today I put this strange myth to rest.

Sleep

Wondering opens in a new windowhow many hours your baby should sleep? Looking for evidence-based tips about solving opens in a new windowinfant sleep problems? Or just a savvy, cross-cultural guide to opens in a new windowwhat'due south normal? Check out this collection of opens in a new windowevidence-based articles on baby sleep.

In add-on, learn more than about opens in a new windowdream feeding, which might assist you improve your own slumber by tweaking the timing of your baby'southward meals.

And if you are concerned about sudden infant death syndrome, see this overview of the opens in a new windowscience of SIDS and these opens in a new windowresearch-based tips for reducing the risk of SIDS.

Social intelligence and infant evolution

At birth, babies are already primed to interact with their caregivers.

Research reveals that mothers and babies who exchange "loving looks and coos" actually synchronize their heart rhythms (Feldman et al 2011). And babies raised by sensitive, responsive caregivers are more than likely to develop secure zipper relationships.

But babies don't just nourish to you. Babies also pay attention to the interactions of third parties, and past ten months seem to sympathize that some people have higher social status than others (Thomsen et al 2011).

By 12 to 14 months, many babies start showing signs of empathy and empathic business for other people. They want to help strangers (Warneken et al 2007) and they consider the perspectives of other people (Upshaw 2015; Poulin-Dubois et al 2011; Zmyj et al 2010).

Is it helpful to empathize these things? I recollect and so.

Research suggests that that babies benefit when their parents care for them as individuals with minds of their own. This "mind-minded" approach to parenting is associated with more secure attachment relationships. Information technology may also help babies larn about the emotions and mental processes of other people.

Stress in babies

Tin babies sense when we're stressed out? Yous bet. Can babies tell when their parents are fighting? Once again, the answer is yes. And the distress is contagious. When nosotros're upset, our babies become upset. When the stress is chronic, it affects their development.

What tin can we do about it? Inquiry indicates that sensitive, responsive parenting makes a large deviation. Babies with the healthiest stress response systems have parents who are sensitive and responsive to their needs. And every bit children abound up, they benefit from opens in a new windowpositive parenting tactics, similar opens in a new windowemotion coaching.

But how practise you handle a stressed-out baby when he or she is very immature — too young to talk?

Research confirms that some babies are more prone to irritability than others. Some respond more negatively to being bathed or moved or having their diapers changed. But if parents tune into their babies' signals, they can make these experiences less stressful, and help their babies develop ameliorate emotional self-regulation. Read these evidence-based tips for handling everyday stress in babies.

Toilet training: When are babies ready?

In nigh non-Western cultures, people outset potty training in infancy. Is this something you'd like to try? Check out this show-based guide to opens in a new windowbabe toilet training. You might too be interested in this opens in a new windowexperimentally-tested technique for training older babies.

What nigh psychological impairment? What most Freud? The idea that early potty training causes psychological or behavioral problems has been discredited. For a review of the evidence, come across this article virtually the timing of toilet training.

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References: Baby development

Feldman R, Magori-Cohen R, Galili G, Singer M, Louzoun Y. 2011. Mother and infant coordinate heart rhythms through episodes of interaction synchrony. Babe Behav Dev. 34(4):569-77.

Poulin-Dubois D, Brooker I, Polonia A. 2011. Infants prefer to imitate a reliable person. Infant Behav Dev. 34(2):303-nine.

Thomsen L, Frankenhuis WE, Ingold-Smith Grand, Carey S. 2011. Big and mighty: preverbal infants mentally represent social say-so. Science. 331(6016):477-eighty.

Upshaw MB, Kaiser CR, Sommerville JA. 2015. Parents' empathic perspective taking and altruistic beliefs predicts infants' arousal to others' emotions. Front end Psychol. 6:360.

Warneken F and Tomasello M. 2007. Helping and cooperation at 14 months of historic period. Infancy 11(3): 217-294.

Zmyj North, Buttelmann D, Carpenter K, Daum MM. 2010. The reliability of a model influences 14-month-olds' fake. J Exp Child Psychol. 106(4):208-20.

For additional references, follow the links the original articles. They included full citations of the enquiry under word.

photo of mother and baby ©iStockphoto.com/Rohit Seth

Content of "Baby evolution and parenting for the science-minded" last modified 2/2014

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Source: https://parentingscience.com/baby-development/

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