Close bonds help nurture baby's brain

Liza Iliffe Photo/File

Like adults, every baby is different. Your baby may be easygoing and calm or wakeful and active. They may settle quickly into a regular routine or be more unpredictable.

If they are fussy or unsettled, it doesn't mean they're being naughty or annoying you on purpose. Crying is their way of communicating.

The most important years for a child's brain are the early years. So much growth and development takes place which has an impact for a lifetime. So how you speak, handle and respond to your baby shapes their brain.

That's why mums and dads sing and chat to babies all day long. They are nurturing their baby's brain and helping all the connections to grow strong and healthy. They are developing a strong emotional bond with baby.

This, in turn, builds strong foundations for learning, behaviour and relationships.

Through simple interactions and everyday experiences, using our five senses, we can stimulate our baby's brain cells to connect into neural pathways. By repeating activities with our baby, particularly during the first three years, we help to strengthen these pathways and lay a foundation for all their future learning.

Whether the connections are for learning mathematics or for loving relationships, they are strengthened simply through play and interaction, especially with people the baby knows and trusts.

SKIP has available for parents a beautiful bilingual wall frieze which shows easy ways we can not only build a strong relationship with the newest member of our whanau but help to "wire their brain". Most brain development takes place after birth, so we have many opportunities to help our baby develop a healthy brain. This will help them to reach their full potential in life.

Whatever your baby's personality, here are some tips to help you all get off to a great start:

Give them lots of attention. You can't spoil a baby with too much love.

Babies feel safe and secure when you respond quickly to their crying. Coping with crying can be really hard, especially when you are tired too. Try to remember that this stage won't last forever and things will settle down.

Singing, talking and cuddling all help their brain to grow and build a strong bond with mum and dad.

Smile at them lots - eventually they'll smile back!

Each picture from the baby frieze reminds us how we can share love, stories and time with our babies.

If you would like to learn more about the importance of brain development in the early years and receive a free SKIP baby frieze come along to our next seminar. SKIP Whanganui is hosting a Brainwave Seminar - The Early Years Last Forever.

Join us on Thursday, April 3 from 9.30-11.30am at Central Baptist Community Centre. RSVP to SKIP on 027 626 1404. A free seminar for all parents and caregivers.