Nurturing Your Baby’s Brain Development

When parenting my first born, I was often overwhelmed. Not only was I responsible for the well-being of this tiny person, but there was a staggering amount of brand new information to assimilate. My pre-parenting career had provided woefully little contact with infants! 

I didn’t understanding much about David’s brain development during those early months when I was barely surviving.  However, I wish I had!  There’s a lot a mom can do to stimulate brain development in her infant.  Thankfully, a lot of what our babies need we do instinctively.  So fear not.  You’ve probably been doing just fine if you’re new to this subject.  But we can also contribute even more if we learn a bit and begin to consciously create an environment for maximum brain development. 

A Mini Lesson in Brain Development
The cerebral cortex makes up 85 percent of the brain. It is divided into the right and left hemispheres.  The left hemisphere receives information from and controls the right side of the body.  The right hemisphere receives information from and controls the left side of the body. The left hemisphere contains the center for spoken and written language and positive emotions. The right hemisphere handles spatial abilities such as judging distances, reading maps and recognizing geometric shapes and negative emotions.  It’s popular these days to talk about being “right-brained” or “left-brained” based on which hemisphere’s abilities we seem to express more strongly.

When babies are under 1 year old, their cerebral cortex is said to be highly plastic because the hemispheres are not yet committed to a certain function.  By 1 year old, lateralization has occurred, which means that the brain has specialized.  Now certain areas of the brain are committed to a certain functions.  This is why it is so easy for young children to learn new languages; their brains are not fully lateralized.

The brain is made up of 100 to 200 billion neurons, which are nerve cells that store and communicate information like a computer chip.  By the end of the 2nd trimester, the brain has developed all the neurons it will even have!  The neurons make up the communication center of the brain as each neuron develops thousands of connections to other neurons.  Tiny gaps, called synapses exist between neurons.  Chemicals sent by neurons bridge the gap, providing a path for sending messages back and forth. As a baby grows, the neurons connect and communicate and all the lobes of the cerebral cortex integrate.  Neurons which are not stimulated by incoming information from the environment die off from disuse, while neurons that are used continue to form other connections.  Therefore, when a baby’s brain has lots of proper stimulation, it develops more connections.

Developing A Brain Stimulating Environment
Providing a brain stimulating environment is somewhat second nature to parents, but with some intentionality, can be that much more effective and fun.  The American Academy of Pediatrics suggests a couple of ideas for creating an environment for normal brain development to take place in their book, Caring For Your Baby and Young Child:

1) Lots of face to face communication—talk, sing, play!
2) Careful observation allowing for early identification of developmental problems
3) Opportunity for your child to explore a variety of safe places
4) Positive Parenting:  Raising your child in a loving, supportive and respectful environment

Other ideas might include: reading books to your baby, playing classical and other styles of music, going on daily walks, regular play dates or other outings, classes that allow for communication with other children and adults, sensory stimulation such as bath times and tummy play time with a variety of toys.  Kindermusik classes are based on the science of brain development.  Music, rhythm exercises, parent-child interaction, a stimulating environment, lots of fun, intentionally contributes to brain growth. 

Information overload was a part of my early parenting experience.  However, learning to recognize and encourage David’s brain development would have brought even more focus and encouragement to my daily activities.  Now that your brain has been exercised with this science lesson, here’s a couple suggestions: 1) Observe your routines.  Note what you do to encourage brain development. I bet you’ll realize you already do a lot—Pat yourself on the back! 2)  Choose to add one more activity this week.   3) Read more on the science of brain development!

-posted by Donna Mershon Detweiler, whose “left-brain” leanings explain why she is generally disoriented, but is doesn’t seem to bother her much.

Source Material:  Development through the Lifespan, Laura E. Beck
Caring for your Baby and Young Child: Birth to Age 5, Steven P. Shelov, MD, Ed.