Focus on the Family: Building a Baby Domain

A home with a newborn can quickly transform into baby central with pack and plays, bouncy seats, burp cloths and pacifiers abounding. Everywhere you look you see signs of little ones. It is important to create an environment at home that is conducive to growth and development. This type of domain will:

• Help them differentiate between night and day. 

During the day keep babies on the main level in well-lit areas. Here they are exposed to the sounds and hustle and bustle of day time. At night try to keep themin their nursery where it is dark and quiet. Be intentional about not talking or playing with them during their night-time care times. Get down to business at 12am and 3 am. This has proven to be very helpful in getting them on a care schedule.

• Practice good nutrition.

Work with a dietitian or pediatrician to determine an appropriate feeding schedule, equipped with goals for growth velocity, caloric intake and volume at each feeding. Calorie goals vary quite a bit and like adults are based on their weight, ranging from 108-120 Calories per kilogram body weight. On average breastmilk has 20 calories per ounce, and depending on a baby’s growth they may require a more dense formula and extra vitamins, such as a multivitamin (poly-vi-sol) daily.

• Exercise their Mind.

Lots of time and attention is poured into identifying strategies to develop baby’s brains. There are an assortment of toys, books, apps, programs, etc. that promise to make your baby a genius. However, I’m a firm believer in simplicity and believe that attention, bonding and communication, or ABC’s, develop the brain just as efficiently as any of these other tools. Some toys touted for brain development can actually over-stimulate the child and increase the risk of ADHD/ADD.

Enjoy tracking exercises. Use black and white images or toys and move the image from left to right. This activity strengthens communication between the left and right hemispheres of the brain, or communication across the corpus callosum. Chat and sing with your little ones. An ideal time to chat is when you are changing them, because you are 12-14 inches away from their little faces and are able to maintain their attention.

• Massage for Emotional Well-being. 

There are many benefits of baby massage, including stress management. Massage can help to foster emotional health and promote self-soothing.  Touch via gentle strokes stimulates the central nervous system to produce more serotonin, the happy hormone, and create less cortisol, a stress hormone. Typically, as a result the infants breathing and heart rate will slow and they become more relaxed. Often times, this relaxed state does not result in sleep but rather a quiet, alert state perfect for play-time, snuggle-time, or positive feeding interactions.

• Massage for their Tummies.

Take them on bicycle rides all over “town,” moving their little legs in a circular fashion. They will come to enjoy this and almost do it on their own when you lay them on their backs. Practice the “I Love You” strokes on their bellies, which can help to stimulate movement throughout the digestive tract. A fool-proof method for gas relief is to place them on their tummies with rounded shoulders and knees tucked up and to glide your hands down their back while supporting their bottoms.

• Stretch their Bodies.

Since sleep is one of an infant’s favorite past times, these little ones can get awful stiff. It is also important to try to prevent flattening of their heads and promote good neck mobility. Moving their limbs up and down and inward and outward can help to prevent these little hedgehogs from staying all bound up. Try “windshield wipers” with their bent knees to help open up their hips.

Tummy time is also a great way foster good motor development and upper body strength.  It is best done when the infant is alert. Some will love tummy time and others are still learning to like it. It can be quite a frustrating position for them, so be sure to keep the sessions short and sweet.

• Encourage Good Coordination.

Newborns are able to open and close their hands, but often times these movements are reflexive. During the first three months of life grasping becomes more intentional and an ideal time for developing foundational skills for hand-eye coordination.

All of these activities certainly add up for a full day, but are well worth the time and attention.