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Your baby's brain started growing before birth. When she was born her brain was about one-fourth its adult size. Your baby's brain will grow at its fastest until she is about three years old.
How a baby's brain grows depends on many things. Some things are inherited from parents. Others depend on your baby's health, nutrition, experiences and relationships. The way your baby's brain develops depends, in part, on what you say and do with her.
Your baby's brain has many, many neurons or brain cells. The types of activities your baby has with objects and people stimulate these neurons. This allows the neurons to make important connections in the brain. Everyday activities determine how these connections are formed. Activities like holding and playing with toys or listening to people talk are important.
This is why your child needs stimulation and play. She needs to know you love her. She needs to be able to explore and find things out. She needs you to talk to her and interact with her. These things will all help the part of brain development that depends on experience.
How should you provide these experiences for your baby? There isn't any one answer. We do know that babies develop better:
When they hear language
When they have experiences with toys or objects
When they know that people love them and pay attention to them
What's important is to find activities that you and your child enjoy doing together. When you do this, you are not just having fun with your baby. You are helping her brain grow.
Month By Month has been adapted for Fathers from Healthy Start, Grow Smart, Your Newborn, Washington, D.C. 2002 - U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
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