Playing with your Newborn

Your baby may look helpless and fragile, but she’s growing, learning and taking in the world around her all the time.

The best thing you as parents can do at this stage is to encourage and play with your baby to help her development. Babies are born copycats and at just a few hours old will respond to you sticking your tongue out by doing it back. They also love faces, so pulling and twisting your face and letting her fingers explore it will become a favorite game.

Talking

She also loves to learn and takes in more information at this stage in her life than she ever will. At this age she can adapt to any language, which is why it’s important to talk to her all the time. She may not be able to understand the words you’re saying, but she can hear the sounds you make and is learning about expression, emotion and the basics of communication when you speak. Explain what you’re doing all the time, for instance, “now you’re going to have a bath”, or “who’s that at the door, shall we go and check?” so she starts to learn the names for things and gets used to hearing your voice.

Singing

Your baby loves to hear your voice whether you can sing or not, so sing to her as much as possible: nursery rhymes, pop songs, show tunes – anything will do! ?There have been numerous reports that classical music actually boosts babies’ IQs and studies show that playing music to babies in the uterus and in their early years helps to build the neural pathways where thoughts and information travel.

At the very least babies are soothed by all sorts of music, so putting on a classical CD in the evening, when they tend to get cranky, may help them relax and unwind for bedtime. You can also use lullabies as part of the bedtime routine, so your baby recognizes that soothing tunes mean bedtime is near. Watch your baby’s reactions when you play music, sing and talk to her – she may respond more to certain types of music. She can grasp a rattle from around three months onwards, so she can shake away to her favorite tunes!

Games to play with your baby

- In the bath you can gently splish splash the water across her skin, making water sounds around her.

- Hold your baby next to a mirror. She won’t know it’s herself she can see until she’s around 15 months old, but even tiny babies are fascinated by mirror reflections – not least because they can see their favorite people (mom and dad!) – reflected back.

- Uncurl newborn fingers and stroke each one gently up and down.

- Tickle your newborn baby’s feet, hands and under her chin. Babies don’t normally start to smile until around six weeks, but she’ll still love tickling games. Try ‘round and round the garden’ on the palm of her hand, or ‘this little piggy…’ on her toes.

- Make as many different noises as you can when playing with your baby – blow a raspberry on her stomach, or make a quack quack noise for a duck. - Your newborn baby’s eyesight is still very limited in the early weeks, and she can probably only see about eight to 12 inches from her face. Research shows that even a four-day-old infant will stare at her mom’s face longer than anyone else’s. Move your face close in to her, so she can see you clearly. She’ll also love simple shapes and high contrast colors at this early stage, especially black and white, as it’s easier to distinguish.

- Young babies love to stare at mobiles, or the shapes which hang off play gyms. Choose simple shapes and bold colors, or mobiles that play soothing tunes.

The information in this feature is intended for educational purposes only. If you have any concerns about your health, the health of your child or the health of someone you know, please consult with a doctor or other healthcare professional.