Nanny to Mommy

We all want our babies to grow up to become cogent individuals, able to take on whatever cognitive challenges that they face as adults. At the very least, we want them to have the raw brainpower to get through school and perhaps get a college degree.

As parents, it’s only natural to wonder whether there’s anything that we can do to help develop their minds. While much of an infant’s intelligence is biologically determined, research suggests that parents can play a pivotal role in ensuring that they achieve various developmental “milestones.”

Here’s what to do if you want your baby to be smart.

Nutrition science suggests that one of the best ways to help maximize your baby’s brainpower is to eat well while they’re in the womb. For decades, doctors have known that babies need folic acid to develop normally. But there’s increasing evidence that mothers can do more than just eat their greens or take folic acid supplements. The entire dietary pattern could have a profound effect on how a baby develops.

An ideal human diet is mostly plants and free from refined and processed foods. While most people don’t eat this way, it is something that some health experts recommend that moms-to-be actually do. A healthy diet signals to a baby that their environment is abundant in the right kinds of food and that they don’t need to switch on “thrift genes” that cause them to gain weight.

It also helps if moms refrain from any drugs, including tobacco and alcohol, while pregnant, as these can harm babies and lead to defects.

Babies, just like the rest of us, need a stimulating environment to exercise their brain cells. That’s why parents must come up with fun nursery ideas that will help their children learn about the world around them.

Children are naturally curious. It’s part of their survival strategy. They learn as much about the world as possible so that they can identify dangers and respond to threats. They also need to explore their environment in ways that enable them to build skills and learn about their bodies. A stimulating environment with toys, pictures, and even reading materials can be of enormous benefit.

Soothing your baby when he or she cries might not seem like it has anything to do with their long-term cognitive development, but it is enormously important. The reason is that it tells the baby that they have the support and resources that they need to explore their environment freely. They don’t have to worry about hunkering down or conserving calories. Their parents will look after them, no matter what.

Soothing a baby also helps enormously in regulating their emotions. The more that you can develop the limbic region of your baby’s brain, the more relaxed and capable they could become in the future.

While babies aren’t able to help with cleanup, toddlers can. What’s more, there’s evidence to suggest that it’s good for their brain.

The reason for getting toddlers involved in cleanup time has nothing to do with teaching them personal responsibility. Instead, it’s all about helping them understand categorization - or putting particular items in certain places.

It turns out that this categorization is an important technique that we develop throughout our lives. Babies that get a head start are often able to think more logically and learn faster about the world than their peers. It also helps with things like memory and motor skills.

Some babies can grow up not enjoying their food. In extreme cases, they can fail to thrive, harming their cognitive development.

Parents must help to create positive associations with eating. Unfortunately, many children grow up with a dysfunctional relationship to food that harms them later on in life. One of the things that moms can do is express pleasure as the baby eats. The more that the baby enjoys the food that they eat, the more likely they are to pick up good dietary habits that will serve their cognitive development well in the future.

Babies continually experiment, both in the social world, and the physical. It’s vital, therefore, that parents provide babies with verbal and auditory feedback to their attempts at interaction. Parents can provide consistent responses to the noises that their babies make, encouraging them to continue interacting and learning about the world around them.

Babies learn empathy skills at around fifteen months. For the first time, they’re able to see that other people have feelings too.

Parents need to be mindful of this critical developmental stage. Without the right environment, children can miss out, putting them and the people around them at a disadvantage in the future.

One of the things that you can do as a parent is to model empathetic feelings for your child. Show them that you care about the wellbeing of others and give them a chance to emulate you.

Kids learn about the world primarily through play, either alone or with each other. Play is a method that children use to gain mastery over their environment and manipulate the world around them.

The great thing about play is that it is surprisingly easy to facilitate. You don’t have to provide direction. All you need to do is give kids the raw materials, and they’ll get on with it. Paddling pools, Lego, and sandpits are particularly useful play apparatus because they allow kids to use their imaginations.

So, in summary, we’ve learned that boosting your baby’s brainpower is about more than merely preparing them for academic life. Ideally, you want them to be positive emotional creatures, too, able to withstand the difficulties and challenges that life brings. When you do that, you’re well on your way to helping your child flourish in the future.