Active Baby Bonding 6-9 Months

By 6 - 9 months your baby should be aware of what’s happening around him and actively trying to engage in his environment. He will be starting to crawl and explore things around them, usually by putting them in their mouths.

There are a number of bonding games you can incorporate in to your routine at this time to help your baby develop their sense of adventure.

- Take a large container and a few blocks, balls or a range of objects. Encourage baby to put them in the container, then tip it out, then put them in again. If interest in the container and the items is lost, put them away so the game doesn’t become stale. Next time you play, it will be a whole new experience.

- Set out some big boxes, chairs or other large items into a slalom course so your baby has to crawl his way through them. Your baby will learn co-ordination and how to adapt to new circumstances. If your baby is unsure what to do, you should demonstrate the slalom course to her.

For more activity ideas please visit www.babysbest.co.uk/articles

Active Baby Bonding 3-6 months

You will see lots of changes and new developments in your baby between 3-6 months. They will start recognising and responding to familiar people and objects and developing a social smile. You should (hopefully) be getting a bit more rest as baby should be able to sleep 6 hours on a night. Baby will also begin experimenting with the concept of cause and effect and begin making new noises including some consonant sounds.

There are a number of activities you can build in to your daily routine to develop and engage your baby’s development and learning;

Sit down with your legs straight and lay baby across your legs on his tummy. He must be able to touch the floor with his hands. Put a hand on his bottom or back to give some support. Put a toy on the floor in front of him and encourage him to play. This exercise is good to help develop coordination.

To help stimulate baby’s desire to learn you should encourage him to touch various items of all
shapes, forms, materials and textures. Give him big items, small items (but not small enough to go in his mouth), round, square, long, short, thick or thin. Remember, don’t just use toys – make use of anything from kitchen utensils to fruit.

For more activity ideas please visit http://www.babysbest.co.uk/Articles/Active-Bonding-Time/Active-bonding-time/13/

Active Baby Bonding 0-3 months

The first three years of a child’s life are the most important within its social development and it is our job to ensure that that they get the best start in life possible. One of the key elements to this is spending time with the little ones bonding in order to build their self esteem and confidence. Recent studies show that a baby needs at least one person in whom he can absolutely trust in order to thrive.

The first three months babies begin a lifetime of growing and learning, starting with the tentative lifting of the head and making new sounds.

During this time when baby is so small and delicate there are a number of activities you can build in to your routines in order to engage your baby and begin active bonding.

Ø = Try lying baby on his belly and stroke down from the back of his head to his bottom. This should encourage baby to hold his head up a little longer.

Ø = Take a ball (approx 10 – 13 ins in diameter) with a string attached to it and hold it over baby’s feet (not over his head as you don’t want to frighten him). Baby should start to kick the ball; when he sees the movement it should encourage him to kick a little more.

For more ideas to help with your bonding process with your baby through all stages of development please visit http://www.babysbest.co.uk/Articles/Active-Bonding-Time/

Modern Dads

Dads today are expected to be more hands on than ever before; this is supported by the increased amount of participation and information that is available during pregnancy. Yet, recent studies have shown that during a partner’s pregnancy men may experience hormonal changes too, in order to ready them for impending fatherhood. The experience of becoming a parent has been shown to be emotionally similar for both mother and father. Nature has taken care of the fact that humans have offspring which are totally dependent for so many years. Mothers as well as fathers are “programmed” to bond with their baby and to care for them for as long as it takes enabling fathers to be perfectly capable of caring for their babies - even though they don’t lactate.

Today over 90% of fathers-to-be attend antenatal classes, this allows them to get the ‘low down’ on what to expect during labour and the first few weeks. They allow the opportunity to get answers to all the questions that fathers-to-be never dared to ask. These classes also give ideas to Dads about how to bond with their new babies, which can be a difficult experience during the first few weeks especially when babies are being breastfed and when expectations are very high. For more information on what it means to be a modern dad and bonding with your baby please see http://www.babysbest.co.uk/Articles/