Babies as well as adults all gain comfort and self-regulate through oral activities such as sucking on a pacifier or on candy. Biting builds strong jaw muscles, it provides neck and thoracic stability and it is used for organizing and grounding the body. Parents expect a baby to chew and bite on things, but if the older child still bites on things or people one should recognize his possible sensory reaction or behaviour and provide him with acceptable items to bite and chew on. One of the most basic demands of our daily existence is to process the sensory information from our enviroment in such a way that the body can respond to it in a relaxed and joyful way. Learning or survival is therefor the ability of the central nervous system to integrate the information from our senses so that the body can respond in an appropriate way on a physical as well as on an emotional level. Our sensory system consist of touch, smell, taste, hearing, vision, vestibular and proprioceptive input.

Read more: Biting (pdf 175 kb)

New moms and dads often think of learning as something that starts when a child goes to school, but learning starts a few weeks after conception when baby responds to touch, a few weeks later to smells and tastes and a few months later to sound. Baby’s eyes mostly develop after birth and that is why shining a torch on your tummy is not a good idea.

What is remarkable, is that your baby’s ability to read, write and reason six and a half years later when he enters Grade 1 is substantially developed before he is only 14 months old!

Read more in this insightful article from dr Melodie de Jager: When does a baby start to learn (pdf – 331 KB).

Did you know that all baby’s senses are fully developed before birth except for the sense of vision.  This will take another 7 years to fully develop.

We all know how a new-born baby’s eyes are very “vague” for the first few weeks.  It is best to hold objects about 20 – 30 centimetres away from baby’s eyes for him/her to see it.  A baby will prefer his/her mother’s face above anything else, especially so if it is a smiling face.  Moms will often intuitively move their heads up and down or from side to side as they talk to their baby.  This will help baby to focus on its mommy.

Title: BabaGimkursus
Location: Toddlers Workshop, 39 Brewer Road, Summerstrand
Description: ‘n Nuwe BabaGimkursus begin Woensdag 21 Julie vanaf 14:00 – 15:00 vir 5 opeenvolgende Woensdae. Die koste beloop R550 en registrasie moet so gou moontlik geskied. Besoek gerus die BabaGim webtuiste vir meer inligting: www.babagim.co.za of stuur ‘n epos aan Lynette by lynettevw@gmail.com.
Start Time: 14:00
Date: 2010-07-21
End Time: 15:00