Kids Are Our Future

Brain development is most sensitive to a baby’s nutrition up to around two years of age. Children who are malnourished, not receiving adequate calories and protein in their diet throughout this period do not adequately grow, either physically or mentally. Studies showed their brains are smaller than normal. Inadequate brain growth due to malnourishment as fetuses and infants suffer lasting behavioral and cognitive deficits, which lead to slower fine motor development, slower language development, and lower IQ.

A baby’s birth weight and brain size depend on his or her mother’s nutrition during pregnancy. After birth, brain growth depends critically on a child’s nutrition. Breast milk offers the best mix of nutrients for promoting brain growth, however, iron supplementation should be used beginning around six months of age. Because iron is critical for maintaining an adequate number of oxygen-carrying red blood cells, which are necessary for brain growth, iron deficiency has been clearly linked to cognitive deficits in young children. Bottle-fed babies should receive formula that contains iron as well.

In addition, young children need a high level of fat in their diets. Experts suggest 50 percent of their total calories should come from fat until around two years of age. Babies should receive most of this fat from breast milk, an excellent source of liquid nutrition or formula in the first year of life remains into the toddler years. Whole cow’s milk can be introduced after the first birthday, and provides an excellent source of both fat and protein for toddlers in the second year. After two years of age, children should begin transitioning to more heart-healthy dietary fat. Lower-fat, 1% or 2% cow’s milk could be a good choice.

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Parents act as a very important role in a child’s brain development. Infants prefer human stimuli. Such as parents’ face, voice, touch, and even smell. Just as babies are born with a set of very useful instincts for surviving and orienting to their new environment, parents are equipped with loving, nurturing and protecting them. Parents’ touching, holding, comforting, singing and talking provide the best stimulation for babies growing brains. Because brain development is so heavily dependent on early experience, babies need receive the right kind of nurturing through parents’ loving and parenting instincts.

Although all parents want to make their baby smarter, scientists have not discovered any special way for enhancing the natural building phase in children’s brain development so far. Normally, loving and responsive care giving provide babies with the ideal environment for encouraging their selves’ exploration, which is always the best way to learning.

Language as a kind of stimulation has been proven to make a difference. Infants and children who are conversed with, read to, and engaged in lots of verbal interaction show more advanced linguistic skills than children who are not. Because language is fundamental to most of the rest of cognitive development, talking and listening to children is one of the best ways to make the most of their critical brain-building years.
Reading to children is crucial for their brain development. It is never too early to introduce books to a child. It is very important to nurture the emergent literacy of babies, toddlers, and preschoolers. These are some tips that parents can help children to build their literacy skills, which contributes to children’s brain development.

For babies and toddlers,

• Sing nursery songs to help developing a young child’s ear for language.
• Read aloud to the child for a few minutes at a time, gradually increase later on.
• Play music and audio books to the child.
• Use picture books and point to things and name them.
• Ask questions, such as “What is it?” or “what is it doing?”
• Set aside a regularly scheduled time each day for reading, such as before bedtime, make it a part of the child’s routine.
• Let the child play toys including electronic ones.
• Take toddlers to libraries and bookstores for story hour.

For preschoolers,

• Tell stories to them.
• Encourage the child to join in while parents read, let him/her fill in a rhyming word or repeating line.
• Ask questions, such as “What do you think is going to happen next?” or “Did you know why it happened?”
• Move your finger under the words as you read aloud to help preschoolers connect printed words to spoken words.
• Begin teaching the letters of the alphabet, starting with those in the child’s name.
• Draw pictures and name them using letters and words.
• Play audio and videos programs.
• Encourage the child read picture books, and ask parents questions.
• Let the child play toys including electronic ones with multimedia features.
• Introduce the child good online contents, such as games, video programs.
• Take preschoolers to libraries and bookstores frequently.

We should not only measure children’s growth by their height and weight, but also need to use age-based developmental milestones in evaluating how they play, learn, speak and act. A delay in any of these areas could be a sign of a developmental problem. The earlier it’s recognized the more parents can do to help children reach their full potential.

Positive parenting for 0- to 1-year-old

Child safety first

It is parents’ responsibility to ensure a safe environment for the baby. Here are a few tips to keep the baby safe during his or her first year of life.

• Never shake the newborn baby because of his or her weak neck muscles, which are not yet able to support his or her heads. Shaking can damage his or her brain.
• Always put the baby to sleep on his or her back, to prevent SIDS (Sudden Infant Death Syndrome), due to breathing problems.
• Use a baby car safety seat every time he or she rides in the car.
• Cut his or her food into small bites, to prevent the baby from choking.
• Don’t allow the baby to play with anything that may cover his or her face or is easy for him or her to swallow.
• Protect the baby by giving him or her proper immunizations, because he or she is susceptible to many potentially serious diseases.

Tips

• Cuddling and holding the baby, let him or he feel secured.
• Talk to, read to, sing to and play music to the baby, to prepare this or her language skill.
• Praise the baby to help him or her build self-confidence.

Parenting can be hard work! Parents need to take care of ourselves physically, mentally, and emotionally in order to nurture babies with loving and good care.

Important milestones for 1-year-old

Because every baby develops at his or her own pace, it’s difficult to tell exactly when he or she will learn a given skill. The developmental milestones listed below give a guideline. If the baby develops slightly different, parents should not get too worry, however, need to notice it.

Movement

• Reach sitting position without assistance
• Crawl on hands and knees
• Get from sitting to crawling
• Pull self up to stand
• Stand momentarily without support
• Walk by holding on to a support
• May walk two or three steps without support

Hand and finger skills

• Use pincer grasp
• Put objects into a box
• Take objects out of a box
• Push with index finger
• Imitate scribbling 

Social and emotional

• Prefer parents over all others
• Cry when a parent leaves
• May feel fearful in some situations
• Feel shy or anxious with strangers
• Show specific preference for some toys
• Repeat sounds or gestures for attention
• Enjoy imitating people in playing
• Extend arm or leg to help when being dressed

Cognitive
(The learning process of memory, language, thinking and reasoning)

• Play with objects in different ways, shaking, throwing, dropping etc.
• Find hidden objects easily
• Look at correct objects when the name is pronounced
• Begin to use objects correctly, drinking from cup, brushing hair using brush, dialing phone using phone keypad etc.

Language
(Including listening, understanding, and knowing the names of people and things)

• Pay increasing attention to speech
• Respond to simple verbal requests using “yes” or “no”
• Use simple gestures, such as shaking head for “no”
• Say “dada” and “mama”
• Imitate words