Eye contact:

Researchers have found that your baby's brain is particularly stimulated in the visual area.  They have also found that babies enjoy looking at faces of loving adults.  Making frequent eye contact with your baby promotes brain development.    Eye contact is easy to do!

Here are some helpful tips:

• Hold your baby in a comfortable position
• Smile at your baby while he or she is looking at you
• Maintain eye contact until your baby looks away.
• Allow time for your baby to come back to your eye contact. 
• Smile again at your baby and wait for their response. 

It is very important to allow your baby to look away briefly.  This is how they "reorganize" their thoughts and how they learn to calm themselves  when they are overstimulated.     You can positively influence your baby's development by making eye contact frequently.    This teaches your baby to regulate their emotions, to express their emotions and to be able to transition in and out of challenging situations.

 Eye contact helps your baby get a preverbal (before language) sense of self.  Sense of self is who you are, how you discriminate between you and the environment, what you like, etc.  When human beings have a solid sense of self, all activities and skills are made easier and more fluent.

Feeding your baby:

Both breastfed and bottle fed babies benefit from eye contact during feeding. Your baby may close his or her eyes or look away briefly during the feeding. Continue to be available for eye contact throughout the feeding.

Tips for bottle fed babies: Breastfed babies experience a wider variety of positions during feeding, because they nurse on both right and left sides. Alternate the side you feed your baby with a bottle, to encourage this change in position and activity.

Hold your baby during feedings.  Babies benefit from physical contact with someone who loves them during feeding.

 Babies rely on their caregivers and the environment (things going on around them)  for learning and brain development.  Unlike other mammals, human babies are the most helpless at birth.   Babies are dependent on us for everything, ranging from their physical needs to social and emotional needs!     This means that the way we touch, talk, and take care of our babies directly affects their development.    Please take this as an opportunity to make positive impressions and relationships with your child!