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The Stage-Based Solution: A Parent’s Guide to Baby Development

adminWPS — Sat, 08 Feb 2025 17:58:19 +0000

As a parent, you want the best for your baby. You want to provide them with every opportunity to grow, learn, and thrive. But have you ever wondered what’s happening inside that little head of theirs? In this article, we’ll explore the amazing world of brain development and how stage-based development can unlock your baby’s full potential.

The Amazing World of Brain Development

In the first year alone, your baby’s brain grows at an incredible rate. Synapse density, which refers to the number of connections between brain cells, increases rapidly.

Synapse Density Over Time – Source: ThreeKeyYears

In fact, by the end of the first year, your baby’s brain has formed over 1,000 trillion synapses!

But here’s the amazing part: your baby’s brain is constantly adapting and changing. As they learn and experience new things, their brain is forming new connections and strengthening existing ones.

Why Stage-Based Development Matters

So, what does this mean for you as a parent? It means that the activities you provide for your baby should be tailored to their current stage of development. When activities are matched to your baby’s current stage, they:

Support optimal learning and development
Help strengthen relevant brain connections and eliminate unnecessary ones
Build foundations for future learning and development
Reduce frustration and disappointment
Enhance brain plasticity and adaptability
Support individualized development and learning
Foster a love for learning that can last a lifetime

What Does This Look Like in Practice?

So, what kinds of activities should you be providing for your baby at different stages? Here are some general guidelines:

0-3 months: Focus on sensory experiences, such as visual stimulation, auditory development, and tactile exploration.
4-6 months: Encourage motor skill development with activities like reaching and grasping toys, supporting upper body strength, and introducing simple problem-solving toys.
7-9 months: Foster cognitive development with activities like object permanence games, cause-and-effect toys, and imitation and mirroring games.
10-12 months: Refine motor skills and promote cognitive development with activities like stacking and nesting toys, shape-sorting and problem-solving toys, and encouraging independent play and exploration.

Conclusion

Your baby’s brain is an amazing, dynamic, and constantly evolving entity. By providing activities that are tailored to their current stage of development, you can unlock their full potential and support optimal learning and growth. At We Play Smart, we’re passionate about helping parents like you provide the best possible start in life for your baby. Our programme is designed to support stage-based development, with expertly crafted tools, resources, and guides to help you every step of the way. Join us today and discover the power of stage-based development for yourself!

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Weplaysmart decor tips: High contrast designs for your baby room.

adminWPS — Sun, 06 Sep 2020 00:35:11 +0000

We all love beautiful décor and therefore I compiled ideas about high contrast colour schemes for your new baby room. The high contrast black and white colours will support the visual stimulation of your baby, latest décor trends and it will be versatile and adjustable to your changing colour scheme in years to come. Enjoy your baby room design, Carina

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Is it really bad to expose my baby to TV?

adminWPS — Sun, 06 Sep 2020 00:30:37 +0000

According to Brillbaby (n.d.) there are two schools of thought on this. The American Academy of Paediatrics recommends that children under 18 months must not be allowed to watch screen media other than video-chatting. Other child experts believe that limited amounts of high-quality educational TV can be beneficial, especially when accompanied with adult interaction. Assuming you decide to let your child watch some TV before age two, there are three main points to bear in mind to ensure that television watching remains a safe and beneficial activity for your baby. These are: content (preferably educational, high quality programming), limited quantity of exposure, and always with supervision. Parents of young children should watch media with their child, to help children understand what they are seeing.

REFERENCE Brillbaby n.d., Related Topics: Babies & Television, viewed 17 October 2019, from http:// www.brillbaby.com/early-learning/related-topics/babies-and-television.php

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Do you know what the “Golden window of opportunity” is?

adminWPS — Sun, 06 Sep 2020 00:28:52 +0000

At birth it is estimated that a new-born’s brain has an amazing 100 billion neurons. Your baby’s brain has more neurons than yours – but only because it hasn’t passed an important developmental stage, known as pruning, in which the brain deletes unused neurons and connections in the interest of efficiency. At least one study indicated that by the time you reach sexual maturity, you’ll have shed around 41% of the neurons you were born with (Van der Meer 2017). In this way brain development is truly a “use it or lose it” process. Scientific testing of exactly how experience shapes the brain has led to the theory of “critical periods” – specific time periods in which stimulation must occur, or the chance to develop normal functioning will be lost. UNICEF Director of programmes called this period of early childhood development not only a critical window of opportunity, but a golden one (Alipui 2010). This is why all of us at WePlaySmart want to change each precious moment you have available for your child into a golden window of opportunity … for your baby’s kick-start!

REFERENCES

Alipui, N., 2010, “The importance of ECD”, paper presented to the UN committee on the rights of the child, UNICEF House, New York, 14 October.

Van der Meer, A., 2017, “Babies exposed to stimulation get brain boost”, Science Daily, 2 January.

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Do babies and computers go together?

adminWPS — Sun, 06 Sep 2020 00:27:05 +0000

It depends on who you talk to. Some people are worried about babies looking at any kind of screen – whether television or computer. The reason for this can according to Brillbaby (n.d.) be broken down into three main concerns: radiation, eye strain and attention span.

Radiation: Most modern home computers emit a negligible degree of radiation. If the radiation from the average computer were really harmful to babies, then it would be harmful to everyone, and we would all be told to stay away from the computer! However, the old cathode ray tube (CRT) monitors – the big, bulky kind – do emit a significant amount of potentially harmful radiation. People who are particularly sensitive to this type of radiation (estimated to be around 20 percent of the population) can suffer ill effects from prolonged exposure, with symptoms including low mood and decreased immune function. Thankfully, liquid crystal display (LCD) monitors – which do not have this problem – have become the norm in most countries. If you are using a CRT monitor with your computer, it is advisable to get an LCD monitor as soon as possible – for the sake of your health as much as your baby’s.

Eyestrain: The degree to which computers provoke eye strain largely depends on the type of monitor. If you look closely at CRT monitors, you will see the screen flickering. Prolonged use of such monitors tends to cause eye strain. Thankfully, modern monitors have very high refresh rates and this problem has been reduced considerably. Many people who used to have eye-strain problems with CRT screens do not have problems with LCD or plasma screens.

Attention Span: Certain television programmes for babies rely on quick edits or the element of surprise (a person or puppet popping up suddenly). Some experts worry that very young children exposed to programmes with quick edits or too many surprises will be more susceptible to attention problems in later life. The concern was that this level of stimulation, which was unnatural, would condition the developing mind to view that as normal. Then by comparison the real world would be unsatisfying – it wouldn’t be stimulating enough.

REFERENCE

American Academy of Pediatrics n.d., American Academy of Pediatrics Announces New Recommendations for Children’s Media Use, viewed 17 October 2019, from http:// www.aap.org/en-us/about-the-aap/aap-press-room/Pages/American-Academy-of-Pediatrics-Announces-New-Recommendations-for-Childrens-Media-Use.aspx Brillbaby n.d., Related Topics: Babies & Computers, viewed 17 October 2019, from http:// www.brillbaby.com/early-learning/related-topics/babies-and-television.php

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Do you know that tummy time plays an important part in language development?

adminWPS — Sun, 06 Sep 2020 00:24:44 +0000

The best way to increase language development is through improving the immature respiration of the new-born (Doman & Doman 2005:78). A baby’s language development depends very strongly on the development of his respiration. It is a simple fact of life that in order to make sounds the baby must be able to inhale and exhale. Furthermore, he needs to be in control of when he will inhale and exhale. If your baby’s respiration is immature, he or she cannot pull in enough air to make a very loud or sustained sound. What is the best way to promote maturation of your baby’s respiratory system? Mobility! There is no better programme for getting deep, regular breathing than movement of the arms and legs, during tummy time (Porter 2017:71). The more time baby spends on the floor, moving, the faster your baby’s respiration develops, as well as the ability to form sound. According to Dr Melodie de Jager, a South-African development expert, tummy time is also a must to strengthen neck muscles as this is a prerequisite for good hearing (De Jager 2012:38).

REFERENCES

De Jager, M., 2012, Baby Gym: brain and body gym for babies, Metz Press, South Africa.

Doman, G., Doman, J., 2005, How smart is your baby? Develop and nurture your newborn’s full potential, Square One Publishers, New York.

Porter, K., 2017, Healthy posture for babies and children: tools for helping children to sit, stand and walk naturally, Healing Arts Press, Toronto, Canada.

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How much does early development really matter?

adminWPS — Sun, 06 Sep 2020 00:22:38 +0000

At WePlaySmart we adopted the slogan: “Change a nation, One baby at a time!”

If a baby’s brain doubles in size in the first year, then it makes sense to allow parents to use this golden window of opportunity. USE it or LOSE it! Let’s review how one nation became competitive.

Japan, after World War II, was devastated and broke, but very interestingly managed to raise the average IQ of the total population within one generation by seven points. Japan achieved this remarkable fact by encouraging and supporting Japanese mothers to become “Kyakis (educational) mothers”. This was a turning point for Japan’s economy and the beginning of a more competitive production industry. In 2010, Prof Julian Savalescu from Oxford Oshiro Centre for practical ethics stated in a special interview that for every 1,5% increase in population IQ, the GDP will grow 3% per generation. For a country such as South Africa, with a GDP of US$ 385 billion in 2019, this will amount to US$ 5.7 billion.

WePlaySmart offers you all the tools to develop you baby’s full potential and to prevent some milestones or developmental areas from lagging behind. In this way weaknesses will be overcome before they become problem areas (and save you the expense to address them later with remedial help).

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Why the fuss about tummy time?

adminWPS — Sun, 06 Sep 2020 00:20:19 +0000

The push to have our babies sleep on their backs is the result of the Back to Sleep campaign that was instituted in 1994 as a measure to reduce the incidence of sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS). According to Porter (Porter 2017:61-63) the facts are though, that the decline of SIDS was already under way for several years before the launching of this campaign. It may also be contributed to the simultaneous recommendation to remove all stuffed toys and puffy bedding and shifting diagnostic criteria with better ante-natal care. Occupational and physical therapists who work with babies are now keenly aware that this campaign has also led to less belly time in infancy. All these factors together be at the root of many problems such as flat heads, motor development delays, unintegrated reflexes and various other learning problems. Babies now roll over, sit up and crawl later than they did just 20 years ago. Therefore, it is of the most importance to give your baby as much tummy time as possible, right from birth, while keeping a watchful eye on baby. “Our job is very clear-to provide ample motor opportunity for the baby..the more he uses his abilities the easier it will be to move, to make sounds and to use his hands” (Doman 2005:66-72). Pushing against the ground will fire a multitude of sensory and motor neurons, mapping connections between body and brain, while also building the solid, powerful core that will secure and uphold the body’s structural integrity.

De Jager, M., 2012, Baby Gym: brain and body gym for babies, Metz Press, South Africa.

Doman, G., Doman, J., 2005, How smart is your baby? Develop and nurture your newborn’s full potential, Square One Publishers, New York.

Porter, K., 2017, Healthy posture for babies and children: tools for helping children to sit, stand and walk naturally, Healing Arts Press, Toronto, Canada.

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Do you know what sense is the strongest at birth?

adminWPS — Sun, 06 Sep 2020 00:14:45 +0000

The first of the five senses to develop in utero is touch. As early as eight weeks into your pregnancy your baby can already feel touch on her lips and cheeks. At birth, touch will be the most advanced of all senses (Abraira & Ginty 2013). Your baby will be extremely sensitive to skin contact – the skin will be used for the first significant impressions of life: warm/cold, soft/hard. It is through this sense that you will be able to pacify and comfort your baby, when holding him or her close to the warmth of your body in your arms. Your baby’s sense of touch develops from the top down, with the strongest sense of touch in the mouth (Mc Glone et al. 2014) – one of the reasons why babies explore new objects by putting them in their mouths. This will also provide your baby with the much needed sucking reflex, ensuring survival.

Abraira, V.E. & Ginty, D.D., 2013, “The Sensory Neurons of Touch”, Neuron 79(4), 618-39.

Mc Glone, F., Wessberg, J. & Olausson, H., 2014, “Discriminative and Affective Touch: Sensing and Feeling”, Neuron 82, 737-755.

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What is the difference between stimulating the sensing and motor pathways?

adminWPS — Sun, 06 Sep 2020 00:10:26 +0000

Your baby’s neurological wiring is divided in basically two sections, the back and front. The back half of the brain and spinal cord is devoted to the incoming pathways carrying information from the senses into the brain. The five senses are smell, taste and especially hearing, and feeling. Since these are pathways into the brain, their development can be reinforced and enhanced by means of more stimulation. Sensory stimulation can help improve your baby’s attention span, memory, curiosity, and nervous system development. In addition, stimulating your baby’s senses will enable him/her to reach developmental milestones faster, as well as aid in the development of motor skills (Doman & Doman 2005:57). The front half of the brain and spinal cord forms the motor pathways, including mobility or movement, the ability to speak and manual competence. Since these are one-way pathways out of the brain, it is impossible to grow them by stimulation. To grow these pathways, we can only provide babies with the maximum opportunity to discover by themselves how to move, make sounds or use their hands. Babies come into the world with a determination to accomplish a long list of developmental tasks. The more opportunities they have to do this on their own, the more physically capable they will become (Porter 2017:53).

REFERENCES

Doman, G. & Doman, J., 2005, How smart is your baby? Develop and nurture your newborn’s full potential, Square One Publishers, New York.

Porter, K., 2017, Healthy posture for babies and children: tools for helping children to sit, stand and walk naturally, Healing Arts Press, Toronto, Canada.

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