1. Stimulate baby talk and treat it as real conversation

The sounds and gestures that babies make might not always seem like much, but it’s their only form of communication. Early childhood development scientists say we should stimulate baby talk and treat it as real conversation. Parents should respond to baby’s sounds, cues and actions and engage with them throughout the day. The number of words a baby is exposed to will determine the amount of words in a child’s vocabulary at age 2 and a child’s reading levels later. Take baby babble seriously and encourage it.

2. Read to your baby to exercise language

Babies might not be talking or reading yet but they’re born ready to learn.  Even at 3 months of age, they can distinguish each sound used in every language in the entire world. Every time you read out loud to your baby, you are building language skills. Make sure to point to the pictures in the book and ask questions about the story and the characters. Simple questions like “what are they wearing?” and “how many are there?” will engage your child’s language skills. Reading to babies not only exposes them to new words but also creates a love for books and reading. Remember, leaders are readers, so why not start early?

3. Use everyday experiences as learning opportunities

For babies, each life experience is all about learning. Whether it’s bath time, sorting laundry, cooking or running errands, these activities are great learning moments. Narrate what you are doing to stimulate language. Count and sort laundry to teach maths and play with food ingredients and textures to promote scientific thinking. Making faces that show different emotions is a great way to teach emotional intelligence.

4. Take play seriously

Young children are learning all the time. When they play, they’re building important life skills. Make-believe play allows them to experience what it’s like to be someone else and understand others’ feelings. When they play with others, they’re learning to compromise and take turns. Engaging in imaginative free play, like pretending a toy train can travel through space, sparks creativity and language as they learn to verbally express their ideas. When they imagine new worlds, young children are learning to problem solve and create new possibilities. What seems like just fun is actually very important work. Take play seriously because play is serious learning. Avoid being on your device in front of your child too often. Research shows that makes children feel less important.

5. Lead by example

Babies are genius impersonators. They pick up on everything they see you do. Until they talk, they become experts at reading faces and non-verbal attitudes and learn to mimic them. By watching your body language, how you treat others or how you react to a challenge, babies will adopt these attitudes and actions themselves. The way you act around your baby shapes the person they will become.

Include these five critical behaviours in your day and you’ll dramatically improve your baby’s chances to thrive in the future. Giving your child the best tools for future success has nothing to do with money or extravagant learning resources. It has everything to do with you, your time and level of engagement.

A baby cries the most during his or her first three months. Though the amount of crying steadily increases, the crying time period may vary from an hour to most of the day and this could still be considered within the normal range. Like, whoah, right? Babies are also known as howling tear factories.

Some thought that a baby cries more during the afternoon accounting for the anxiousness of the mother or the stressed mood of the father after going home from work. But the most accepted assumption now is that babies have this automatic screening ability they use to shut off all the noise that may stimulate some response from them so they could get enough rest. But in the long run, this filter weakens and totally disappears during the approximate age of six weeks. This, then, make a baby very sensitive to external factors such as noise, movements, etc. And these generally elicit a reaction from a baby and how best could he or she respond but only through crying.

There are many reasons why a baby succumbs to crying. Deciphering these reasons is the major feat a parent must surmount. Here are some of the things your sweet some baby is making you understand through crying.

Hunger. Yes, your attention-hungry baby is craving to let you know that his tummy is grumbling. This is the most common reason for a baby to cry, especially, during his early months. The pattern of the hunger howl could be characterized as being persistent, demanding and almost rhythmical. But that rhythm is not at any rate close to becoming musical, of course.

Boredom. What can I say? Aren’t these babies just plain spoiled? Crying because of boredom, errr, I’d find that a bit more twisted or weird if it’s with an adult that is. But babies are really built like this. Crying is their way of telling you, “Hey get me a life here!” Aside from attention and food, consequently, babies need a lot of stimulation. And when they don’t get this, there you get your waaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhh!!! The trick is to pick the baby up and play with him. This move may be frowned upon by some because of its amounting to spoiling the baby. But it is important to know that stimulation is also one of the major necessities of an infant and it won’t hurt to provide him with some while in his growing age. This boredom cry is said to be also rhythmical and full of sobs and moans.

Discomfort. Pain is another precursor of the baby’s crying. Who won’t cry when in pain, right? Babies are not Major Paynes to endure the most excruciating discomfort they could undergo. They are little, vulnerable beings that need to be attended to when injured or when in an inconvenient situation. This cry could be more persistent, louder and more demanding. Shrieking and screaming, those are words that better describe the crying pattern roused by pain.

Another cause may be disturbance; surely, howling will proceed just when they’re about to sleep or are already fast asleep and suddenly get surprised by some noise, or movement. An illness that causes discomfort to a baby may also be the reason for a baby’s bursting into fit of tears.