Why is infant stimulation so important?
Brain development in the child happens as soon as the child is born and the network starts to develop with each interaction and experience of the child. The parent starts to engage with the child through different activities starting from the sense of touch, respond to every request/action of the child, talking/singing to the child and providing the love and care for the child.
The neural network in the brain learns from every interaction, and reinforces with repetition and conditioning. Mother is the first caregiver by feeding the child and taking care through the initial stages. The father would then start interacting much like the mother. The nurturing of the kid helps foster the emotional development of the child.
- Language stimulation starts with the eye-contact. Eye-contact is the first connect the child establishes and experiences the bonding with the people around. Language is critical for cognitive development.
- Imitation is the approach the child uses to learn, by constantly observing and repeating the actions of the people around, the child is able to enact the activities, display sense of connection, bond through gestures and build social understanding.
- Touch builds the sensory connect to the environment around and without the right sensory stimuli the child would not be able to grow seamlessly. Touch is a means of connection to the world around.
Parents, based on the guidance from their parents or elders or doctors handle the situation in their own way. Pediatricians are definitely right people to guide the young parents, its a journey that every parent would have to go through. Early stimulation is critical for the holistic development of the child, while doing it the right way is definitely effective and helps lay a strong foundation for the child.
Parent is the first champion for their child, now that's a pretty challenging task.
Online consultation with Developmental Pediatricians is a quick way to understand the different milestones appropriate to the child's age and how parents can create a conducive environment for the child. Research has shown that the parents play a vital role to support the child's emotional, social and overall development of the child and our work-life is changing so fast that we could overlook the child's progress.
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