What You Need to Know About Raising Baby
How do parents raise their babies happier, healthier and smarter? Joanna Lipari posted an excellent article on explaining the development of a baby’s brains is influenced and shaped by the social interactions with his/her parents:
If the baby’s brain is the hardware, then you, the parents, provide the software. When you understand the hardware (your baby’s brain), you will be better able to design the software (your own behavior) to promote baby’s well-being.
The first two years of life are critical in this regard because that’s when your baby is building the mental foundation that will dictate his or her behavior through adulthood. In the first year alone, your baby’s brain grows from about 400g to a stupendous 1000g. While this growth and development is in part predetermined by genetic force, exactly how the brain grows is dependent upon emotional interaction, and that involves you. “The human cerebral cortex adds about 70% of its final DNA content after birth,” reports Allan N. Schore, assistant clinical professor of psychiatry and biobehavioral sciences at UCLA Medical School, “and this expanding brain is directly influenced by early environmental enrichment and social experiences.”
Raising Baby: What You Need to Know [Psychology Today]