It used to be thought that newborn babies don't register much, at least not until they're older. However, recent studies have found that babies will actually engage, even when very young.
Here's how to include your baby in what's going on around her:
Talk to her. I say this all the time here at P&B, but only because it's such an important point. The early language skills your baby picks up from simply listening to you chatter away, are monumental. Just because she looks a little unfocused, doesn't mean she's not listening.
Ask her questions: Silly, I know, but this goes along with language development and your tone changes when you ask questions. Ask her if she likes the painting on the wall, ask her how your hair looks, ask her any old thing that pops into your mind. She won't answer, not yet, but it's nice for her to hear your voice.
Listen to her: Early cooing or grunting can be answered. If your baby makes a sound, acknowledge it, then pause to see if she'll coo (answer) back. This provides a great early form of parent-baby interaction with a heavy focus on how we communicate.
Allow her to visit lots of people: Encouraging different people to include your baby is a head start on socialization. Plus because people all speak differently, with varied tone, and words, your baby is being exposed to a lot of language.
Keep it upbeat: Babies love that silly squeaky baby talk tone. I'm not sure why, but they seemingly do. If you and your partner are chatting about work (boring), every once in a while change your tone to that higher pitched baby talk tone, look over at your baby, and speak to her. It doesn't matter what you're actually talking about, but your baby will love that you include her.
What other ways do you try to include your baby?
