Tips For Parents
Supporting Your Child's Development From The Very Beginning
Every parent wants their child to thrive, grow in confidence and enjoy learning.
The early years play a crucial role in child development. During this time, a child's brain, sensory systems and movement patterns are developing at an incredible rate, creating the foundations for future learning, behaviour, emotional wellbeing and academic success.
At Child Development Malta, I help parents understand how early development influences learning and why some children may experience child learning difficulties later in life.
By understanding the role of primitive reflexes, movement and sensory development, parents can make informed choices that support healthy growth and development from the earliest stages.
Why Early Development Matters
A child's development begins long before they enter school.
From pregnancy through to the first few years of life, the brain is constantly creating new neural connections. These connections help children develop the skills needed for movement, communication, emotional regulation, social interaction and learning.
The first months and years are particularly important because this is when the foundations of the central nervous system, sensory processing systems and movement patterns are established.
When these foundations develop well, children are often better prepared for learning and life.
So what can you do to help this precious and vital time of growth and life?
Before getting pregnant:
- Before thinking about getting pregnant prepare your mind and body well by eating good healthy and nutritious foods. A nutritional therapist can advise if you are not sure.
- Keep alcohol to a minimum and when pregnant avoid alcohol. Remember everything a mother puts into her body will go through the placenta and into the embryo/ foetus early on, and baby later when breastfeeding.
- Take a multivitamin and mineral supplement especially folic acid.
- Avoid caffeinated drinks.
- Take some gentle exercise. Baby will benefit from your movements.
- Have some relaxing treatments to keep stress to a minimum. Stress affects the baby’s development in utero.
- Learn about the primitive and postural reflexes so you can help understand your baby’s development after birth. Learn about the developmental stages, the signs and the movements. There is a good book called ‘Movements that Heal’ written by Dr Harald Blomberg and Moira Dempsey. This will give you a great advantage to maximising your baby’s / infants neurological growth.
During your pregnancy:
- Continue to eat healthily and little and often to help put less strain on your digestive system
- Avoid stress / trauma / shocks wherever possible. This can have an impact on the embryo and foetus
- Move regularly as your baby will benefit from the movements via touch and balance
- Talk / sing to your baby as the sound will help development of the auditory system through vibration
- Learn about the vaccinations so you are well informed when you come to make the decision.
Labour and Childbirth:
- Plan the type of birth you want for your baby.
- Aim for, if you can, a vaginal delivery as this process helps stimulate some of the reflexes. Cesarean births miss this process.
- As soon as your baby is born ask for him/her to be placed on your abdomen, skin to skin contact. This is important for ‘Bonding and Attachment’ and breastfeeding.
- Breastfeed as best you can. ‘Breast is best’ so the saying goes. Breast nutrients are the best for your baby start. If your baby finds it difficult to latch onto the nipple, stroke the side of his/her cheek close to the mouth.
After the birth of your baby:
- Start a routine for your baby. Babies like routine.
- If your baby becomes distressed, pick him/her up, hug and rock. This helps reassure they are ‘safe’ and helps the integration process of the Moro reflex by 4 months. DON’T leave your baby to cry for long.
- If your baby had a difficult birth and won’t settle, sleep or feed perhaps visit a Cranial Sacral therapist that is trained to work with babies. This can help your baby as the bones of the skull can sometimes get ‘stuck’ in the wrong position after birth and cause pain and discomfort and affect the rhythms of the body. Correcting them can save upset, feeding issues, sleepless nights and can settle your baby quickly. Wonderful results can be enjoyed.
- Keep the environment stress-free. Your baby will react to stress and your ‘energy’, so keep yourself calm.
- Feed on demand.
- Be careful with what you eat as this can have an effect on your breast milk and give your baby colic and wind i.e caffeine, orange juice, onions, garlic, cauliflower, tabacco, alcohol, medication when it is not vital.
- Drink plenty of water to help milk production and keep yourself hydrated
- It can be helpful to take probiotics yourself if you are breastfeeding as the friendly bacteria can pass via your breast milk and aid your baby’s digestive and immune system.
- Breast feed for as long as you can up 12 months.
- If your baby is premature and has to be placed in an incubator for a long period of time, when your baby comes home, use rocking and touch to help the sensory system ‘catch up’ from lying still for so long. The body and brain likes and needs movement and touch, as happens in the womb and normally after a ‘normal’ birth. Lying still for a long period can sometimes affect the early reflexes and cause them to ‘halt’ in their need for movement to continue developing. Rocking and stroking can help them catch up.
These are a few common signs of retained reflexes:
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