Guide Your Baby Everyday

Provided by Healthy Start, Grow Smart

Babies learn by exploring the things around them. Show your baby how to look at, listen to, touch or smell something new or different. Hold your baby so she can see things. Help her hold objects like her socks or a rattle. As she grows, give her safe objects to feel, shake or put into her mouth.

• Be your baby's teacher. She will see how you react to things. When you get excited about a toy or object, she'll get excited too. As she grows, show her how things work—for example, how doors open and close. Talk about what you are doing. For example, "I am putting the food in the pot to cook it."
• When a baby is learning something new, it helps her to try it again and again. With your help and support this can be fun, and your baby will like trying new things.
• Protect your baby from harsh disapproval, teasing or punishment. A baby doesn't understand right from wrong. She doesn't know what things are dangerous for her to do. Watch her to keep her safe. Remove her from situations where she can be hurt or injured.
• Talk and sing to your baby. Even before she is able to speak, this helps her develop language skills. Babies learn best when you talk to them.
• Read to your baby from the earliest months of her life and continue this habit as she grows.

By guiding your baby in a supportive manner, she’ll be able to experience the world around her in a more positive way.

For more information, please visit www.ed.gov.