HELPING YOUR BABY'S COGNITIVE DEVELOPMENT

Cognitive development is the process by which the brain develops the abilities to learn thinking, reasoning, memory and language skills during their early years and helps a child create an impression of the world around them.

These abilities start to develop in early infancy as the brain begins forming connection: during the first two years of life a baby's brain is developing at an exceptional rate. At birth, babies mainly rely on the primitive part of the brain to help them through the early stages of their life. This primitive part of the brain, which functions on a basic instinctual and emotional level only, is not 'wired up' to the front part of the brain that is responsible for rational thoughts. The pathways from the primitive brain to the frontal brain need to connect in the early years to enable a child to grow into a rational, reasoning and caring human being.

To help make these connections, a baby requires lots of positive and varied experiences such as new sights, sounds, smells and tactile stimulations. Massage and yoga are excellent ways of bringing new and positive experiences into a young baby's life as they offer the opportunity for positive touch and early play, especially when accompanied with lots of talking, music and singing of nursery rhymes. Studies show that using nursery rhymes in play can be a wonderful learning tool and can enhance brain development in a growing baby.

Other studies have shown that positive experiences (such as baby massage and yoga) in the first two years of a baby's life, enhances not only the physical development of the child but also their brain development. Baby massage and yoga allow a baby to have fun and gives them many positive experiences.

Your Baby's Cognitive Development Between 1 And 12 Months Of Age
The brain development follows a typical pattern in the first 12 months of a baby's life:

• Between 1 and 2 months of age, babies become interested in new objects and will turn and look towards them. They also gaze longer at more complicated objects and seem to enjoy looking at many new objects, as though trying to learn as much about their new world as possible.
• At around 3 months of age, babies are able to anticipate future events. For example, they will become excited when their parent gently lays their hands on their chest and asks if they want a massage.
• At around 4 months, a baby's sight becomes more advanced and they are now able to combine what they see with what they taste, hear and feel. A baby will be able to wiggle and feel their fingers, and see their fingers move as they become more aware of their legs, feet, arms and hands.
• Connections in the brain are growing rapidly between 6 and 9 months of age. Babies can recognize the appearance, sound and touch of familiar people. Also, babies are able to recall the memory of a person, such as a parent, or an object when that particular person or object is not in view.
• At 9 to 12 months of age a baby is constantly observing the behaviour of others. They start to reveal their personality and become curious about their surroundings and begin to explore. They are also able to demonstrate many different emotions. At this curious stage, massage may become more of a challenge as the baby may not want to lie still.

Cognitive development 12-18 months

• Between the ages of 12 to 18 months, toddlers continue to explore their environment and create experiments to see how things work. They will play with anything they can find; however, at this stage they are not aware of danger so they do not realise that certain things like fires, sharp knives and electric plug sockets can hurt them.
• During this stage the ability to recognize people and objects moves on a step - not only do the babies realise that something can be hidden and still exist, but by now they will look for it too.
• Also around this time, babies develop the capacity to build memories that incorporate all their senses. For instance, children are able to see a mental picture of an object they are holding in their hand without actually looking at it. They remember the object as a whole, through all their senses; they remember its texture and size in their hands, its sound through their ears, and perhaps even its smell.

Cognitive Development 18-24 Months

• Between the ages of 18 and 24 months, toddlers are able to create a generic image of things in their minds and retain them as examples of certain objects. They may create in their mind a picture of a teddy bear, and use it to represent other cuddly animals they play with. Because of this, babies may look for their favourite teddy bear in the toy box because they know that is where it usually lives!
• At this stage, a baby's recall and recognition memory also improves significantly. Around 21 months old, toddlers learn routines, about how certain things are done. For example, they learn that 'an outing to the park', is Mum collects the cot as and hats, mum puts on baby's coat and hat, mum put toddler in the pushchair. Mum opens the front door. Mum and toddler leave the house'. With massage and yoga, you may find that when you ask your baby if they want a massage they will start to collect some of the equipment, such as the bottle of oil, or they may remove some of their clothes and lie on the floor in anticipation!
• Also around 21 months of age, babies reach a number of other developmental milestones and have grasped the concept of past, present and future.
• They also begin to understand that 'things' fit into certain categories, such as recognising a car as a car, even though all cars do not look the same.
• They begin to recognize what things are alike and why, and what other objects fit or do not fit into particular categories.
• Around 24 months of age, toddlers are able to pretend and imagine things that are not there in front of them. This is the first step beyond 'concrete thinking' which means only being able to think about things that are in front of them. Introducing a simple story-time massage, for instance about a little dog or cat, can help encourage their imagination.

Benefits For Baby
Massage and yoga can:

• help a baby adapt to their new environment and become generally more settled
• help a baby develop their first language - touch
• enhance baby's feeling of being loved, respected and secure
• promote relaxation, which can improve quality of sleep
• help a baby cope with stressful situations by regulating Cortisol levels
• reduce the discomfort of colic, wind and constipation
• regulate and strengthen their digestive, respiratory and immune systems
• stimulate the circulatory system and balance the nervous system
• stimulate the lymphatic system
• help general growth and cognitive development
• develop body-mind awareness and coordination
• improve skin condition
• help the baby associate touch with positive handling (particularly important for babies who have experienced intrusive medical intervention)
• strengthen and tone muscles
• help maintain flexibility of the joints, ligaments and tendons
• help the development of coordination, balance and motor skills
• stimulate all the senses
• help a baby learn to interact and play with others.

Benefits For Parents
Massage and yoga can:

• help parents to become more confident and competent in handling their baby
• help parents to understand their baby's non-verbal communication
• help parents to relax whilst having fun with their baby
• help develop a feeling of closeness with their baby
• give a time for parents to play constructively with their baby, so that the relationship may strengthen and grow
• encourage lactation through the stimulation of Prolactin
• encourage the nurturing instinct through the stimulation of Oxytocin
• help parents feel more in control
• strengthen a parent's physical health (yoga).