Browsing Category: Child Development

Why I encourage my baby to play with her food

baby led weaning

Food is a treacherous area for many of us. What foods are “good” or “bad”? Which foods are “safe” or “comforting”? Sure, taste and temperature play a role in it, but so, too, does texture. From crispy bacon to creamy mashed potatoes to gooey melted cheese, there are all kinds of food out there that I love (or hate) for different reasons. Growing up, I was quite a picky eater (although I did have a bit of a refined palate, too) and it’s something I’m hoping to help Harley to avoid. That’s why I’m doing baby led weaning, and helping Harley to develop her other senses at the same time.

Baby Led Weaning (BLW) is basically about sharing foods with your baby from an age that they’re ready, allowing them to eat normal food with the family instead of getting the mushed up variety. There are a variety of reasons I’m doing it, namely to improve future food acceptance, help with the development of her motor skills, and as a source of fun texture play. Continue Reading

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How this mommy and baby class saved me and Harley

Toptots

With Harley now seven months old, I have enough distance from those early weeks and months to look back with some perspective. I’ve written about how traumatic her birth experience was, but even then I didn’t realize how traumatic it was and how hard it was going to make things with her. I was sick, she was so very premature, and we had quite a road ahead of us. I struggled to bond with her, I felt like everything was just so hard, and I was even resenting her. It was NOT good.

Luckily, while still pregnant, I had already decided that I wanted to try and find a nice mommy and baby class to attend once she was born. There are so many out there, so I wasn’t quite sure which one I’d go for. But I chatted to Geoff, my editor at Lazygamer, and his wife used to own a TOPTOTS franchise, so I decided to give them a whirl. It turns out, that was one of the best decisions I’ve made in the first six months of Harley’s life. Continue Reading

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Activities for baby development – 6-9 months old

Harley at 6 months

I’ve written before about my desire to help Harley develop. It’s not just about making her a genius, which would obviously be great, but also about making her a well-rounded person with all the motor, cognitive, emotional and social skills she’ll need to thrive as she grows up. But it’s really weird with a baby. I mean, on the one hand, they are sort of like blobs who can’t really do that much, but on the other hand, their brains are developing faster than they ever will. They are learning so much all the time, even if it doesn’t feel like it, and there are all sort of things that we can do to help them.

I’m enjoying Harley a lot more now. She is so much more engaging – she smiles when we do things, she loves to see me and interact with me, and she is so much easier to read now. Plus, the activities that we can do together are much more fun now, too. Sure, the 3-6 month activities were pretty cool, and the stuff we did when she was 0-3 months helped so much with bonding, but now it feels like we do things together instead of me doing all the work. Continue Reading

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Why I think singing to my baby will help her

singing or headset

I’ve been exposing Harley to music since she was in the womb. No, I didn’t play Mozart at her in utero, but simply made a point to listen to some of my favorite songs every day so that they’d be familiar to her. I’ve continued to play them, albeit less regularly, since she was born. I knew music calmed her from an early age, and really that’s a reason enough to continue with music in her life. However, there’s more to it.

I noticed it when my mom was visiting, singing songs and playing games with Harley. It reminded me of the songs we used to sing growing up, and how music has the unique ability to stick with us. I still know all 50 states in alphabetical order because of a song I learned in what, fourth grade? Songs from my childhood can come on the radio and I still know every single word, even if I haven’t heard it in over a decade. There’s a power to music, and it makes more sense the more you look at it, making me know it’s the best thing I can do for my baby. Continue Reading

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Why Tummy Time matters and how I keep it interesting

Tummy Time

When I was still pregnant, I started reading about tummy time. I knew it was good for babies, but I wasn’t quite sure why. Especially in the early months, it seemed a bit useless and impossible, but I did it anyway. Now I’m seeing the results, and I can’t recommend it enough. But what is tummy time and why does it matter. And even more importantly, how can you make sure that you and your little one enjoy it?

The first thing to always remember is that babies are advised not to sleep on their tummies. By putting your little one down to sleep only on her back, you vastly reduce her risk of SIDS (aka Cot Death). Tummy time isn’t about sleep, it’s about active, attended time for playing and developing. In fact, tummy time is incredibly important for development – by holding up their heads babies develop their neck, shoulder, back and trunk muscles, all of which are important for turning over, sitting up and crawling. Harley loves tummy time, but that’s probably because of how I introduced her to it and how we keep it fun. Continue Reading

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