Babytalk | Playing with your baby is not just a fun. It actually helps their brain
The functionality of every part of our body is to be respected. One organ has an impact on how well the entire body functions, the brain.
Kimberley McAllister, director of the Center for Neuroscience at the University of California, Davis, has been fascinated with how the brain is organized and functions since she was a graduate student.
One of her early ventures into the study of the brain was asking: how do brain cells in a growing fetus organize themselves into an organ, capable one day of pondering the mysteries of life?
She discovered that when neurons, brain cells, are born in the fetal brain, they find where they need to go. Some go to the cerebrum, which is involved in speech and reasoning. Some go the cerebellum, which is involved in coordinating movement. Some go the brain stem where automatic body actions like breathing are stimulated.
These neurons then connect with a link called a synapse. A synapse is a connection allowing brain cells to talk to each other.
Our brains continue to adapt and grow all our lives. However some of the greatest growth happens when we are babies and children. During our lifetime it is estimated 100 trillion synapses in the human cortex form at a rate of an estimated 10,000 every 15 minutes. All of them together create a giant network.
Playing with your baby is not just a fun thing to do. It actually helps their brain develop synapses.
Ms. McAllister has discovered that the shape of neurons is dependent on the activity at the synpases. If the brain is not getting input, then the brain will not develop properly.
Simple things like singing to your baby, reading and dancing all help your baby’s brain create synapses. Your baby could care less whether or not you can carry a tune. They just love to hear you. The same with reading. It isn’t the content of the book as much as hearing your voice. Babies love to move. Holding your baby securely in your arms and swaying and dancing to music will give them much delight. Singing songs like, “you put your right foot in, you take your right foot out and shake it all about” is more than fun. The actual crossing of the foot in and out helps create a pathway of connection between the right and left part of the brain.
Activities are fun and help the brain. But too much is exhausting to both of you. So also enjoy quiet time of just being together. We all need downtime and that includes babies. Sometimes just smiling at someone is what they need most.
Katie Powers, R.N., is a board-certified lactation consultant and perinatal educator at Manatee Memorial Hospital’s Family BirthPlace. Her column appears every other week in Healthy Living in the Bradenton Herald. Contact her at katie.powers@mmhhs.com.