Sensory DEVELOPMENT – TIMELINES AND WHAT TO EXPECT

We are all born with a nose and the sense of smell is very important to carry on with regular life. When does this sense organ start developing? Do newborn babies have a sense of smell? Or do they develop it as they get older, like other skills? You will be surprised to know that a baby’s sense of smell development starts in the mother’s womb and is fully functional at birth.

This sense of smell is vital for the survival and proper development of babies. Smell and taste and inter-related and babies accept feed only when they like and recognize the smell. As babies cross the 6th-month mark, this relationship between smell and taste will influence their food habits too. Let us learn more about the baby’s sense of smell and how and when it develops.

In This Article

• Do Newborn Babies Have a Sense of Smell?

• Baby’s Sense of Smell Development After Birth – Milestones

• Top 4 Factors Affecting Baby’s Sense of Smell Development

• FAQ’s

DO NEWBORN BABIES HAVE A SENSE OF SMELL?

Yes, babies are born with a very keen sense of smell. They quickly learn the smell of their mother, primary caregiver, breastmilk, their room, and many others. Apart from the lighting and temperature, the smell of a room also triggers a baby. They know they are in a new place when it smells different.

They say a baby can smell breastmilk from a distance. This is why you can see a baby cry the minute the mother walks in. She need not touch or speak but the baby will know the mother is nearby.

BABY’S SENSE OF SMELL DEVELOPMENT AFTER BIRTH – MILESTONES

According to studies, the brain’s olfactory centre forms in the fetal stage itself. It develops as the baby develops and a baby is born with a very good sense of smell. This is why a newborn who is unable to see beyond a few meters or focus on a person’s face, will know if their mother or someone else is holding or carrying them.

Similarly, a baby is able to identify who is carrying them even with their eyes closed. So how does this sense of smell develop in a baby? Does it change month after month as it does with other skills? Let’s find out!

Birth to First Few Weeks (0 to 2 Weeks)

• A newborn can smell and understand the scent of their mother and mother’s milk.

• Some babies can even differentiate between their mother’s milk and another woman’s milk, or formula. This is why some babies reject other milk even before tasting it.

• They know their primary caregivers’ smells. If someone new were to carry them, they can resist and cry to show disapproval. The minute they are handed back to their mother and they get her smell, they feel comforted and calm down.

First to Three Months (1 to 3 Months)

• Babies start building their memory based on the experience they have with smells – parents and cuddling, strange smells can indicate strangers, and the absence of a mother’s smell can indicate she is not close by.

• When they are 3 months old, their limbs are stronger, and they also have better control over their neck. So, if they encounter a smell they don’t like, they can kick, cry, and turn away to show disapproval or fear.

Four to Six Months (4 to 6 Months)

• At this stage, you can introduce your baby to new food items. They prefer some foods over others, mainly by the smell. The texture comes next.

• If your baby does not like the smell of a food item, they can refuse to eat it. Some strong-smelling foods can make them gag too.

• The sense of smell plays an important role in their choice of foods.

[Read : Baby And Solid Foods: When And How to Introduce]

Seven to Nine Months (7 to 9 Months)

• Babies can move at this stage. They may move towards toys or food items based on the smell, in addition to the bright colours and textures.

• They will pick foods off the plate and eat or spit depending on the smell and taste.

Ten to Twelve Months (10 to 12 Months)

• Now, if you try to trick them into eating something, it may not be so easy anymore. Even if you try to give them different milk in the same bottle, they can differentiate even before tasting it. That is how sharp their sense of smell is at this stage.

• By this stage, they are able to identify strangers and family members with their smell. You can even try making a new person wear the baby’s mother’s or father’s clothes. You can see the obvious confusion on the baby’s face.

• They learn to recognize their parents’ perfume and other smells that help them realize their presence in the room, even before seeing them. At this stage, if you need to leave your baby for some time or overnight, you can give them your blanket or clothing for the comfort of smell.

TOP 4 FACTORS AFFECTING BABY’S SENSE OF SMELL DEVELOPMENT

Just like with everything else, external and internal factors can affect the baby’s sense of smell. Some babies can smell better than other babies while other babies may not be able to smell at all.

Some of the factors that can affect a baby’s sense of smell are:

1. Respiratory Infections

A common cold or a stuffed nose can affect the baby’s sense of smell, just like it can with us adults. They may seem very irritated and even the mother may not succeed in pacifying them as the baby might take time to pick the mother’s scent.

2. Additional Medical Issues

Hyposmia is when one cannot smell much and Anosmia is when one cannot smell at all. If a baby is born with either of these issues, it can deeply affect their sense of smell. You may take time to recognize this if the doctors miss it.

3. Premature Birth

Premature babies take time to develop in every way. Though the olfactory senses develop in the womb at week 10 itself, a preterm baby may not pick scents as well as a full-term baby. They may require a little more time to reach that level.

4. Strong Smells

When a smell is too strong, it can be too much for a baby to process, they may start crying to show their discomfort. It can hinder their ability to pick on a familiar scent.

For example, if the mother wears a new and strong perfume before stepping out, and comes to the baby to give a kiss, it can irritate the baby’s senses. The strong perfume smell will prevent the baby from realizing the mother’s familiar scent.

The nose is one of the sense organs and the sense of smell is very crucial in day-to-day life. There are many factors that can affect this sense. If your baby is unable to smell well, you need to identify the reasons, help your child get better, and support them until they can smell well.

[Read : Baby Crying – Causes And Tips to Calm Your Baby]

FAQ’S

1. How Do I Introduce My Baby to Smells?

You can give them multiple things to hold, smell and understand including perfumed books, food items, and toys. You need to take it slow and not overload their sense of smell. Give them time to get used to a smell.

2. How Far Can a Baby Smell Their Mother?

Babies can recognize the scent of their mother as early as day 3 of their lives. As the bond gets stronger, the babies learn to recognize this scent from a distance too (varies from baby to baby). During weaning, the mothers are advised to stay out of the room or sometimes stay even further away, when it is time for bed or a feed.

3. Can Babies Remember Smells?

Yes, they can. The sense of smell develops memory too. Babies remember what something or someone smells like and associate it with recognizing or remembering experiences in the future.

Read Also: Baby Hearing Development After Birth – Timelines And What to Expect

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Baby Sensory Activities: Newborn to 14 Months Old

For babies, almost everything is sensory play. That’s because, at this stage of play development, they constantly learn about their bodies and environment through the senses.

Small changes to tummy time or an extra few minutes at a meal can turn into sensory play. You don’t need to spend too much time planning or setting up sensory experiences. In fact, most of these sensory activities are no mess, no fuss.

Always, always supervise babies during sensory play. Babies are constantly learning and developing new skills. You might not be able to anticipate how a baby will engage with a particular material.

Sensory Activities for 0 to 8 Months Old

These sensory activities are great for younger babies who are not rolling, starting to roll, and starting to sit up.

Shadow & Light Tummy Time

Changing the location or lighting during tummy time creates a new play environment for babies. Show your baby how toys light up or how shadows move. Just avoid anything that flashes.

• Tummy time in sun rays

• Adjust window blinds

• Turn off lights and explore shadows

• Plug in nightlights

• Place scarves over lamps

You may even discover some lighting combinations that are calming for your baby.

Senses: sight, vestibular

Mirrors

Mirrors are a tool for helping early learners develop social-emotional skills. Babies can use mirrors to learn more about their bodies and expressions. Mirrors are also a way for babies to explore reflections.

You can prop a mirror up for your baby to look at during play or set a mirror on the floor to explore during tummy time. Choose a shatterproof mirror if you have access to one.

Senses: sight, proprioceptive, vestibular

Water Play

Water play is a safe sensory activity for babies as long as they are being supervised. Even just a couple of tablespoons of water can be fun for babies to explore. Try one of these ideas:

• Water directly on the highchair tray

• Water on a cookie sheet on the floor

• Water sealed in ziplock bags and taped to the floor for tummy time

Senses: touch, taste, hearing, vestibular, proprioceptive

Tummy Time Outdoors

Taking tummy time outdoors introduces babies to outdoor play. They can experience different types of weather and safely explore nature while working on gross motor skills.

Senses: sight, touch, hearing, smell, vestibular, proprioceptive

Hang Loofahs For Kicking, Pulling, Swiping, Swinging

Hang loofahs of different sizes and colors from a baby play gym. Your baby can reach out to touch the unique textures. They can also use their legs to kick the loofahs and watch them swing.

Senses: sight, touch, vestibular, proprioceptive

Sticky, Tacky Contact Paper

Use masking tape to tape squares of contact paper to the floor, wall, or highchair tray. Let your baby explore the stickiness with their hands or with toys, pieces of fabric, felt, or ribbons.

Senses: sight, touch, hearing, vestibular, proprioceptive

Brilliantly Designed

Lovevery has gone above and beyond to research and create play kits for children newborn to 5 years.

CHECK IT OUT >

Lumpy, Bumpy Blankets

Create a tummy-time space on the floor with layers of blankets and pillows. Babies can explore each item’s different colors, textures, and weight. Babies who are rolling or starting to crawl can work around the lumps of pillows. Adjust the space if your baby seems overly frustrated or tired trying to move around.

Senses: touch, sight, vestibular, proprioceptive

Exploring Weather

Experiencing different types of weather is part of the human experience. Simply step outdoors with your baby for even a few minutes. Talk about the wind, rain, snow, humidity, or fog. Check out our favorite weather books for help discussing the weather.

Senses: touch, smell, hearing, sight

Bubbles

There is something magical about watching bubbles. Even babies will be mesmerized. Talk to your baby about how the bubbles pop, float, bounce, and burst. Avoid getting lightheaded or out of breath by investing in a bubble machine.

Senses: sight, touch

Wet + Dry Sponges

Offer your baby two or more sponges, some wet and some dry. They can explore the different sensations of wet versus dry. You can also put a small amount of water on a tray and offer your baby a dry sponge that will slowly soak up the water. 

Senses: sight, touch, taste, proprioceptive

Explore more sensory and learning activities for 3-month-old babies and activities for 8-month-old babies.

Sensory Activities for 8 to 14 Months Old

These activities are great for babies who are sitting, crawling, cruising, or starting to walk.

Exploring Temperatures

• Touching cold windows

• 2 sensory bottles – one with ice water and one with warm water

• Chilling teething toys or ice packs in the fridge

• Water play with two trays of different water temperatures

• Offer your baby a cup of cool water to pour while they are in the bathtub  

Senses: touch, taste, sight, proprioceptive, vestibular

Contact Paper + Bubble Wrap Walk

Cut out 12″ by 12″ squares of contact paper and bubble wrap. Tape each square to the floor with masking tape. Encourage your baby to crawl or walk across the different materials. For a sensory bonus, do the activity barefoot.

Senses: touch, sight, hearing, vestibular, proprioceptive

Exploring Food Flavors + Textures

When your baby is ready, introduce foods of different flavors and textures for them to explore.

• Citrus fruits

• Chia seed pudding

• Multiple colors of bell peppers

• Variety of crackers 

Senses: taste, touch, smell

Push & Pull Play

Babies love to push, slide, drag, roll, lift, and pull large or heavy (for them) objects. Look for safe ways to create this activity.

• Cushions

• Buckets

• Baskets

• Walkers

• Crates

• Ride-On Toys

• Boxes

• Totes

• Large Balls

Add weight and/or ropes so your baby can use muscles pushing and pulling large or heavier objects.

Senses: touch, vestibular, proprioceptive

Nature Walks (Or Sits, Or Cruises)

Time in nature is an incredible sensory activity for babies. And it takes almost no prep work for parents and educators. If you want ideas and inspiration for outdoor play, check out our nature play posts.

Senses: sight, touch, smell, hearing, vestibular, proprioceptive

Please visit Imagine Childhood’s nature toy store for more outdoor play ideas.

Music

Music is a sensory play experience. You can introduce babies to finger plays, rattles and toy instruments, or your favorite music. Musical instruments, singing voices, dancing, clapping, and exploring how to make sounds all stimulate sensory systems.

• Clapping

• Singing

• Dancing

• Toy instruments

• DIY Rattles

• Banging pots and pans

Senses: hearing, touch, vestibular, proprioceptive

Drinking from an Open Cup

Once your baby can sit up, it’s safe to slowly introduce drinking from an open cup. This is a great learning experience and a sensory activity all in one. For more sensory play, give your baby a dry washcloth that they can use to start wiping up spills.

Senses: taste, touch, proprioceptive

Exploring Light & Shadow

Lights and shadows activities are fun for babies and don’t have a messy cleanup. As babies get older, they can take part in exploring light.

• Rope lights or string lights

• Children’s flashlights

• Cover lamps with scarves

• Translucent objects

• Reflective objects

• Explore shadows outdoors during dusk or nighttime

Senses: sight, touch

Goofy Moves

Encourage your baby to roll, dance, or turn upside down. Or you can gently perform these moves with your baby.

• Spinning

• Upside down

• Rocking

• Swinging

• Rolling

Senses: vestibular, proprioceptive

Under + Through

When babies crawl through tunnels or under tables, they are learning about how to move their bodies through obstacles. If you don’t have a pop-up tunnel, you can create your own with chairs or by draping blankets.

I also recommend baby-sized climbers for indoor and outdoor play.

Senses: touch, vestibular, proprioceptive

Loose Parts Play For Babies

Using loose parts is a great way to incorporate sensory play into your home. Exploring objects is an engaging, developmentally appropriate sensory activity during a baby’s first year. You can learn more in our ultimate loose parts materials guide.

Loose parts are items that babies can safely manipulate, mouth, and explore. Objects with various textures, colors, weights, and sounds create a sensory experience.

I want to highlight some of my favorite loose parts materials for babies.

1. Themed Treasure Baskets (find ideas in the ultimate guide linked below)

2. Fabric: scarves, felt pieces, fabric squares

3. Shaker Bottles: made with plastic bottles or empty spice bottles

4. Bangle Bracelets

5. Cardboard + Felt Cutouts

6. Lids + Containers

7. Cookie Cutters

8. Cooking Utensils

9. Sponges + Loofahs

10. Coasters

Turning Household Items into Play since 1992(ish)

My FREE list of Household Items you can turn into LOOSE PARTS PLAY for infants, toddlers, and preschoolers.

Turn that muffin tin in the back of your cabinet into a play prop.

Popular Questions about Baby Sensory Play

Sensory Toys For Babies

• Block Set

• Play Gym

• Pop-Up Tunnel

• Climbers

• Black & White Cards

• Sensory Books

23+ simple tips for healthy newborn development 

In the first few weeks with your newborn, supporting her developing senses (aka interacting or playing with baby) probably won’t be top on your to-do-list.

If you’ve got the hang of breastfeeding, kept up with the laundry, fed yourself anything other than toast and chocolate and managed to sleep more than 3 hours straight then really, give yourself a pat on the back!  Is there really more you should be doing?

Well, yes and no….

Your baby does need plenty of stimulation and of the right kind too… But panic not, chances are your baby is getting all the stimulation he or she needs in the mundane madness that is involved in looking after the little blighter, sorry, darling.  (Apologies to all you US folk, I think blighter is British slang but I can’t think of a better alternative!)

But if you’re a little curious or have an urgent need to check your baby is getting the appropriate level of stimulation (yup, that was me) then you’ve come to the right place.

Or maybe you’re sitting at home twiddling your thumbs wondering – what the hell am I supposed to do with her all day?

As my dad asked (repeatedly, because he’s soooo funny like that), “When’s he going to do something?!”  Hold onto your horses, dad, Alton Towers is a few years away yet…(4 years later it still is…)

(But I do kind of know where’s coming from…other than poop, scream, demand food… and very occasionally give you a giggle and a gurgle – just to remind you that’s all worth it – things do seem to move very slowly when it comes to your baby’s ability to actually ‘do’ something fun or interesting…I digress…)

This post covers your baby’s developing senses and tips to ensure he or she is getting the right kind of stimulation/activities/experience.

Most are easy to try at home, free or cheap.  Many you will be doing anyway.

WHEN to stimulate & interact with your newborn

In the first few weeks, your newborn will be sleeping such a lot of the time, that there really is no need to actively look to stimulate your baby.  As you’ll see, your baby will be getting plenty of stimulation from being fed, carried about, bathed, cuddled and fed…

But as baby has a few longer awake periods (hopefully in the day) this is when you may want to try a few new and different ways to stimulate and interact with her.

Awake times will still be short though, so watch closely for signs that baby is getting tired and reduce stimulation and/or switch simulation for the calming types as appropriate.

Wondering what to look for when baby is starting to tire and become overstimulate?  Check out this baby cues post here.

These other posts may also be useful:

•  Newborn Sleeps All day? 10 fail-safe tactics to fix day night confusion fast!

• Baffled by how much sleep baby needs? Baby sleep chart to the rescue!

Look for signs that your baby wants to engage with you before actively stimulating and interacting her

The sense of touch

In the close confines of the womb, an unborn baby receives plenty of touch stimulation, so this sense is well developed at birth.  For this reason, plenty of deep pressure touch stimulation is exactly what your newborn will crave in order to feel secure.

So deep pressure touch stimulation, such as swaddling, a close hold during feeding and babywearing will calm and soothe baby.  So just by doing these things, you’re providing plenty of touch stimulation.

While these types of touch sensation may irritate

• rough textures (unstitched seam on babygrow, fussy fabrics)

• soft touches (light tickles)

• a light breeze (blowing air)

• hot and cold touches (hot or cold hands, cool air)*

• unfamiliar touches (new people handling your baby)

*I think it goes without saying to watch the intensity of hot sensations for your baby and not to have baby in direct sunshine but just in case…

The importance of touch stimulation

Touch is the foundation block for movement (since baby first needs to develop awareness of her own body, which comes through touch) but is also important for bonding and other higher cognitive functions.

But touch stimulation isn’t just important, it’s a necessity; without it, development is severely compromised.

Research has found that, even with adequate nutrition, a lack of touch can lead to stunted physical development as well as inhibited emotional and intellectual capabilities (source).

Stimulating your newborn’s sense of touch will come naturally

Tips for using TOUCH to support and encourage healthy newborn development

1 – Don’t save deep pressure touch for when baby needs soothing

Deep pressure touch is very effective when it comes to calming and pacifying your baby, so things like:

• swaddling

• babywearing

• skin-to-skin

• holding baby close when feeding etc.

But there’s no need to limit these types of touch sensation to when baby is upset or needs calming; these also provide plenty of healthy stimulation.

For example, your newborn will love the naked cuddles of skin-to-skin and it’s a fantastic way for the two of you to bond.  Not only that, there are a whole host of well-researched benefits of skin-to-skin to baby, from helping to regulate temperature to a stronger immune system.

2 – Try a baby massage to stimulate in a calming way

Massage is another form of deep pressure touch that is both calming and stimulating, but unlike things like swaddling mentioned at #1 it cannot be used when baby is particularly fractious, overtired or overstimulated; baby needs to be fairly relaxed.

It’s another lovely way to bond with baby and, in terms of development, it can help baby develop body awareness which is necessary for the development of spatial perception.

Baby massage can also help with the discomfort of trapped wind or constipation.  Read all about the benefits of baby massage here.

Here’s a great video with some pointers on getting started with baby massage…

NB: Don’t massage baby if in extreme discomfort, overstimulated or overtired – check this baby cues post to understand what behaviors your baby may show you if any of these are the case.

3 – Bathtime water fun

If baby enjoys bathing, gently pour water over her tummy.  Be led by your baby on this – some babies enjoy water more than others.

You can also massage and stretch out your newborns arms and legs, with or without soap.  (Don’t use soap on tiny babies as their skin is too sensitive.)

This is for the slightly older newborn who is content to lie in a bath chair.

Expose your newborn to different textures to stimulate the sense of touch

4 – Lie baby on different textures

This is best done with baby just in a nappy in the warmer weather or after a bath in a warm room.  Find different sheets and blankets with textures for baby to lie on.

The sense of movement (vestibular)

Like touch, this sense develops rapidly before birth due to the constant rocking motion of mom’s body which provides a lot of stimulation.

By the end of pregnancy, the vestibular system has developed to a point where it helps baby get into position for birth (clever, huh?!)

Gentle, rhythmical movements will calm and soothe your newborn, while irregular, quick and jerky movements will alert or even irritate.

The importance of movement stimulation to your newborn

As a newborn, movement stimulation is firstly about experiencing being moved.  So for healthy development, you want to expose baby to movement as well as allow baby the chance to move.  With this comes muscle tone, balance and coordination until baby becomes in control of her own movement.

So movement stimulation is necessary for the development of every single motor skill but it’s also important in the development of emotional skills and higher cognitive functions.

Give baby freedom to move her legs and arms every day so she can start to develop coordination and muscle tone

Tips for using MOVEMENT to support and encourage healthy newborn development

5 – Give baby freedom to move naturally every day 

Lie her on her back so she can kick her legs about and stretch her arms.

6 – Try a few minutes of tummy time every day

Tummy time is crucial for your newborn’s physical development.  It helps strengthen the muscles in the neck, shoulders, arms, and core. By lifting their head and pushing up with their arms during tummy time, babies develop the necessary strength for holding their head up, sitting, and eventually crawling.

Read more about the importance of tummy time here.

Start with just a few minutes at a time and, if your baby doesn’t like it, I’ve found the best position to start is with them lying on your chest, with you lying down. That way you’re close to them for support and encouragement.

Here are some different ways to encourage tummy time if your baby isn’t so keen.

7 – Minimise use of car seats (and other contraptions) that inhibit movement

This is related to the last one; your baby needs to move!  Car seats and some other baby accessories do not allow and certainly don’t encourage any movement.  The advice is to limit time in the car seat to 2 hours a day.

8 – Stimulate your baby’s sense of movement with full-body maneuvers

When baby is just a few weeks old this can be as simple as turning around slowly when you’re holding baby.  Babywearing has this one covered too.

As baby gets a little older you can extend this to moving her from lying on her back to sitting up by holding her hands.

Lifting baby from a lying down position to sitting up stimulates the sense of movement

A much older baby may enjoy a bit of rough play (my son loved the feeling of almost being thrown up in the air (in reality, he didn’t even leave my husband’s hands….)

The sense of taste

From the second trimester, when swallowing starts, baby starts to experience the different flavors of whatever you’re eating (albeit very diluted).

At birth, a newborn’s sense of taste is thought to be better than an adults and memory for tastes is also good.  Research has shown that babies exposed to certain flavors in the womb and while breastfeeding, show preference to these flavors at weaning (source).

The importance of taste

Taste is important for reflexes related to feeding (e.g. saliva secretion and the swallow reflex) but taste is also closely linked to emotion.  For this reason, the sweet taste of breast or formula milk will soothe and pacify.

Tips for using TASTE to support and encourage healthy newborn development

9 – Expose your baby to different tastes

Obviously baby can only drink breastmilk, but exposing them to different flavors, both while in the womb and while breastfeeding will stimulate this sense.

In addition, babies have a good memory for tastes, so this exposure to flavor may influence their preference to certain foods on weaning.

Another reason to eat a wide, varied, healthy diet while pregnant and breastfeeding.

If you’re worried about certain foods making your baby gassy, fear not – there are actually very few that do.

So far only milk, egg, soy, wheat, corn and peanuts have been documented to cause an allergic/immune response in babies.  You can read more on this here: My baby is gassy. Is it a sensitivity to dairy or something else?

You can stimulate your baby’s sense of taste by eating a wide and varied diet if breastfeeding

The sense of smell

The development of smell

Like taste, a newborn’s sense of smell is incredibly acute, better than ours.  It’s so good that research has shown that a newborn will show preference to mom’s milk over someone else’s just a few days after birth (source).

Even though baby is exposed to the different flavors and smells of the amniotic fluid while in the womb, this will be nothing compared to the hugely varied smells of the outside world, which will come as quite a shock to your little one’s system.

So your newborn will find familiar smells the most calming, so mom, mom’s milk, other regular caregivers, as well as their own smell.

New and different smells will stimulate your baby but can easily irritate. A particularly strong or unpleasant smell or too many new smells at once may cause your baby to suck, cry, or breathe more rapidly.

The importance of smell to your developing newborn

Smell has a direct connection to the emotional centers of the brain and so is very important in bonding and sexual attraction.

It’s the emotional link that gives smell the power to calm your baby.

Tips for using SMELL to support and encourage healthy newborn development

Your baby will be exposed to a huge variety of smells in the outside world without anything extra needed at this age.  If anything you will want to keep new and overpowering smells to a minimum in order to ease the transition from the relatively neutral smells of the womb.

The sense of hearing

Baby sill start to detect sounds during the second trimester and may even start to recognize them during the third – by shifting positions, moving faster or slower in reaction to certain sounds.

A newborn’s hearing is as good as an adult’s and memory for sounds is good.  At birth, your newborn will quickly recognize your voice and other sounds she heard while in the womb.

At around 3 months your baby will start to try and mimic sounds and coo; the first step in language development.

Gentle, rhythmical sounds help calm baby as does the dull consistency of white noise, while irregular sounds and loud noises may stimulate and irritate.

The importance of hearing stimulation

Hearing is intricately linked to language as well as higher brain functions, such as emotion.

For language development, regular exposure to the mother tongue is necessary during the first year

Babies are born with an acute sensitivity towards different sounds, allowing them to distinguish sounds that adults can’t.  This allows a newborn to distinguish the huge variety of complex sounds that exist across all the different languages of the world.

During the first year, this sensitivity is lost as the brain tunes in to language heard on a regular basis, i.e. language spoken by parents and other regular caregivers.

At a year old, your baby will no longer be able to hear the unique sounds of other languages and without being able to distinguish them, won’t be able to vocalize them. (Source)

So hearing the mother tongue regularly is vital for optimal language development.

Good exposure to language enhances the development of language

The more words your baby and growing toddler hears, the more his understanding and therefore language will develop, but it needs to be in a social context, not the TV (source).

Music is thought to have a powerful effect on brain development

This is due to the rhythm of music, which may help develop simple patterns of thinking into more complex ones.

You can stimulate your unborn baby’s hearing by playing music to her. This may provide reassurance as a newborn.

Supporting healthy development during pregnancy

Your unborn baby will hear your voice when in the womb so will already be getting exposure to language (so try not to make it too colorful!)

But if you want to go one step further you can play music to her by listening to it yourself and holding the speaker close to your belly (music recommendations coming up in the next section) or putting headphones over your bump, as in the photo above.

Not only does this stimulate her sense of hearing but using the same music in her first weeks and months of life will be very calming and reassuring to your newborn.

Tips for using SOUND to support and encourage healthy newborn development

10 – Bring on the baby talk

Firstly, talking to your baby is completely normal and a good thing.  I had no problem with this having always talked to the dog etc but I know this doesn’t always come easily to everyone.  But it’s a good thing!

As is the higher pitch you will find yourself using.  This baby talk or ‘parantese’ might make you feel a little bit silly but it’s totally natural. 

It’s this type of language that helps language to develop as it encourages your newborn to listen.

Your baby will also find your voice very soothing so use it to calm her at times of stress, such as new experiences for example, doctors appointments.

11 – Don’t go OTT on baby lingo…

Yes, use baby talk/parentese, but don’t go completely mad with cutesy language.  Good language development comes from exposure to good language!

12 – Ensure regular exposure to the mother tongue throughout the first year

As mentioned above, hearing the intricate sounds of the mother tongue is necessary in order to develop good linguistic skills later. So if your baby’s regular caregivers speak your language there is no issue here.

This tip really only applies if your baby is in the care of a foreign speaker.  If this is the case try to ensure regular exposure to the mother tongue when baby is back in your care.

13 – Try classical music to calm and stimulate

For calm and relaxation, music from the baroque period is said to be best due (Bach or Handel). This is due to the slow tempo and rhythm similar which is though to be similar to the Alpha rhythm of the brain.

I’ve enjoyed listening to classical music mixes at bedtime with all my babies. Or simply when we need to bring a bit of calm to the house (so on a daily basis with a 3 and 4 year-old!)

You can buy classical music for sleep or check out some of youtube’s free compilations. 

Some classical music (e.g. Mozart) is more stimulating due to it’s fast paced nature.  Try these when your baby is awake and alert to stimulate their hearing.

14 – Read, recite nursery rhymes and sing to your baby

This helps expose your baby to different vocabulalry and hear the rhyme and rhythm of poems/nursery rhymes.  

15 – Imitate

When your baby starts to gurgle, coo, grunt and even squeal, imitate your baby and encourage ‘conversation’.  This is the beginning of your baby’s speech.

16 – Help baby practice locating a sound with new sounds

You can do this with a baby rattle by shaking it close by, but slightly out of sight.  Or use anthing that you can make a noise with, like teaspoons in a tupperware. 

All you’re aiming to do is give your newborn a sound to turn towards.

The sense of vision

The development of vision

With almost zero light exposure in the womb, at birth, vision is poor and blurry and in shades of grey.  Despite this a newborn will be able to recognize her mom’s face after just a few hours.

Focus is best at the distance between her face and yours while feeding (8-10 inches or 20-25 cm).  Crossed-eyes are normal as baby tries to focus at different distances.

At first, vision is reactive – so baby will move her eyes in reaction to what’s happening around her.

At around 2 months baby will start to consciously move her eyes to follow objects or people within her field of vision.

Color recognition starts at about 4 months and by 6 months baby should be able to focus at any distance.

The importance of visual stimulation

There’s been a lot of research into the effects of visual deprivation; without adequate visual stimulation, the development of vision can be severely compromised.

But no need to panic, providing visual stimulation is very straightforward.

VISUALS that calm & VISUALS that stimulate

Soft pastels, muted colors and low lighting are calming, while bright colors and bright lights are stimulating.

Your newborn will love studying your face.  This is great visual stimulation and good practice for focusing at different distances

Tips for using VISUALS to support and encourage healthy newborn development

17 – Let your baby study your face

Your baby will love studying your face, particularly when they’re feeding.  A newborn’s focus is best at around 23cm, the distance between your baby’s face and yours when breastfeeding. (If bottle feeding try to stick to this distance in the early days.)

S0 encourage focus by make funny facial expressions.  Sounds odd and a little bit silly, but give it a go! 

As she gets older you can encourage her to focus at different distances by moving closer or further away.

18 – Find a picture of a familiar face and put it where baby can look at it

You could put it next to the changing mat or hang it from the buggy so that baby can try to focus on it.

19 – Show your baby black & white images

To encourage focus, the higher contrast the image, the better.  Hence the black and white picture books you may have seen, which are specially designed for babies.

However, you can easily draw some black shapes and patterns on white paper. 

20 – Move objects slowly within her field of vision 

In the first few weeks move objects from side to side 8-10 inches or 20-25 cm in front of her face.  This encourages your baby to follow the object and helps develop eye muscles and therefore eye control.

As baby learns to focus at different distances you can do the same at different distances.

21 – Pin a bright color to your clothing when you’re feeding

As your baby’s ability to focus develops at different distances develops you can encourage this by giving her a focus point.

22 – Regularly change up mobile or other toys

Alternate the toys hanging from your baby’s mobile, play gym or pram or DIY some new toys.  (Kitchen utensils can make an interesting alternative, especially metal ones that reflect light – just make sure they’re tied properly!)

Play copycat tongue talk or other ‘mirroring’ form of conversation (while your husband is ‘watching’ the baby 🙂)

23 – Copycat tongue talk (or other visual ‘conversations’)

My son just loved to stick his tongue out from just a few weeks old so, naturally, I stuck my tongue back out at him.  This quickly became a regular in our play repertoire.

It seems all babies love this “mirroring” conversation and from this develop the ability to imitate our facial expressions (source).    So start adding in other expressions and noises and see how your baby responds.

24 – Sit baby up in a position to watch the world

When baby is old enough to lie in a more upright position she will get plenty of visual stimulation from watching the world around her. So prop baby up and let your baby watch as you go about your day-to-day chores.

In summary

I hope that’s shone a light on your newborn’s developing senses and the importance of the appropriate stimulation.

But stimulating these senses doesn’t need to be difficult or complicated.  Just by feeding your newborn, holding her close, carrying her, bathing her, talking to her and settling her ready for sleep you will be giving her plenty of stimulation.  And if you want to do a little more then hopefully you now have plenty more ideas to try.

Any queries, please let me know in the comments!

Exploring outdoors: Sensory Experiences at your fingertips

HOME » BABY » BABY RESOURCES » Exploring outdoors: Sensory Experiences at your fingertips

5 min read

The outdoors are abundant with endless sensory experiences. You can use all your senses when outside. Therefore, outdoor exploration is a must for all. Hence this blog post is about exploring the outdoors. So where can you go? Everywhere! Parks, playgrounds, beaches, forests or going for a walk around the block. Anything that takes you out and lets you feel that fresh air on your face.

My family loves the outdoors so much that we spend most of our day exploring. We try out new parks, take walks around the block, play in the puddles or dig holes in the dirt. At 15 months Josh (my son) loves to explore. He currently loves to push and pull things. His favorite cart goes with him on most of our outdoor adventures. Besides pushing his cart, Josh loves running around collecting dandelions, swishing his hands through dirt or leafs to see what happens to them. He also loves to climb onto or into things and slide down grassy hills. What’s your child’s favorite outdoor experience?

Parent’s role when exploring outdoors

Things to keep in mind:

• Be aware as you don’t want anything unsafe landing in your little ones mouth.

• Be patient! It can take you an hour to walk around the block as your little one stops to observe and experiment.

• Have wet wipes handy. Just in case your child picks up something nasty!

• When possible get them out of the strollers, carriers and onto the ground to explore.

• Allow your child to get messy.

• Allow your child to take safe risks. Doing something that is challenging but safe enough so they don’t get hurt.

• When you see your child over stimulated or tired it’s time to take a break.

Child’s role when exploring outdoors

• Have fun!

• Be curious!

The outdoors can target every sensory system through many sensory experiences. These experiences help to build foundations for strong body and mind.

The opportunities are endless. Below is an overview of each sensory system and what your child can expect to benefit from.

Sensory systems

Vision/Visual Sense

What is it?

Sensory Experiences

This isn’t only about clear sight. It is also about visual processing, which affects how visual information is interpreted and processed.

When we are outside there is so much information that our eyes can process. Your child can go searching for the marching ants on the ground. They can try counting all the red cars driving by. Or even scan the playground to find their sibling. They all help in the development of stronger visual skills.

Josh playing with Dandelion.

One of the things that Josh loves doing is scanning the grass for dandelions.

Hearing/Auditory Sense

What is it?

Sensory Experiences

This sense is about hearing through our ears and interpreting speech and sounds in the environment.

Sound can also be explored outside. Your child can experience quiet noises (buzzing bee) to loud noises (train passing by). They will also get to hear your comments or directions. All this while a wealth of other distractions around them come streaming in. Many playgrounds have musical instruments within their play structures that your child can play with and explore their sounds. Over time, your child will learn to block out the non important noises such as a dog barking, while paying attention to the important ones like the mother’s voice.  Hopefully!

Smell/Olfactory Sense

What is it?

Sensory Experiences

Olfactory sense is where the information is inhaled through the nose. It helps us recognize whether smells are dangerous, strong, faint, pleasurable or foul.

Your child can expand their sense of smell while playing and exploring the outdoors. Your child might get to smell different foods at a picnic: smell the grass or the flowers. There might also be different smells of animals or the ocean.

Taste/Gustatory Sense

What is it?

Sensory Experiences

The tasting (gustatory) sense is connected to the smelling (olfactory) sense. The information is taken in through the tongue, in the form of flavor such as salty, bitter, sweet, and sour.

Josh got to taste quite a lot outdoors. He got the chance to taste sand, grass, flowers, sticks and stones(yuk!). If your child is older he may not need to learn so much about his world through mouthing anymore. So tasting the outdoors might come in a form of food that you might give him for a snack or lunch.

Touch/Tactile Sense

What is it?

Sensory Experiences

Tactile input is when the information is received primarily through the skin. That is the skin covering your whole body and inner linings of the mouth. It also includes temperature, pressure, vibration and pain.

Anything that your child touches helps to develop their tactile system. Remember, it’s not only about your hands. It includes your whole body. So let your child take off their shoes and walk on the grass or in the sand.

Here are a few other things you can encourage your child to do: They can play in the sand or in the water. Collect sticks, rocks, flowers, acorns, leaves etc. Pet an animal or hug a tree. Let your kids get DIRTY!!! Let them play in the dirt, in the mud or in the puddles. I know it can be hard but just take a deep breath and repeat after me: “This is helping him develop a strong and healthy tactile system!”. You can look away if you need to.

Josh playing in Australian ocean

Vestibular Sense

What is it?

Sensory Experiences

The vestibular sense is located in the inner ear. It provides information about gravity, balance and movement. It coordinates how the child’s head and body is moving through space.

Activities that promote the development of a healthy vestibular system is anything related to movement. There are so many fun things that can be done outdoors. These can include: running, skipping, jumping games. One of my all time favorites is rolling down the grassy hill. To this day I enjoy doing it! Swings are so fun and great for movement. See if your swing goes in other directions besides front and back. Maybe it can go side to side or around in a circle. Going down the slide, playing on seesaws. There may be things you can bounce on or spin around on. Hanging upside down on playground equipment. When I was a child climbing trees was another one of my favorites.

Proprioceptive Sense

What is it?

Sensory Experiences

The proprioceptive sense receives information from muscles and joints to provide an awareness of our ‘position in space’. i.e. where we are in relation to other objects, people and environment. It’s all about the muscles and joints stretching and contracting. It helps to coordinate movement of our arms and legs so we can play without paying active attention to what we are doing. This sense is stimulated through activities such as pushing, pulling, lifting, carrying and movement against gravity.

So lets wake up those muscles and get playing outdoors!

 Try carrying heavy buckets of sand from one side of the sandpit to the next. Or maybe those buckets are full of water. 

What about climbing all those amazing playground structures.

There are rock walls, ladders or climbing nets your child can choose from. Maybe they have a favorite tree to climb. Then there are also monkey bars that you can hang from, or crawl under and over different parts of the structures. 

For the younger ones maybe pushing/pulling a baby stroller or a cart around.

My son Josh at 15 months loves pushing his little cart around. We would walk around and he would try to find the heaviest rocks and toss them into the cart. Then he’d push them around until he decided that their free ride is over and would unload them in another location. If you have a blanket or a beach towel you can get your kids pulling something or someone around. Maybe your child would enjoy gardening. There is lots of heavy work with that. All that digging around and watering the plants.

HOW TO USE A THERAPY BALL TO MAKE TUMMY TIME EASIER AND MORE FUN FOR BABY

August 11, 2014 by christiekiley 

If you’ve been around babies in recent years then you’ve probably heard about tummy time, am I right?

Tummy time is simply any time a baby spends in the tummy-down position while awake and supervised.

While placing babies on their tummies is not a brand new concept, it is something that has become more important in recent decades. Ever since the American Academy of Pediatrics initiated the “Back to Sleep” campaign in 1992 in an effort to reduce the occurrence of SIDS, the majority of babies in the U.S. have been sleeping on their backs rather than on their tummies. While this has significantly reduced the incidence of SIDS (hallelujah!), it has also contributed to babies taking longer to reach gross motor milestones, with nearly one-fourth of back-sleeping babies exhibiting gross motor delays at 6 months of age.

Now that babies are no longer sleeping on their tummies, it is important for them to spend time in the prone position while awake. This allows them to develop the ability to move against gravity as they learn to control and strengthen their neck, trunk, and shoulder girdle. All of this strengthening and control leads to awesome skills such as being able to push their chest off the ground and shift their weight side to side, roll, sit up, crawl, and even pull to stand! Can you believe that all starts with tummy time?

Okay, so we get it that tummy time is important for babies’ development. But guess what? Not all babies love it. In fact, many despise it. Wouldn’t you scream, too, if you were plopped face down on the floor and didn’t have the strength to lift your head or push up and change positions? So it should come as no surprise to you that research has shown that the majority of parents give their babies 30 minutes or less of tummy time per day. Additional research has shown that these parents avoid or discontinue tummy time sessions specifically because their babies just can’t tolerate it.

And guess what? Research has also shown that, at four months of age, babies who spend at least 80 minutes per day playing on their tummy while awake are able to more successfully reach motor milestones involving the prone, supine (laying on the back), and sitting positions than those who spend less time playing on their tummy.

Now, I know what some of you are thinking — MORE THAN AN HOUR A DAY OF TUMMY TIME? ARE YOU KIDDING ME?! THERE IS NO WAY!

So what do we do about this? If we know that tummy time is important for helping babies achieve early motor milestones, but our babies don’t want to play on their tummies because they hate it, how do we get around that?

Use a therapy ball to make tummy time easier and more fun for baby!

This is probably my favorite way to help babies become comfortable and stronger in the tummy-down position. In fact, I actually wrote about using a therapy ball for tummy time in the very first informational blog post ever published on Mama OT back in 2012! Not only does this trick instantly allow babies to become successful during tummy time, but it’s also FUN for them. Betcha never thought you’d hear “tummy time” and “fun” in the same sentence!

Here is how you can use a therapy ball (also referred to as an “exercise ball” or “Swiss ball”) to help baby enjoy tummy time: 

Making sure you have a good grip on baby, gently place her tummy-down on top of the therapy ball. You can vary the angle at which your baby is positioned, thus determining how easy or difficult it is. A greater incline will be more comfortable for a baby who is just beginning tummy time (kind of like being held up against an adult’s shoulder as a newborn), whereas a more flat position right on top of the ball will be more challenging and appropriate for babies who are further along in the process and more comfortable being on their tummies.

Once you get your baby into a position on the ball that is comfortable for both her and yourself, you can begin to slowly roll her forward and backward, making sure you keep a good grip on her and that she is okay with how far and fast you are moving her. When starting out, it is best to position yourself behind baby as you roll the ball forward and backward. However, as you become more comfortable maneuvering her on the ball and as she becomes stronger, you can place yourself in front of baby to make therapy ball tummy time even more interactive and fun as the two of you establish eye contact, make funny faces, stick out your tongue, or even blow raspberries at each other (depending on how old she is, of course).

The first therapy ball tummy time session doesn’t have to be long — it can be less than a minute if needed! The goal at the beginning is simply to get baby comfortable on the ball and get you as the grown-up comfortable with handling baby on the unstable surface. If you want to be extra cautious when starting out, you can always recruit your partner or another helper to help stabilize the ball as you focus on keeping your hands on the baby. Once baby is secure on the ball, your helper can even position him or herself in front of the ball to smile at baby and entertain her! Remember, the farther forward you roll baby, the more difficult it is because her body moves into a more “flat on the ground” type of position. So start out slowly and only roll her as far as she can tolerate while still being happy.

If baby is not yet able to lift her head or push up with her arms while doing tummy time on the therapy ball, that’s okay! She’ll get there. For now, just make sure baby’s head is turned to both the left and right sides during the early tummy time days. This will help prevent over-development of the muscles on one side of the neck.

As baby becomes familiar with rolling forward and backward on the ball, you can incorporate some rhythm and predictability by gently singing to her as she rolls on the ball. Hey, she doesn’t care if you have an awful voice; she LOVES the sound of your voice! Songs I love to sing while doing therapy ball tummy time with babies include the ABCs, Twinkle Twinkle Little Star and, of course, Row Row Row Your Boat. As you begin to incorporate singing into your therapy ball routine, you are helping baby tolerate tummy time by providing a sense of rhythm and predictability, which is totally what she wants at this age. And you know what? It also provides an opportunity for bonding between the two of you as well, as you interact with her through the sense of touch, movement, sound, and sight and she learns to trust you. How sweet and amazing that is.

{Okay, I got a little sentimental there, sorry! Can you tell I love babies???}

One great way to increase baby’s interest in tummy time on the therapy ball (other than your rock star voice, obviously) is to place items of interest directly in front of the ball. You want something that will grab baby’s attention and make her want to look up at it. You can use anything from a musical or light-up toy to a sibling or other grown-up. I especially enjoy getting babies in front of a mirror while they do tummy time on the ball…babies LOVE looking at themselves in the mirror and are so easily entertained by their own mirror image!

I also love using a baby play table as an attention-grabber during therapy ball tummy time (what’s a baby play table and how do I use it?). Simply remove two of the legs in order to make it tilted, then zoom baby forward toward the lights and songs. If she is learning how to reach, you can roll the ball forward and slightly to the side of the arm that needs to bear weight in order for the opposite arm to reach out and push one of the buttons (so, for example, roll the ball slightly to the left if the right arm is going to reach forward). Whatever it is you use, just make sure you keep it in front of the ball rather than to the side of the ball in order to promote balanced development of those neck, shoulder, and trunk muscles.

Once you are comfortable handling baby on the therapy ball and baby is happy to be on the ball, you can begin to change up the direction a bit by slowly rocking her side to side. This provides a new sensation to baby’s vestibular system (the sensory system that senses movement and helps with developing balance). This also provides increased proprioceptive input (sensory input to the muscles and joints) to those chubby arms, giving them a sense of where they are and how they can resist against the ball’s surface as baby is gently rocked from side to side. In addition to the new sensory input, side rocking also provides baby an opportunity to experience shifting her weight from left to right to left to right. Upper body weight shifting is a HUGE skill learned during tummy time that allows babies to learn how to support themselves on one arm while they reach for an object (such as a favorite toy or Daddy’s nose) with the other. And you know what other skill is related to upper body weight shifting? Crawling! Isn’t it amazing how many higher level infant motor skills are related to what babies learn how to do during tummy time?!

As baby becomes stronger and more comfortable while playing tummy-down on the ball, you can increase the challenge by loosening your death grip on baby’s hips (which gives her the chance to use her muscles more in order to maintain a stable position when pushing up), rolling with a quicker pace (just don’t act like you’re launching baby to the moon!), or pausing for increasingly longer periods of time as you get her to the top of the ball. Check out my post about how to play with and challenge your older baby (12+ months) on an exercise ball (demo video included) by clicking HERE.

So now you can ask the big question: Does this actually work? Will my baby really learn to enjoy tummy time if I use a therapy ball?  

I mentioned earlier in this post that I have written about tummy time before. It was the first informational post ever published on this site, and is called 7 tips for making tummy time a little less…um…miserable. (You can read it HERE.) In that post, using a therapy ball for tummy time is the 4th of 7 steps introduced for working up toward happy, independent tummy time. I have received many comments about how helpful the post is, but one particular comment that was recently submitted was especially memorable and it pretty much sums up how a therapy ball can work wonders for a baby who hates tummy time. Here is a good chunk of that comment:

“THIS ACTUALLY WORKED!!!! I had been struggling with my son (now almost four months) for about three months to help him get used to tummy time but he absolutely hated it! The only reason he did anything on tummy time was so that he could get to me in order to nurse, and that only involved pushing with his feet. He would scream and cry, his face would turn purple, and I felt like I was torturing the poor guy.I started to ease off of tummy time, but by two months, he couldn’t hold up his head at all and the doctors were concerned (though I now know this is perfectly fine) and by three months, he could only hold it up for a couple of seconds.

I was terrified that he would not learn to crawl because he would not stay on his tummy for any length of time once he realized that he was going on the floor!…Step 4 is definitely my favorite with the exercise ball! He loved being at a steep angle and being able to look around, and I was able to slowly progress him to being parallel with the ground!! (BEST STEP EVER!! THANK YOU!!)…We are not fully into Step 7 where he is content, but he has actually stayed on his tummy for several minutes, is not only holding up his head but is also pushing up his chest several times, and now he is even starting to scoot forward using his hands!! It’s still a work in progress but this article has been the answer to my prayers about tummy time!! Thank you so much for posting this article!!!”

Didn’t reading that just make you smile from ear to ear?

Whether your baby hates tummy time, loves it, or hasn’t even started it yet, I hope you’ll consider using a therapy ball to enhance their tummy time experience and support their development of higher level infant motor skills. It’ll be fun for them, fun for you, and good for their development. Win-win-win!

. . . . .

Now that you have learned all about how to use a therapy ball for tummy time, it’s time to introduce you to several other therapy bloggers who are providing helpful info and ideas to help you and your baby out with tummy time as well!

I am excited to be participating in a Therapy Bloggers Blog Hop all about tummy time! Basically, we have coordinated our efforts to bring you lots of great posts that explain why tummy time is important and provide tips for how to successfully implement it with the baby in your life.

Below you will find all the posts in the Tummy Time Therapy Blogger Blog Hop. So many great ideas and thoughts on tummy time from Occupational and Physical Therapists!

The Importance of Tummy Time for Babies – Golden Reflections Blog

Tummy Time & Baby’s First Year – The Recycling OT

How to Use a Therapy Ball to Make Tummy Time Easier and More Fun for Baby –
Mama OT

5 Awesome Toys for Tummy Time! – The Inspired Treehouse

Terrific Tummy Time Positions – Your Kids OT

Tips For Tummy Time From A Physical Therapist – Pink Oatmeal

Tummy Time : The Basics – Therapy Fun Zone

Tummy Time: Developmental Consequences & Future Implications – Tools to Grow, Inc.

Tummy Time Tips – Pediatric OT Tips

Tummy Time Isn’t Just For Babies – Your Therapy Source

Tummy Time – More Than Just A Buzz Word – Starfish Therapies

Tummy Time Never Gets Old – Playapy Platform

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