During the first 6 months of life, baby learning takes on the form of exploration. Senses are still developing, and there’s a lot going on and this helps the baby to develop basic awareness skills. When we play with baby doing things such as “patty-cake”, some may think it silly, but this is actually beneficial because the baby is learning coordination. Other such games also help to build coordination and whether it seems to have an impact or not, we are working to strengthen the baby.

As for toys during the initial 6 months of life, the primary focus should be on safety, and in addition, on the learning, or development of the baby. Toys should be of the variety intended for their age because these toys general focus on some aspect of baby learning. Certain toys are developed that will assist the baby in focusing their eyes, more work on coordination and following things around with their eyes. All tasks that are extremely important to baby’s overall development.

We must take care with these toys. Don’t let the dogs play with them, keep things reasonably clean, etc. As we may or may not be aware, another aspect of baby’s exploration includes tasting things, and nearly everything they encounter will make it to their mouth at one point or another.

Rattlers are a good toy for development. They make sounds which help baby to focus on listening. They also promote gripping and holding on to things. You don’t want the rattler to be too loud, but the baby should be able to hear it.

Another good toy is perhaps not actually a toy, but will think it is and that is a teething ring. The baby can begin to develop teeth as early as 3 months old. They will chew on this to help the teeth come through, and it is also soothing to the gums. The best ones will be those containing a gel that can be made cold in the refrigerator. Make sure it stays clean though!

There is a fantastic toy that is sort of an all in one type game that includes a frame that baby will actually lie under. Baby learning takes the form of continued development of coordination as the baby reaches for the items that are hanging from the frame. This also actually exercises baby and he or she begins to build muscle in the extremities.

Other toys beneficial to baby learning include balls, toys that roll, and even safety mirrors all work towards developing baby and getting them ready to move on to the next level of learning.

Once upon a time, people used to believe that reading to baby at a very young age was pointless. We now know that this is wrong, and the sooner that you begin reading to a child, the faster their vocabulary will develop. It is known that reading to children from a very young age has them well advanced in reading by the time they begin school, and those who have been worked with as infants have been known to read on a level 3 or 4 grades ahead of their classmates.

There are books that are geared to developing a child’s knowledge such as assisting the parents in teaching the child their ABC’s, various body parts and other such basic knowledge. Still other books such as fairy tales help the child’s imagination to properly develop. When you look at things on the surface, those who began baby learning at a young age are those who are excelling in their studies in the later years. Take a look at high school students today, and the vast numbers of children who have poor reading skills. Studies have proven that those having trouble in school at that age with learning, are primarily the ones who were never worked with at home.

Reading to children at an early age, and in fact making it an essential part of baby learning opens the door to a whole new world of words for the child. When they begin to understand the words, the door opens further still.

There’s a great many websites available online that specifically deal with toys, games and books designed to develop a baby’s mind and thinking skills as well as helping to build vocabulary more quickly and this should be an important part of your baby learning activities.

Another useful baby learning tool is music. Music affects babies just like it does anyone else. Soft music can be soothing to the baby and it aids in development overall. Again, this would affect the listening and hearing skills for baby and they will soon have a favorite song that for one reason or another especially appeals to them.

Never under estimate the ability of any child to learn, and the more you work with baby in learning, the faster they will develop the various skills needed by all of us.

Baby clothes have fashion trends just like any other line of clothing. Now, to be sure, the baby doesn’t care one way or the other how he or she is dressed as long as they are warm. Mom and dad however want to make sure that baby is dressed to the nines before hitting the streets!

Now, just like anything else, you should shop around for baby clothes. Things can get quite as expensive for the baby as it does for any adult, so you should do some price comparisons when shopping. That said, we now know that if we shop carefully we can still end up with all the latest styles and fashions that are hot on the market.

When you consider name brands, you’re almost always going to be paying a little more, but with major department stores caring more and more of these brands, starting there can have you finding some excellent deals. This is generally because the profit to the store comes from selling quantity as opposed to counting profit per item. As a matter of fact, in a lot of case the major department stores will sell these items almost at cost, hoping that you will also buy some of the ancillary items such as diapers and other things besides just the baby clothes. In most cases they are making the full profit margin on those items essentially making the low priced clothing their loss leaders.

Now, when we look at online shopping, you’re almost sure to find some fantastic bargains there simply because the competition for online shopping dollars is fierce.

Now, when we talk about style, there are some styles that just never die. One mainstay for any child is baby clothes with animals prints on them, and for little girls, everyone always loves to dress them in frilly dresses laden with ruffles all around. For little boys, anything sporty is always in style. This is especially so when it comes to jersey style clothing for the major sports teams.

The newest trend in baby clothes is those that are organic. This means the clothing is produced from materials that are sustainable, and have been harvested in ways that are environmentally friendly. This includes the use of harmful chemicals that are typically used in the manufacturing processes.

The organic type clothing, as with anything else of that nature is going to tend to be more expensive. Most people believe that it is a small price to pay in return for helping to save the environment as we know it. Still, careful shopping will net you some pretty good deals.

All in all, you have to consider that you will literally be restocking the wardrobe with new baby clothes a minimum of every few months as they grow. Looking around for sales that include retailer over stock, or even out of season items can save you a great deal of money. You sort of have to think outside the box on this one and plan ahead. Clothing going out of season now and the climate changes can likely be a useful piece of clothing the next season for baby by buying it in a size that he will be wearing around that time if you can find it available. Fashion trends are not going to change so drastically that it would be out of the question to do so, and you could potentially save a great deal of money in the process.

Another consideration when shopping for baby clothes is consignment shops. Many people balk at the thought of this, but when you consider the fact that it seems like the baby grows out of new clothes in a week, it becomes a welcome idea. The clothes in these shops would not be there if they weren’t in excellent shape for one thing. For another, these clothes might have been worn once or twice by the baby. The parents then realized it was time to move on to the next size and likely put these in the consignment shop for sale to supplement the purchase of the next line of clothes for the baby.

The most important thing of it all when it comes to baby clothes and saving money, is to shop around. There are lots of bargains to be had, and let’s face it it’s a buyer’s world when it comes to shopping so just be patient.

Remember to watch for sales at the major department stores, who will generally offer deep discounts on baby clothes hoping that other merchandise that isn’t on sale will be purchased too.

There’s a myth running rampant that if your child listens to classical music it will make them more intelligent. WRONG. However, music does stimulate the development of children, and it doesn’t necessarily have to be Bach to do it. Even singing to a child can help them to develop certain skills, as they will often try to imitate what they are hearing, mush like they will try to imitate things that they see being done. It’s how they learn quite frankly.

Take a look at sites like YouTube at the videos that people are posting left and right of 2 years singing songs all the way through without missing a beat. That child quite frankly, is for the most part doing nothing that any other child can’t do as well. It is just that the child’s parents worked with them, sang to them, played music for them and in general just spent ample time assisting the child to develop. The end result is the child learned what they were hearing.

There’s something about all humans that allows music to affect us in some sort of way that seems mysterious. There really is nothing mysterious about it. Musical instruments, when played properly of course, sounds good to our ears, and it is pleasing. Baby music is the same to children. We tend to produce tunes that appeal to them. These are generally fun type songs that set them to moving to the rhythm of the music.

Baby music can also help a child to build vocabulary, and to just learn in general. For those in the US, you may remember back in the 70’s (if you are that old!) the schoolhouse rock commercials that would come on during the Saturday morning cartoons. These were songs that were “fun” to the kids, and they were running around singing these songs all over the place and the Department of Education successfully completed their mission. These songs taught things such as the use of conjunctions, how a bill becomes a law and many other things. The US Constitution was also the subject of one these mini-features.

The point that is trying to be made, is that while it is pleasant to listen to, music is also a valuable tool for teaching. It stimulates the mind and opens it up to absorb information for lack of a better way to explain it in laymen’s terms.

Studies have been conducted, thoroughly testing the effects music had on babies. Now, these tests were conducted on infants who were premature at birth – a difficult time for everyone involved when the baby is a preemie. Now, this test consisted of playing pre-recorded lullabies for the babies for about a half hour a day. By the time the fourth day rolled around, what do you think that the doctors and nurses recorded? For one thing, the infants that participated in the test and actually heard the music had improved overall health, including gaining weight, blood pressures that were more of a normal level and even stronger heart beats. Now stop and think about it for a moment – music did all this!

Music definitely has healing power. When baby is feeling bad, singing some baby music to him or her can help to soothe them or even playing a music CD with baby music on it can help the child to relax and fall asleep.

It’s important to note, that “blaring” music is not likely to stimulate this learning process. In fact it could actually harm the baby’s ear if music is played too loudly over an extended period of time. The music should be soft, but loud enough to hear. If you cannot speak to someone sitting across the table from you because the music is too loud, then you need to put the volume down.

The idea behind it all is to stimulate the child and his or her thinking process, and then the learning begins. Play tunes that are fun for baby like Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star and other songs like that. It won’t be long before they are learning to sing along with the music, and learning other things as well!

I was hoping someone could give me some suggestions for organic baby products. I bought a book called “Healthy Baby Happy Home” (http://www.healthybabyhappyhome.com) and it really helped me get started. It has different products listed in several categories including shampoo, food, toys, etc and I like that the author actually gave “name brand” recommendations that I have tried finding in my local stores. But I’m still hoping someone can share with me some products you have used and liked or better yet, what your kids like. I am going organic mainly for my two little ones ages 3 yrs and 4 months so any tips on baby products would help. Thanks!

On the outset, feeding babies is pretty much set in stone. You will either feeding them formula, or you will breastfeed (preferable). Formula is fine for feeding babies, but breast is so much better for them as it helps them along the way in building antibodies which of course help them to fight off illness.

Still, certain foods should be avoided when breastfeeding because what you eat can ultimately be passed along to the baby. Soft drinks that are loaded with caffeine are a definite no-no as the caffeine can be passed to the baby. Likewise there are a number of foods that can create problems for baby by making them “gassy” for lack of a better term. These foods include among others thing:

• Broccoli
• Onions
• Beans
• Even hot dogs or frankfurters

Once we get beyond the stage of just milk for feeding babies, we have to start considering solid foods, working our way up of course. This is an area where the baby’s doctor can guide those of you who are new moms but many people believe that at around 3 months or so you can begin mixing cereal with formula or breast milk for feeding babies. It is said that this will help babies to sleep longer at night and reduce the number of feedings necessary. Others contend that feeding babies anything of that nature should be withheld until about 6 months.

If the baby is crying a lot for feeding, then simply put, the breast milk or formula is not enough to keep them satistfied and adding cereal to the milk will help.

IMPORTANT NOTE – Feeding babies whole milk or any milk other than formula or breast milk before they are 1 year old. This can be dangerous to baby because his or her little body cannot properly break down the proteins produced in cow’s milk. In addition, whole milk contains too much potassium and sodium and makes the baby’s kidneys work harder than they should. This can be a major problem. Among other things that can happen, giving baby cow’s milk before it is time can result in the baby having low iron, and it can in fact cause allergic reactions and internal bleeding. This is not meant to scare, but to inform you of the consequences that may happen.

When you actually do begin introducing solid foods when feeding babies it should be things like the aforementioned cereals, pureed fruits and vegetables, etc. As you introduce each new food to baby, do so one at a time. You want to monitor the baby for any possible allergic reactions, and of course you will want to know what caused the reaction as well.

First introduction of any food should always be mashed well, or pureed. We want no chunks of anything that could potentially cause a choking hazard.

A great many people are beginning to see that producing baby food at home not only saves money, but it’s much healthier. Especially when you consider the fact that organic is better as there have been no pesticides used on them. Another reason being that there are no additives to prolong the life of the food and there are no fillers or artificial colors added either.

Making your own food for feeding babies is easy. The process is so simple in fact a child could do it! (one old enough to operate a stove, that is!) Simply cook the food as you normally would. It’s a good idea to leave out the added salt and other spices that you may use. When it is completely cooked (in the case of vegetables that is) then allow them to cool before moving on to the next process which is basically put them in the blender and setting it to puree. Mixing the puree can be done with water or breast milk if necessary, but in many cases you won’t need this unless you are pureeing meat or something along those lines.

It may seem to be additional work feeding babies with homemade baby food, but really there is only an additional step or two involved, and it’s so much healthier for the baby. Foods can be done in advance as well, and then frozen to use at a later time if you so desire. Be careful of heating however so as to not get it too hot for baby.

The first years of feeding babies are the most important. The baby is growing very fast and they are developing all over, including the brain. Take extra steps to ensure healthy development can set the tone for a healthy life overall. This healthy lifestyle starts at home and will follow baby into adulthood, so the patterns we set for baby now is likely the pattern they will follow as they grow.