What is cognitive development?

From birth, your baby absorbs information and starts building cognitive skills, they learn and grow through new experiences. Even when it looks like simple play, your baby is learning all the time. By the age of three, they have developed 85% of their brain.  Letting a baby encounter and explore their environment, singing, listening to stories, and playing games are the first, critical steps in building academic and social skills for a lifetime. Your baby is soaking up everything as their brain grows - this is called cognitive development. Cognitive skills include your baby’s ability to learn, think, understand, reason, problem-solve, and remember.

​It’s important to remember that all babies are individual and will develop at their own pace.  However, if for some reason you are concerned about your child’s development, talk with your family health nurse or doctor to help you decide if there any problems you need to have checked out.

Ways to encourage cognitive growth.
Read books aloud to your baby and recite nursery rhymes, choose books that have brightly colored pictures that show common objects, point and make noises – say the animal sounds to go along with the animal pictures.  Babies enjoy cloth books with different textures, and flaps.
 
Have meaningful conversations with your baby, react to their coos and smiles, they are expecting you to respond.
 
Provide lots of fun bath toys.

​Give your baby toys that let him push a button to make something happen, or activities like shaking or banging objects.  Your baby wants to see the results of his actions, this helps him learn the “if-then” reasoning. 

As you can see, babies are not only growing physically during their first years of life, but also cognitively (mentally). 

It’s never too early to help your baby become all that they can be.  

Karen O'Leary is the the Program Manager at New Beginnings. She has her BA in Bible Theology and her Masters of Divinity. She has 8-years of experience as a Social Director at a non-profit organization helping those in crisis with financial assistance, brief supportive counseling, and being a spiritual presence in their time of need. In her free time Karen enjoys reading, cooking and traveling.

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