A parent Viktoriya Vita Tatur has created a new section on child development called “What Am I Doing Differently?” I’ve read her first three stories, which resonated with me a lot – I’m sharing the first one with you in this guest post!!
Anti-scratch mittens
Victoriya said, that she never put these protective mittens on her baby. It seems wrong to her, even though- it’s spouse to be a safety measure for the child.
A baby’s hands are the organ through which they explore the world. Tactile sensations and touches are crucial for their sensory development and are very important for the proper and timely development of the brain. From birth, it’s important for babies to feel and sense. Through their hands, fingers, and palms, the baby’s brain receives information for processing, for forming new neural connections. This also contributes to the development of the child’s emotional intelligence and cognitive abilities.
Brain and hands
At first, this happens accidentally and reflexively, but over time, the movements become more refined. When a child’s hands are covered, not only do they not feel different sensations, they don’t feel the need to use them to explore the world. You might say, “But he’s still little, what is there for him to explore? He doesn’t understand anything anyway.” Yet, his brain contains twice as many neurons as ours (adults). Imagine how intensely his brain is gathering information about the surrounding world. 75% of our brain is wired by 3 years of age, and the number of synapses in the brain increases from about 2,500 to 15,000 per neuron. In the first three years, a child’s brain has up to twice as many synapses as it will have in adulthood.
The more time a baby spends in these mittens, the longer it will take him to “find” his hands and fingers. This means that other motor and cognitive processes will occur later. Therefore, it’s very important to trim the nails in time, but not to hide them. It’s not only inconvenient for the baby to have them covered but their sensations are significantly limited as well.
Feet too
By the way, the same can be said about socks. I kept my baby’s feet as exposed as possible so that he could actively feel them and find his feet at the earliest opportunity.
Let me know if you need more information about RIE® Parent-Infant Guidance™ Classes.
Wishing you all the best in this difficult yet exciting journey of parenting!
Warmly,
Teacher Kira
