Can babies sense their mother? If so, can they tell you when your mom is gone? Research shows that, as soon as she is gone, she is being followed.
The process of learning to recognize your own mother can be tricky. Some babies can hear sound but have no idea that they are hearing humans. Traditionally, experts have suggested waiting until age 3 to introduce a second language. But a 2009 study conducted at Italy’s International School for Advanced Studies showed that bilingual babies have vocabularies in each language (about 50 words at 18 months) that are comparable to those of babies who are learning only one.
If you or your spouse speaks a second language, use it around your child regularly. Experts believe a baby needs to be exposed to a language at least 30 percent of the time to pick it up. Even if (like most Americans) you know only English, see whether a caregiver, a close friend, or a relative can work on French or Spanish with him. Don’t waste your money on a foreign-language disc, though. “The best way for your child to learn a second language is by hearing people around him use it,” says Dr. Mattock.
already recognizes your face, useful since she depends on you for everything. And before long she’ll be a face-recognition expert. Research performed at The University of Sheffield in England showed that 6-month-olds are far more gifted than adults at picking out individual faces among a group of people.
A child’s ability to pinpoint facial features typically starts to wane around 9 months. But some experts believe it doesn’t have to. “Continued exposure to faces from diverse ethnic groups may extend the ability into adulthood,” says Olivier Pascalis, Ph.D., a researcher at Université Pierre Mendès France, in Grenoble.
, by Margaret Miller, is a good choice) or cutting out images of varied cultures from catalogs and magazines. Helping maintain this skill will encourage your baby to become more accepting of other ethnicities as she grows.
Your baby was born to boogie. A study published in Science revealed that 3-month-olds could distinguish between one type of rhythm and another. And recent research shows that babies respond to the rhythm of music by moving their arms and body.
Expose your child to a wide range of musical genres.
