Congratulations on the arrival of your new bundle!
If you haven’t already realized, you will soon notice that newborns spend the majority of their time either eating or sleeping, which leaves little time for much else. As they grow and get used to their new world, their wake windows become progressively longer giving you more time to get to know them, but, how do you entertain a newborn?
Babies in the 0-3 month stage can’t do much, they’re not very mobile and obviously can’t talk yet, but that doesn’t mean you can’t do bonding activities with them. Their brains are developing rapidly and interaction between you and baby is key to helping build those neuroconnections in the brain and nurture a strong bond between you both. Here are 10 ways for how to entertain a newborn:
1. Face to face time
Babies’ vision is still developing at this young age, newborns can see somewhere in the range of 8-12 inches away, anything further than that is a blur. Face to face time is when you get your face within this vision range of their face and talk to them, smile at them, make silly faces at them etc so they can get to know your face and eventually start tracking you and copying your facial movements for example sticking out your tongue.
2. Tummy time
Tummy time is considered to be anytime that your baby is not lying on their back and has their stomach flat to a surface. The most commonly thought of tummy time position is baby lying on their tummy on a playmat, but there are many other ways to do tummy time such as baby lying on your chest if you are reclined, or when baby is being carried in a sling/baby carrier.
Tummy time builds babies motor skills to develop strength and coordination which will eventually lead to rolling, crawling and walking. To find out more about tummy time, read our post on the benefits and top tips for tummy time.
3. Talking
Just because your baby can’t talk, don’t let that stop you from conversing with them. Talk about everyday tasks, talk about what you are doing when you are changing their bum, talk about what you are doing as you move from room to room with them in your home. Eventually your baby will start babbling and you can pause in your conversation to allow them to respond in babbles.
4. Singing
Babies also love singy-songy rhyming language so singing nursery rhymes is a great way to bond with them and also build their early language skills. You can also just make up random songs, for example sing about what you’re doing when you’re changing babies bum rather than talking about it. Repetitive songs like ‘Heads Shoulders knees and toes’ is also a good song to sing and do the actions to regularly as your baby will eventually start to associate the words with the body parts.
5. Reading Books
Babies don’t have a long attention span but they do enjoy rhythmic language and high contrast images. You can read rhyming books to your baby from the beginning (we started when they were still in the womb). Some of our favorite rhyming books are books by Julia Donaldson or the ‘10 Minutes to bed little dinosaur’ books. To begin with, my son would only make it about half way through the Gruffalo book, but as he got older eventually he would listen to the whole story.
Alternately, since babies eyesight is still developing at this stage, books with high contrast images are great for looking at. You can also use them to build their tracking skill by holding the book in the 8-12 inch range and slowly move it from one side to another to see if they follow it with their eyes.
Reading to your little ones is great for their development and is a great way to bond with them too. To find out more, read our post about the benefits of reading.
6. Lie them on their back
Although this post is about entertaining a newborn, it is also good for your baby to give them time on their back on a playmat with plenty of space around them. This gives them a chance to flail their arms and legs safely which develops their spatial awareness. It will also give them a chance to practice rolling once they feel they are ready.
7. baby massage
Baby massage classes are popping up all over the place now and with good reason. I did baby massage classes with both of my children, each time I thought they were great and used the massage techniques at home. We built massage into our bedtime routine, massaging moisturizer into their skin each night, but you can do baby massage at any time of day. There are also various massage techniques to help with different ailments such as constipation or blocked sinuses. I would recommend going to a professional class if you are able to learn about all the benefits and techniques first hand.
8. Lights
Babies’ eyesight as mentioned above is still developing at this stage, they can see movement in the distance, but it just appears as blur. We found that a rotating light projector worked well for capturing their attention in the 0-3 month stage. This is the light projector we have but there are many different kinds, you also get some that are built into cot mobiles. The light projector was part of our bedtime routine during the early months, we used the blue and green setting until we learned that blue and green light actually promotes awakeness. So if you are using it to aid sleep, red is the best color of light to use.
9. Mirrors
Babies love mirrors. You’ve probably noticed that a lot of baby board books have a mirror on the last page. At this young age, babies don’t understand what mirrors are, they think that their reflection is another baby which is fascinating. You can hold baby in front of any mirror you have around the home or you can get little baby-safe mirrors that can be propped up for them to look at when they are on their playmat.
10. Play gym
Play gyms or jungle gyms are a good addition for when your baby is lying on their back building their spatial awareness. They can try to touch the toys that dangle down which will help develop their coordination. There are many different kinds but the one we liked was the fisher price play gym as it grows with them.
Bonus Activity
Baby rattles or baby links are great for helping build motor skills and coordination. I was amazed at how young babies are when they can grasp and hold onto toys such as baby rattles. Once they are holding the rattle, they will inevitably shake it which adds a sensory cause and effect element to this activity.
