through the first year of life , infants grow tremendously at a fast rate. they babble coo and cry to communicate pain , fear disconnect or loneliness. They love to be touched and held close, therefore experts encourage parents or caregivers to cuddle them frequently and provide objects for infants to feel, touch, mouth and explore. By four months infants begin to return a smile. Therefore parents are encouraged to help infants develop a sense of trust and security by responding to their cries. When parents do this and are consistent with it, it encourages the infant to want to try new things and help them develop a sense of self worth and security.
The first year of life is also when infants are starting to develop their senses, therefore scholars recommend that parents or caregivers expose babies to bright colors and a variety of objects to look at. They are encouraged to provide environment rich with sound (such as house hold sounds), provide opportunities for infants to smell different smells and expose them to different taste and temperatures in food. Some parents are sensitive when it comes to exposing their infants to different environments especially exposure to taste and smell. For instance, when my nephew was born, my brothers wife was obsessed with decorating the whole house with only baby products and baby scents (this is her first baby). Household chores such as cleaning (vacuuming, dusting, washing with heavy detergents such as bleach/ammonia), and cooking would have to be done only when the baby is not around because she thought that was what was suitable for the baby's environment. Not only did it inconvenience those of us who lived in the same house, but after reading articles for social and emotional development of infants i can see that those household items and chores that she didn't want around the baby are actually suitable for the baby's development. Not only are they suitable for the baby's development, in fact some those articles states that baby's actually enjoy smelling tree bark, dirt, grass, and other natural things. And these exposures also help them develop an appropriate immune system.
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