The Best Way to Grow Your Baby's Brain: It's Your Turn!

What Does it Look Like?

Baby 

You might not always notice when your baby is wanting an interaction with you. Each time they look at you, make a sound, or even flinch is an opportunity to connect.  

• Baby stretches their body and yawns. You smile and ask “Are you sleepy?”
• Baby returns your smile and you laugh. 
• You hold out your finger and baby grabs your finger and brings it to their mouth. 
• You open your eyes wide and say “You have my finger” as you then tickle your baby. 
• Baby laughs and brings their hand to their mouth. You: “I think you are hungry!”

Toddler 

Your toddler is busy exploring and learning about the world around them. This curiosity intensifies their experience as they want to touch, see, and understand everything around them! 

• Your toddler is pulling up to stand and reaches for a toy. 
• You smile and say,  “So smart! You found the ball!”
• Toddler babbles “da da da.” You repeat back “da da da.”
• Toddler screeches excitedly. You say, “Are you excited? Do you want to play ball?” as you roll the ball. 
• Toddler crawls after the ball and picks it up and puts it in their mouth. You hold out your hands and say, “Let’s play ball! Roll me the ball!” as you help them roll the ball. 

18-month-old toddlers love to play and interact with music. The key is the repetition in the silly songs they like to sing with you. 

• Your 18-month-old hears a song playing and begins to dance along. You say, “Do you love this song?’ and start to dance also. 
• 18-month-old smiles and laughs. You begin to sing and dance along to the music. 
• 18-month-old tries to sing along “Yaaaa yaaaa yaaaa” You keep singing and begin to clap your hands to the beat. 18-month-old stops dancing and claps their hands. 

At two years of age, the conversational turn taking continues even more rapidly as your child expresses their needs, wants, and protests in words. 

• Your two-year-old brings you a book to read and says “Read, momma.” You pull them into your lap and ask, “What book is this?” They say, “Brown bear, brown bear.” 
• You open the book in response and begin to read. You pause after “Brown bear, brown bear, what do you see?”. . . 
  • Two year-old says, “What you see!” 
  • You respond, “I see . . . tweet tweet” . . . 
  • Two-year-old says, “Bird!” 
  • You: “Yes! It’s a red bird looking at me!”

 
Big Bonus of “It’s Your Turn!”  

When your baby engages in this back-and-forth conversation, the connections in their brain grow and become stronger. These connections are critical for listening, spoken language, and reading.