Brain Development

Recent research has shown that your baby's brain will develop much more quickly than doctors thought in the past. We now know that the enriching experiences you provide in the first two years will influence the rest of your baby's life and literally shape the basic structures of her brain.

For example, there's a "window of opportunity" for language that's open only from birth to about age six, when your child has an amazing ability to learn the distinct sounds of multiple languages. So toddlers can actually learn a second language much easier than adults, because a toddler's brain is pre-wired to learn language in the first few years of life.

By knowing about windows of opportunity, and by understanding brain development, we can all be prepared to give our babies a strong foundation for learning.

In the "For Parents" section of our Baby and Parent Nursery DVDs, we talk more about baby brain development. You'll see exactly how your baby's ability to think will be formed in the first few years of life, and how to use critical "windows of opportunity" to nuture your baby's mind.