Useful Tips for newborn babies!

TIPS AND TOYS YOU CAN USE FOR NEWBORN BABIES

• Both the father and the mother should communicate with the newborn.

• The child’s face should not be covered for long periods of time because children need to see in order for their eyesight to develop.

• Although common in some places, newborns should not be tightly bound in clothing for long periods, so they can move and touch people and things.

• Clean, safe, and colorful things from the household, such as a wooden spoon or plastic bowl, can be given to the child to reach for and touch.

• When the baby is one week or older, a simple, homemade toy, like a shaker rattle, can attract the child’s interest by the sounds it makes when you shake it gently.

• To make a gourd rattle: Find a small gourd, cut a round hole at the stem and clean out the seeds and flesh. Let it dry out well and put 2 or small rocks or other objects inside. Find a stick the size of the whole and glue it to the gourd.

• To make a bottle rattle: Take a plastic bottle or equivalent receptacle. Insert nuts, stones, colorful strips cut from other plastic bottles. Insert wood stick in the bottle, and warp a ring with strips or cloth.

• Squeeze toys: Trace and enlarge various patterns on a fabric. Cut out two pieces for each pattern. Sew the edges and stuff with wool, beans or candy wrappers. Sew the ends. You can also cut out the figure of a doll and stuff it.