Process of Brain Development in Child: Factors and Initiatives

The brain of a child undergoes a crucial period of development from birth to three years, with millions of neural connections being produced every second. Brain development is influenced by various factors such as relationships, environments, and experiences. This presentation covers the impact of prenatal nutrition, attachment, nutrition, and stress on brain development, along with initiatives that mothers can take to ensure proper brain development in their children.

Process of brain development in child
• Brain of child undergoes an important period o f development
form the period of birth to that of three
• Production of large number of neural connections takes place
for about million neural connections each second
• Brain development is influenced by many factors like child’s
relationships, environments and experiences.

prenatal period
• kind of food that is taken up by the mother during this period
has a huge impact on brain development of the child
• diet and lifestyle are said by nutritionist to be very important
as they help in the development of the brain of the baby

Initiatives that mothers should take
• food high in nutrients should be always taken by such mothers
• they should take twice the amount of nutrients required but
that does not necessarily mean taking twice the amount of
food that is required
• folate, vitamin C, iron, omega three fats and even iron are
important nutrients

Attachment
• Caregivers should always stay nearby or in close proximity
with their babies
• when babies do not find their caregivers nearby, they feel
stress and nervous that affects their brain

How to develop attachment
• parents should not only stay nearby but in order to
develop sense of attachment, the caregivers should
try to understand what makes the babies secure and
how they can make their babies secure
• baby develop the feelings that present care about
them and therefore develop positive perceptions of
their immediate world

How to develop attachment
• starts even before the born of the child
• mothers should talk, sing with the baby and touch their womb
often with an affectionate feeling
• baby should be hold only in a straight manner and not in
sleeping position
• should be cuddled and interacted with smile and playfulness
in upsetting hours

Nutrition
• Mothers are advised to provide breast milk to their children
for their babies for the first two years
• breast milk comprises of many important antibodies and
nutrients that help the brain to not only develop properly but
also keep babies safe from infections

How to develop good food habits
• parents are also advised not to provide the babies with
extremely costly food like expensive vitamins and similar
others
• Parents should familiarize babies with the use of healthy food
making babies develop the habit of liking healthy food only
and motivating them by being an example herself

How to develop good food habits
• toddlers should be involved in simple cooking activities and
meal preparation so that they can develop good relationships
with healthy foods.
• Processed food lack nutrients and should be avoided
• ingredients of the food like low salt, low fat, low sugar
• Parents should provide importance to babies’ cues when they
are full

Stress
• Stress has the potential to create heart issues and immune
system issues in the babies and the children
• important hormone called cortisol that is called the stress
hormone that affects the ways by which brain is wired up
• Babies who have stress in the childhood can result in
development of adults who have heart problems

How to handle stress
• Anger, violence, deprivation and feeling of left alone have
negative effects on babies by creating stress
• Violence in home or neighborhood, aggression among
parents, divorces or illnesses among the parents create stress
in babies that affects babies’ development

How to handle stress
• taking the baby away from different stressful situations
• finding peaceful ways of solving disagreements among
parents or other family members.
• The parents should step back and take control of emotions in
front of the baby

References
• Baradon, T., Biseo, M., Broughton, C., James, J., & Joyce,
A. (2016). The practice of psychoanalytic parent-infant
psychotherapy: Claiming the baby. Routledge.
• Gerhardt, S. (2014). Why love matters: How affection
shapes a baby's brain. Routledge.
• Ordway, M. R., Webb, D., Sadler, L. S., & Slade, A. (2015).
Parental reflective functioning: an approach to
enhancing parent-child relationships in pediatric primary
care. Journal of Pediatric Health Care, 29(4), 325-334.
• Shelov, S. P. (2015). Your baby's first year. Bantam.

Thank you