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Childhood Development-8 (Post-birth Learning)
Of course, despite the foundation of extremely early learning in the womb, babies gain lots more understanding and learning once they enter the world. As you’ll now be aware, babies have the potential to do a lot of learning at an early stage, so as soon as they’re born their awareness is there and they’re learning things all the time.

We may view their learning at this point as small, but for babies they are crucial steps in their learning process. For example, when you’ve come home from hospital and are settling back into life at home, a baby will be learning about the sounds, scents and things he sees around him. He’ll learn what it’s like to be put to sleep in his cot, what the blankets feel like, the sound of your footsteps, the noises going on in the house around him and what it feels like to be fed and changed.

In the first couple of months, babies will be interested in new objects you put near them, so mobiles above their cot or safe toys for them to play with are all good. Although they won’t yet be actively playing with things, something that’s colourful and interesting will grab their attention and they’ll be carefully studying it with their eyes or listening to any noises it makes.

In the early months, other key signs of learning take place on an emotional level too. Babies will learn how you respond to their needs, what it’s like to be smiled at – and smile back – and how to poke their tongue out. Interacting with your baby at this time is really important, as it not only aids the bonding process, but also the learning process too. So do all you can for your baby, and you’ll be setting them in a good position for all their future learning.

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