Sensitive, responsive parenting: How does it benefit your child’s health?
Research suggests that sensitive, responsive parenting can protect children from chronic disease and toxic stress.
Babies
The science of toilet training: What research tells us about timing
© 2007-2021 Gwen Dewar, all rights reserved When is the best time to start teaching children about toileting? Infancy? 18 months? 24 months? Or even later? What does the science of toilet training tell us? There is surprisingly little research addressing the question. And, as I note elsewhere, each age is associated with its own Read More »
How do babies respond to music in the womb?
In the last trimester, fetuses can hear music in the womb. And if they hear the same tune many times, they may learn to recognize it.
How do children respond to a mother’s voice?
© 2021 Gwen Dewar, Ph.D., all rights reserved A mother’s voice has special power. It can provide comfort — and improve outcomes — for babies hospitalized in the NICU. It can shape the way infants process language in the brain. And it can help children cope with pain and stress. What happens when a baby Read More »
The social world of newborns: Why babies are born to learn from our sensitive, loving care
© 2021 Gwen Dewar, Ph.D., all rights reserved Yes, newborns spend most of their time sleeping and eating. But babies are more than mere survival machines. At birth, they are primed and ready for social input, and our loving care has profound effects on their development. Generations ago, learning theorists tended to underestimate newborns. They Read More »
What is colic? An evidence-based guide to excessive infant crying
© 2021 Gwen Dewar, Ph.D., all rights reserved What is colic? The quick facts are these: “Infantile colic” is the term that doctors use for excessive crying and fussing that has no obvious cause. To make a diagnosis, many use the “rule of three,” which identifies a baby as colicky if he or she is “otherwise healthy and well-fed,” but Read More »
The effects of television on learning to speak: Is it helpful or harmful?
© 2009 – 2021 Gwen Dewar, Ph.D., all rights reserved What are the effects of television on language learning? Studies report a link between TV and language development in young children. The more time kids spend watching television, the more slowly they learn to talk. What’s going on? Some people conclude that the effects of Read More »
The best infant feeding schedule: Why babies benefit from feeding on cue
© 2017 – 2021 Gwen Dewar, Ph.D., all rights reserved The infant feeding schedule reconsidered In the past, Western “baby experts” often instructed parents to feed their babies at regularly-spaced intervals of 3- or 4-hours. Today, official medical recommendations have shifted in favor of letting babies decide. Why the change? There are a number of reasons, Read More »
Melatonin, breast milk, and breast pumps: How the timing of milk production might affect infant sleep
© 2021 Gwen Dewar, Ph.D., all rights reserved Does the composition of breast milk change over the course of the 24-hour day? Yes. The “drowsy” hormone, melatonin, reaches peak concentrations in breast milk at night. Cortisol — a stress hormone that promotes alertness — is typically at its highest in the morning. So if you feed your Read More »
When do babies sleep through the night?
© 2021 Gwen Dewar, Ph.D., all rights reserved Studies suggest that most babies begin to “sleep through the night” (at least 5-6 hours without parental intervention) by 3-6 months of age. But some infants take longer, and the road to progress can be bumpy. Even after babies experience their first, long episodes of nighttime sleep, Read More »
What’s the right age to start potty training? It depends on your goals
© 2021 Gwen Dewar, all rights reserved In Western countries like the United States, many children begin toilet training sometime between 24 and 36 months. But from an historical and cross-cultural standpoint, this timing is very late, and it comes with a downside. So what’s the right potty training age? It depends on your child, Read More »
When do babies sit up by themselves, and what can we do to help them reach this milestone?
© 2020 Gwen Dewar, all rights reserved Most babies learn to sit up by themselves sometime between 4 and 8 months. But the process is gradual, and some babies make faster progress than others. We can give motor development a boost by helping babies build key muscles. When do babies sit up by themselves? There Read More »