There is one thing that many new parents are always too embarrassed to admit: How do I interact with my baby?
Yes, we all play multiple roles as new parents: act as a human mattress to hold them to sleep, as a human rocker to calm them down…however, when they are quiet and content, we feel lost about how to interact with them. We, adults, are used to two-way communication. However, when we talk to small babies, they don’t talk back to us. And this can feel a little awkward.
The good news is, there are many fun ways to keep your little prince or princess entertained. We just need to be a little more creative.
This guide will show you:
- #1 Work out with your baby
- #2 Baby massage
- #3 Read to your baby
- #4 Fun baby experiments
- #5 Play with interactive toys
- #6 Water play
- #7 Dance with your baby
- #8 Outdoor activities
1. Interact with Your Baby through a Workout
Busy parents like us spend most of our time working a full-time job, running house chores, and taking care of our munchkins. We rarely have time to take care of our own bodies. There are times you really wish that you can slow down and do some workout, but who’s gonna take care of our baby?
Have you thought that you can do a workout with your little one together? Yep! They have their own equipment, too. You will be surprised how much your little one will enjoy playing with her work-out gadgets. Plus, she will be entertained by watching you stretching your legs and doing push-ups. As a matter of fact, if you are up to challenges, try doing sit-ups while holding your baby. She will giggle when you lift her up in the air.
How to Get Started with Working Out with Your Baby?
Let your baby have her own activity gym
If you prefer to work-out side by side with your little one, then get her a designated activity gym.
Activity gyms have a lot of benefits for babies and toddlers. They help promote your baby’s overall physical coordination, as well as stimulate her senses while she interacts with the hanging toys.
Another way to use an activity gym together is to play plastic balls. Picking up, throwing, and rolling the balls may seem simple to you, but they are fascinating activities for babies.
Related: Best Activity Gyms for Babies
Get your little one proper work-out gears
If you think work-out gears are grown-ups’ privileges, then you are wrong. Babies as young as three months can get their own work-out equipment.
While you are stretching your body or doing jumping jacks, your little one will be busy doing her own exercises.
Why not show her all the yoga moves mommy knows? You can also involve her by holding her up in the air during arm strengthening practices.
2. Interact with Your Baby Through Massage
Physical contact is a great way to bond with your little one. It is scientifically proven that it has a positive impact on your baby’s physical and psychological well-being.
Infant massaging can stimulate growth hormone for the baby to eat more and gain more weight. It stimulates their central nervous system. A study by Dr. Field shows that massage is associated with preterm infants’ weight gain and an increase in bone density.
How to Get Started with Massaging Your Baby?
A massage not only boosts your baby’s emotional well-being, but it also gives you a sense of control. “For parents, it nurtures bonding, increases communication, promotes parenting skills, and actually reduces stress levels.” Dr. Elaine Schneider, the author of The Joy of Touch Time explains in her book.
How to Get Started with Massaging Your Baby?
Read this book to learn how to give your little one a massage
Dr. Elaine Fogel Schneider is one of the leading authorities on baby massage therapy. In her book, she explains why massage has remarkable benefits for both you and your baby. This book provides step-by-step techniques and guidance on how to massage babies of different ages. In addition, it talks about the best time to massage, different strokes to use, and types of music to play. It also teaches you how to read your baby’s and your own emotions.
Get the best organic baby massaging oil
Choosing the right massage oil can promote a baby’s skin health and avoid potential adverse effects. Natural food or plant-based oils are free of harsh chemicals and are gentle on the skin. They are generally better than petroleum-based skin products. For example, coconut oil, avocado oil, and grapeseed oil are most moms’ favorites.
This Honest Company Organic All-Natural Baby Massage Oil is a blend of plant-based ingredients such as olive oil, jojoba oil, sunflower oil, avocado oil, etc. It is also suitable for sensitive skin. It is also fragrance-free. Once you finish massaging your little one, there is no need to wash off the baby oil. Like creams, you can leave it on for further nourishment.
3. Interact with Your Baby Through Book Reading
It is never too early to start verbal communication with your baby. You may think that they are not listening to you or they don’t understand what you are saying. In fact, they are more observant and receptive than you think.
Reading aloud can stimulate a baby’s language skills and enhance her memory. It is also a great way to help build her vocabulary. You may feel silly the first time when you read to her. She probably won’t pay any attention to you and instead, play with her toes. However, your voice is still a powerful stimulant. Some parents start reading to their babies even before they are born!
Grab a colorful book and start having some book time with your little one. Cultivating the habit of reading will benefit them for their entire life.
How to Get Started with Book Reading to Your Baby?
Read (or play with) a colorful plush cloth book
Cloth books are great for young babies. They are usually made with soft fabric. They don’t have sharp edges like regular books do. They are lightweight, tear-proof, and come with various toys.
Don’t be surprised if your baby drools all over the book or tries to shovel the book into their mouth. This is an important part of exploring. Don’t worry, fabric books are easily washable.
The HenShe Cloth Books are made with 100% non-toxic soft plush material. The pages are made with plastic rustling paper. Babies love the sound of it! Each book also has beep balls inside. It can be used as a fun toy!
Point objects to your little one and read the names to her
Picking board books with rich content is always a headache for parents. You want the books to cover a wide range of topics, yet don’t cost you a fortune.
The First 100 Board Book Box Set has many different topics for you to choose from: First 100 Words, First 100 Animals, Number Color Shapes…they are great resources for babies to jump-start their vocabulary yet save you the trouble of selecting the right book.
Add music and sounds using a musical rhymes book
Babies don’t pay attention to anything unless it is fun, especially for little infants. Babies are more attracted to sounds, lights, and movements. That’s why a musical book is a great alternative to traditional books.
This VTech Musical Rhymes Book is more than just a book. It has piano buttons, a light-up star, and it can play music. It is a fantastic tool to entertain and engage your baby.
Besides educational purposes, the sliders and the wheels on the book can help promote a baby’s motor skills.
Jump start STEM learning by reading a STEM book for babies
STEM stands for Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics. Yep! There are science books designed just for your babies.
The Baby University Board Book Collection consists of four books: Quantum Physics, Rocket Science, General Relativity and Newtonian Physics.
They are written in a simple and engaging way, combined with colorful and eye-catching pictures. While your baby is getting an early start on science topics, you may also get to learn something new, too!
4. Interact with Your Baby by Trying These Fun Science Experiments Together
Aren’t you curious about the progress of your baby’s development? You can also turn your interaction with the baby into entertainment for yourself. Use your baby as a research subject for some cognitive and behavioral tests. Of course, these activities are fun and completely safe for both of you.
This book provides hands-on guidance on how to re-create scientific studies to assess your baby’s motor, language, and behavioral skills. It covers babies from 0-month-old to 24-month-old.
How to Get Started with These Baby Experiments?
Follow the instructions on the book (each experiment takes about 10 minutes)
This book shows you how to re-creates some popular scientific studies done on babies to assess their cognitive, motor, language, and behavioral development.
It gives you interesting ideas on how to engage with the baby, more than making weird high-pitched sounds or singing the same songs over and over again.
Through the experiments, you get to learn more about your little bundle of joy. Occasionally, their cute or silly reactions may make you laugh out loud.
5. Interact with Your Baby by Playing with Toys Together
Parents can be playmates and share a toy with their babies, too!
Rather than trying to look for some one-way entertainment, just forget your identity as an adult, and treat yourself like a baby. Grab these toys and play with your best friend together.
How to Get Started with Playing Toys Together?
Go fishing together during bath time
Turn the baby’s bath time into a fishing trip!
This baby bathtime Fishing Toy Set has six colorful floating toys and a fishnet. These floating fish can squirt water when squeezed. And the sea lion and tortoise can make cute noises. Some of them also turn to a different color in warm water.
You can be an instructor to show the techniques of “fishing”. Once your little one manages the skills, you two can have a little fishing competition!
Play some music and have a small concert
Music is always entertaining for babies. If they get bored pressing those keys on their own, it’s time for you to jump in and be the musician.
The RenFox Musical Mat is more than a crawling mat. It is a piano keyboard that can also play eight different instruments: piano, violin, accordion, horn, xylophone, oboe, guitar, and flute.
You can play with it by stepping on it, rolling on it, or crawling on it. This toy helps promote the baby’s hand-foot coordination and jump-start her sensitivity to music. Also show your little one your own music skills.
Build something together using baby blocks
Music is always entertaining for small babies. If they get bored pressing those keys on their own, let’s time for you to jump in and be the musician.
The RenFox Musical Mat is more than a crawling mat. It is a piano keyboard that can also play eight different instruments: piano, violin, accordion, horn, xylophone, oboe, guitar, and flute.
You can play with it by stepping on it, rolling on it or crawling on it. This toy helps promote the baby’s hand-foot coordination and jump-start her sensitivity to music. Show your little one your own music skills.
6. Interact with Your Baby in the Water
It’s no secret that babies love water. After all, they used to spend almost 10 months of her life in water. The good news is that water play can benefit your little tot by strengthening her balance and overall physical coordination.
However, your little one is too young to play with water alone. Therefore, you will be her first playmate whether it’s in the bathtub, a water sprinkler, or a pool. In fact, interacting and exploring water together also helps your child improve her communication skills. Plus, adults enjoy water just as much as a baby does.
How to Get Started with Water Play with Your Baby?
Get a baby float and chill in the pool
At this age, your little one won’t be able to learn to swim yet. But she can definitely start practicing kicking water. You will be surprised how much she loves splashing water with her tiny legs and hands.
A great pool float can safely hold your baby on the water and provide her with the necessary shade to shield her from the sun. Some baby floats such as the SwimWays Float Activity Center also have plenty of toys to keep your little one entertained.
It is important that you stay close to your baby when using floating toys. Do not leave your baby unattended when spending time in the pool.
Have some fun playing with a water table
Going to a pool is nice but it’s subject to your access to a venue and the weather. If you’d rather stay at home, there are many other ways, too.
A kiddie water table can offer a lot of activities with water. You can use them both indoors and outdoors. Of course, your little one should be able to sit or stand in order to enjoy the activities on the water table.
While you demonstrate to your little tot how to configure a water path or show her different types of water movements, she will be mesmerized by what she is seeing while feeling proud of her mommy’s magical tricks.
7. Interact with Your Baby by Dancing Together
Music is a powerful tool to boost the ambiance. Little babies are born with the ability to appreciate music. As a matter of fact, your little one will be jumping and rocking her body to the melody when she is about 9 months old. Better yet, music can also improve a baby’s brain responses to melodies and speeches.
Once you put on upbeat music, you will also feel the urge to swing your body to the beats. Why not have a dancing party with your little gal? You can simply hold her in your arms and gently swing your body. Or you can hold her on your shoulders and practice your dance moves. If it’s too tiring, you can get a baby carrier so that your hands can be free. That way, you can even guide her arms to do some fun dancing tricks.
How to Get Started with Water Play with Your Baby?
Carry your little one and wave her arms to the music
Of course, you can do freestyle and carry your baby while dancing, but you will have sore arms in only a few minutes. Especially if your little one is chubby.
Using a baby carrier to hold her can set you free of the pain in your arms, shoulders, and lower back. Additionally, you will be able to hold her arms or legs to guide her movements.
Music is a powerful thing to lighten up everyone’s mood. Happy baby means happy mommy and daddy!
Dance for your little one using hand puppies
Another way to interact with your baby is to dance for them. Yep, besides being a parent, we also have to learn to be good entertainers.
If your baby doesn’t appreciate your dance moves (a pat on your shoulder), don’t take it personally, you can fix this by adding some fun toys.
Baby Shark is all the rage nowadays because of its catchy music (or annoying music to us). You can wear this Baby Shark Hand Puppy to attract her attention. Plus, you can control the tempo with your hand. Pretty cool, right?
8. Interact with Your Baby through Outdoor Activities
Staying outdoors provides lots of ways to interact with your baby. It also gives your little one the chance to observe nature and breathe in the fresh air. On top of that, outdoor play helps promote your little one’s motor skills and helps her sleep better at night. As a matter of fact, parents prefer to let their babies sleep outdoors in some European countries because they believe that their babies sleep better.
There are tons of things you can do with your little one outdoors, whether it’s in a park, on the beach, or in your backyard. Here are some ideas for outdoor activities that you and your little one can do together:
- Picnic together in a park and blow out some colorful bubbles to entertain your baby.
- Chillax on a beach and let her play with the sand.
- Take her to the backyard at night and show her the stars.
- Walk her in a park and let her touch the leaves and flowers.
- Take her to a playground in the park and let her watch other kids play, or put her on a swing
Finally
There are many ways to interact with babies. At first, it may feel a little awkward as it may look like one-way communication. However, once you start engaging your baby and learn to play with her, you will find tremendous joy and happiness. All you need is time, some fun toys or tools, lots of patience, and a pinch of creativity. Happy bonding!
Dr. Pierrette Mimi Poinsett MD is a pediatrician with over 30 years of experience including 19 years of clinical practice. She is active as a medical consultant, serving as an advocate for infants, children, and adolescents with disabilities, chronic illnesses, learning differences, and behavioral issues.
