Child Development and Early Learning

Supporting Information

Skin-to-skin contact and breastfeeding within one hour after birth helps babies achieve better growth and development and establishes contact with their mother.

Touch, hearing, smell, sight and taste are learning tools the child uses to explore the surrounding world.

Children's minds develop rapidly when they are talked to, touched and cuddled, and when they see familiar faces, hear familiar voices and handle different objects. They learn quickly when they feel loved and secure from birth and when they frequently play and interact with family members. Children who feel secure usually do better in school and cope more easily with the difficulties of life.

Exclusive breastfeeding on demand for the first six months, timely introduction of safe and nutritious complementary foods at the age of six months, and continued breastfeeding for two years or beyond provide the child with nutrition and health benefits as well as affection and contact with the caregiver.

The most important way children develop and learn is through interaction with others. The more often parents and caregivers talk and respond to the child, the quicker he or she learns. Parents or caregivers should talk, read or sing to infants and young children. Even if children are not yet able to understand the words, these early 'conversations' develop their language and learning capacities.

Caregivers can help children learn and grow by giving them new and interesting things to look at, listen to, hold and play with.

Babies and small children should not be left alone for long periods of time. This delays their physical and mental development.

Girls need the same amount of food, attention, affection and care as do boys. All children need to be encouraged and praised when they learn to do and say new things.

When the child is not growing well, physically or mentally, parents need to seek advice from a health care worker.

Teaching children in their mother tongue first helps them develop their ability to think and express themselves. Children learn language quickly and easily through songs, family stories, rhymes and games.

A child who has completed immunization on time and has been given proper nutrition has an increased chance of survival and is more apt to interact, play and learn. This will reduce the family's expenditure on health care, the child's absence from school due to illness, and the parents' loss of income when they have to care for a sick child.