Even before they're born, your baby's brain is busy making connections. Literally, the neurones or nerve cells are making new links with each other all the time. A newborn baby has about fifty million connections or synapses and by their first birthday, that's multiplied to a thousand million.
All the senses fine tune themselves as your baby grows and language skills are developing right from day one as well.
The brain develops by wiring together connections between whatever baby sees and hears. So the more you keep chatting to them about the world around them and repeating the names of things they can see, the more you're actually shaping the way their brains form.
Brain connections that keep getting used get stronger and stronger, but connections that aren't used die away. So keep talking to baby to help build and grow the strongest brain connections you can.
Did you know that connections between babies' brain cells are being built even before they are born?
These continue to build after birth, and fast! You can help with this through play and interaction.
Image caption, Even before they're born, your baby's brain is busy making connections between cells.
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