👶Let’s Talk Sensory Milestones: TOUCH 🖐️

Why is ‘Sensory Development’ important?

A baby’s sensory experiences across their first 1000 days (conception to 2 years old) are crucial in terms of influencing brain development and behaviours across their lives.

Our brains receive information from our different senses from conception onwards. This helps us build a picture, and make sense of, both our bodies and the world around us. This is typically* an unconscious process and the more positive sensory exposure we have, the better our bodily systems work together. This leaves us feeling safe and secure to further explore, grow and learn.

So in this series I will look at our 8 sensory systems (that’s right, 8, not just the commonly talked of 5): how they develop and how we can promote positive sensory experiences.

Let’s start with…. Touch!

This is an absolutely essential sense in terms of early day bonding between you and your baby which is why, certainly in the UK, a ‘golden hour’ of an hour of uninterrupted skin to skin contact with a newborn is encouraged.

But let’s look at where it all begins….

Sense of Touch In the Womb:

Baby’s sense of touch begins with sensory receptor development in the face, mostly on the lips and nose and then continues around the body.

• By 11 weeks baby is making tiny moves which gives them touch sensory feedback. The lanugo hair even provides baby’s first form of ‘baby massage’ as they move around the womb.

Sense of Touch From Birth:

• Newborn:

- For a newborn baby, skin-to-skin contact is a vital part of bonding, communication and comfort.

- Baby will responds to touch with grasp reflex. If you stroke the palm of a baby’s hand it will cause the baby to close their fingers in a grasps which lasts until baby is around 5 to 6 months. A similar reflex in the toes lasts until 9-12 months.

• 2 to 3 months: Baby can distinguish between hard and soft items.
• 4 months: Baby will likely reach out to touch things.
• 5 months: Baby will starts to grasp, lift up and hold objects.
• 4-6 months: Baby will be using all those sensors around their mouth to make sense of objects so don’t be alarmed by them constantly putting things to and in their mouth, it’s perfectly normal- just make sure things within their grasp are baby safe!
• 7 to 8 months: Baby notices difference between flat and 3D objects.
• 12months: Baby will be exploring all sorts of textures  but less with their mouth, more with hands.

So now we know how touch is developing, let’s look at how you can promote and stimulate baby’s sense of touch.

Activites to stimulate touch sense at home

•  New Born:
  - Stroke the palm of baby’s hand.
  - Baby massage
  - Bath time
• 2 to 3 months:
  - Place different hard and soft items in baby’s hand.
• 5 months (+-):
  - A bowl of water with toys inside will provide a lot of fun!  ( always supervise closely when playing with water)
• 6 months (+):
  - Interactive toys are great around now.
• 7 to 9 months:
  - Baby will enjoy touching objects that have parts that can be grabbed, twisted or spun, such as handles. Objects that are colourful or have moving parts, such as levers, doors or wheels (baby safe of course!).

Wriggle and roll activites:

The Wriggle and Roll classes and activities are carefully designed to provide a variety of sensory stimulation.

We are continusouly using touch in our classes:

- To interact with baby with cuddles and holding them.

- Different textures through play:  sensory scarves, balls, soft toys, hard instruments

- We incoroproate aspects of baby massage in most of our classes, either briefly in a song or longer calming massage sections.

Some of our songs paticularly focusing on touch include:

- The Farmer and His Dog.

- Weekday Tickles

- The Itsy Bitsy Spider

* IMPORTANT NOTE:

All baby’s are different, they develop on their own timeline AND also in terms of how they respond to sensory stimulation. Whilst one baby may LOVE being massaged, another may show dislike or disinterest. This guide is to give you a general idea but your baby may do things a little later than the timeframes given or sooner. Always go at the ability, and comfort level of your child. If they don’t like a particularly sensory activity then stop but perhaps try again at another time as just sometimes it can be the first time they experience something that is surprising.

If you are unsure of anything in terms of the development of your baby and/or if any activity is right for them then always consults your health care team before proceeding. Sensory processing disorder (SPD) is a condition that affects how someone may process sensory stimulation which may mean that they are overly sensitive to stimuli that others are not. If you are concerned this is the case for your baby equally, consult a health expert.