How Important Is The First Year? Surprising Facts New Parents Don't Know

This post is sponsored by ZERO TO THREE, however, all opinions expressed below are 100% my own true opinions. 
 
While I was pregnant with Mila all of the books I read told me that the first 3 years of Mila's life were important for her brain development but none of them told me that the first year was probably the most important.  ZERO TO THREE describes this as The "Missing" First Year


As a young & new mom, the amount of information that is out there is definitely overwhelming and you can never tell if what you see on the internet is true. Sometimes you don't find the good information until way after the baby is here. I myself wish I had found this website a lot sooner because there are so many good topics they discuss and they show you what real parents have said on these topics. The "Missing" First Year topic was one I felt like I needed to share because I felt like this isn't too widely shared, or known. I know that I thought Mila was too small for reading in the first year, how was she going to pay attention to what I was saying but now I know that the earlier you start the earlier you develop that habit and spark an interest in it. Read about 5 Ways to Build Babies’ Language and Communication Skills from Birth.
Did you know that as early as 4 months your baby can read your facial expressions and tone of voice? For some reason, I didn't think it was until 6months until they can start understanding emotions. After reading the information on What's Going on In Your Babies Brain I realized that I really did underestimate how much newborns are taking in and how much information they're processing. Knowledge truly is power, I am so grateful for resources like this because whenever we decide to go for baby number 2 we'll be armed with all of this knowledge and be more cognizant of how our emotions affect the development of our little one. 

Even as Mila gets older it's important for us to really understand how our emotions affect her, and to show her healthy ways to express and communicate her emotions as well. 

ZERO TO THREE's mission is to ensure that all babies and toddlers have a strong start in life. They build community capacity by offering resources to parents, training a wide range of professionals who work with babies and families and educating policymakers who write laws and regulations which impact early childhood development. Share your stories with ZERO TO THREE & sign up for more information and monthly tips, tools, and story-sharing opportunities.