Everything Your Baby Would Ask...

by Karmiloff, Kyra; Karmiloff-Smith, Annette

• ISBN13: 9781552979075
• ISBN10: 1552979075
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2004-02-01
• Publisher: Firefly Books Ltd

Summary

A delightful and informative reference.One of the most daunting adjustments for new parents is understanding their baby's mind. This is especially true when trying to determine the source of their infant's discomfort.Far from being helpless or passive, babies display extraordinary skills and capabilities that largely go unnoticed simply because adults don't know what to look for. Babies communicate in many ways including conveying anxieties and fears that parents can soothe.Everything Your Baby Would Ask is an enchanting and ultimately practical book that offers unique insight into what life is really like for a baby. Using a series of questions babies might ask if only they could talk, the book provides insight into the mind of an infant and documents the early months -- from the baby's point-of-view.Chapters include: My Life In Utero Being Born Relating to Myself and Others The Road to Language Learning to Move Around Learning to Use My Hands My Developing IntelligenceThe text is lively, charming and exceptionally informative, and includes the latest scientific research on how and why babies develop as they do. Color photographs and whimsical drawings appear throughout the book.Everything Your Baby Would Ask reveals what babies are thinking as they stare up at their mothers while feeding, babble away to themselves and play endless games of pull-myself-up-and-drop-back-to-the-floor. This is an ideal book for parents who want to understand and successfully meet their baby's emotional and physical needs.

Author Biography

Kyra Karmiloff is a writer and editor. This is the second book she has collaborated on with her mother.

Annette Karmiloff-Smith, PhD is a professor of psychology and a research scientist. She has lectured worldwide on her work on infant development and has appeared on a variety of television and radio programs.

Table of Contents

Preface

The Beginning of a New Life

My Life in Utero

Where does my food come from?

What are all these sounds I can hear?

Is there anything to play with in here?

What else do I experience?

Being Born What's it like being born?

How does my body cope on its own?

The Social World of the Baby

Relating to Myself and Others

How do I get to know myself?

How do I become a part of my family?

How do I get to know other people?

Looking ahead The Road to Language

How do I communicate without words?

How do others communicate with me?

How do I start speaking?

How do I learn more than one language?

Looking ahead

Learning and Intelligence

Learning to Move Around

How do I start to control my movements?

How do I change Position?

How do I get from A to B?

Looking ahead Learning to Use My Hands How do I grab hold of that toy?

How do I control objects?

Looking ahead My Developing Intelligence How does memory develop?

How do I explore my surroundings?

How do I make sense of the world?

Looking ahead Index

Acknowledgments

Table of Contents provided by Publisher. All Rights Reserved.

Excerpts

PrefaceHave you ever wondered what is going on in babies' minds before they can talk? What do they understand about the social and physical worlds? Is it all a complete mystery, or are babies born with some knowledge of what to expect? Is their life in utero totally passive, merely swimming around in the amniotic liquid until it is time to come out, or are they already learning something during their intrauterine stay? When do babies recognize their parents' faces and voices? How important is play in learning about the conventions of social life? How does the baby experiment with language and objects? These and many other questions are addressed in this book.Don't think that this is your typical "How to bring up your baby" book, however. You won't find advice on diaper changing or when to introduce solid food. Our aim is different and, we believe, much more crucial for understanding how your baby develops. We try to penetrate the baby's mind and guess at the questions babies might ask about themselves and their experiences if only they could talk -- to see the world from the baby's perspective. For if you are to be a confident parent, grandparent or child-carer, you need to understand how each baby gradually becomes an intelligent, independent individual.Each chapter of the book focuses on a broad area of infant development. The amusing question -- answer format (baby asks a question, we provide an answer) is followed by slightly more serious text, telling you about the kind of research that has helped us discover how babies develop. We have mostly concentrated on life in utero and in infancy, but at times we have added a "Looking Ahead" section where we felt it was important to explore how the behavior of babies gradually evolves through toddlerhood and beyond. We have also included dozens of suggestions for ways you can make your own amazing discoveries about your baby's development, as well as special features on the increasingly specialized workings of the infant brain. Imagine, your baby's brain is more active and consumes more energy than yours! And science now has techniques for looking at infants' brain activity.There can be huge differences between one infant's rate of development and another's, and the ages we give in this book are simply rough guides. Your baby will find his or her own schedule of development and you should only be worried if milestones occur well outside the age ranges we provide. Using "he or she" always sounds heavy, so we decided not to keep doing this in the rest of the book. But each mom and dad obviously cares about whether they have a boy or a girl and they certainly don't want their baby referred to as "it!" We opted for a compromise whereby we refer to the baby as male in one chapter and female in the next.Finally, a little about the voices behind this book. Your two authors were actually three: Kyra was expecting her first baby while writing this book, so we had a constant eavesdropper! And many years ago, Kyra was Annette's second baby. We have worked together before, but this is our first project as a fully fledged daughter-mother team. We both enjoyed the experience immensely and plan further joint books. At the end of writing not only have we not fallen out under the strain, but we've actually become even closer friends.The book is dedicated to Annette's four tiny grandchildren: to Misha, the baby son of Gideon and Kyra, born six days after we handed in the final manuscript; to Alexander and Nicholas, the baby sons of Enrico and Yara, Annette's elder daughter; and to Theia, the baby daughter of Paul and Clea, Annette's step-daughter. We hope that you will enjoy reading the book as much as we've enjoyed writing it.Kyra Karmiloff and Annette Karmiloff-Smith