What are some things I can do with my 9 month old to make her more smarter?

Question

Im completely out of Ideas!!! Here is our schedule....

- Wake up/Bottle time/breakfast

- Back down to sleep

- Wake up/ Bottle/TV time )Baby einstein DVDS Nothing else

- Activity center in walker time

- Playpen time

-Back down for a nap

-Bottle/lunch

-TV TIME- Baby einstein DVD

-Walker

?????????????? what else???? i NEED ideas to help my daughter learn...? What do you do?

Answer 1

more smarter? You or your baby?

Answer 2

Talk to your baby. Read books to your baby. Take your baby out of the house and explore. Try playing with different textures and colors of things. Basically play with your baby. Get in a play group. I have seen lots of kids learn better when they are in a group of other kids already doing stuff.

Answer 3

Ugh, thanks Johnny's Mommy. I was thinking the exact same thing.

Now to answer your question...

You can ditch the Einstein dvds. They have been shown to hinder language development, not help it. Try reading or singing to her instead.

Answer 4

ditch the TV time and get out the books, babies LOVE books!!! Even if you just have those big carboard books, or books that have different textures in the pictures.

You could get a shape sorter thing and let her play with the shapes. Tell her everything you do, like if you go out for a walk and you see a bus, stop get to her level, point and say hey look a bus! do this with everything, a plane, a coca cola truck, a dog, whatever you see.

  

Answer 5

First off, no more baby einstein DVDs, they will do nothing for her except keep her "entertained".  Also, an activity center isn't going to stimulate her much either.  She needs to be on the floor playing.  Approximate mile stones for her age (keep in mind all kids are different) would be rolling both ways, sitting up unsupported and being able to transition to all fours for crawling.  Some babies at this age also start pulling up on furniture.

Ditch the walker, activity center and dvds and play on the floor with her.  Also, like the other people said - read to her.  She doesn't have to sit still for it but just hearing you read to her while she plays will help develop her language skills - I also recommend you work on your own grammar (more smarter).  Coming from the South is not any excuse and I'm sure that will set off any moms from the South who speak proper English.

Answer 6

Ditch the baby einstein they have not been shown to make a difference.  If you want to use them to buy yourself 15 minutes of peace to take a shower or cook then go right ahead but don't think they will make your child smarter.

What does make a child more intelligent:

1) INTERACTION with a loving caregiver

2) Smart parents.  You should take some continuing education and brush up on your English (more smarter? You know that's incorrect don't you), math, science, and other skills.

3) Get out of the house and socialize.

Raising a Smarter Baby Part 1 - Basics

http://www.minti.com/parenting-advice/64...

10 Ways to Make Your Baby Smarter

Start Today - These Things Are Easy

http://www.associatedcontent.com/article...

SMART FROM THE START

http://www.askdrsears.com/html/10/T10570...

http://www.mothersclick.com/node/14530

upporting my previous post (http://www.mothersclick.com/blog/and...)... a new study reported by Reuters and conducted at the University of Washington, is now showing that not only do all of those "genious" videos and DVD's not make our kids smarter, they may actually have a negative effect.

According to the authors, overusing recordings marketed to stimulate brain development, might end up hindering their vocabulary development. Researches found that babies' time watching these videos takes away from parent or caretaker time, therefore they decreasing that all important human linguistic experience. And time does matter, "The bottom line is the more a child watches baby DVDs and videos, the bigger the effect."

http://www.time.com/time/health/article/...

ed by Frederick Zimmerman and Dr. Dimitri Christakis, both at the University of Washington, the research team found that with every hour per day spent watching baby DVDs and videos, infants learned six to eight fewer new vocabulary words than babies who never watched the videos. These products had the strongest detrimental effect on babies 8 to 16 months old, the age at which language skills are starting to form. "The more videos they watched, the fewer words they knew," says Christakis. "These babies scored about 10% lower on language skills than infants who had not watched these videos."

It's not the first blow to baby videos, and likely won't be the last. Mounting evidence suggests that passive screen sucking not only doesn't help children learn, but could also set back their development. Last spring, Christakis and his colleagues found that by three months, 40% of babies are regular viewers of DVDs, videos or television; by the time they are two years old, almost 90% are spending two to three hours each day in front of a screen. Three studies have shown that watching television, even if it includes educational programming such as Sesame Street, delays language development. "Babies require face-to-face interaction to learn," says Dr. Vic Strasburger, professor of pediatrics at the University of New Mexico School of Medicine and a spokesperson for the American Academy of Pediatrics. "They don't get that interaction from watching TV or videos. In fact, the watching probably interferes with the crucial wiring being laid down in their brains during early development." Previous studies have shown, for example, that babies learn faster and better from a native speaker of a language when they are interacting with that speaker instead of watching the same speaker talk on a video screen. "Even watching a live person speak to you via television is not the same thing as having that person in front of you," says

Answer 7

Take away the DVD's and replace them with books, pots and pans, measuring cups, balls, music, etc etc etc etc.

Answer 8

I'm from the South as well and I have good grammar so please - don't generalize...  anyway - I'm sure your baby will be smart if you just continue what you're doing.... don't worry too much about how smart your 9 month old is....  

Answer 9

Seriously?  She's an infant--she doesn't need TV at all, and it is strongly advised that you don't let her watch any at this age.

I don't see any time on your schedule where you are playing or interacting with her.  Stimulating her senses through touch, sound, and sight is what is going to stimulate her brain more than passive activity, like parking her in front of the TV or putting her in a playpen.  Get down on the floor with her.  Play with her.  TALK to her, and even start reading to her.  Use a normal voice, and speak to her with normal words.  She might not understand everything you say, but she is listening.

Take her for walks, or take her to the playground and push her on the baby swing.  It will be good for both of you.  Point out the things you see, and tell her what they are, using nouns and adjectives.

And if nothing else, don't say things like "more smarter" in front of her.

EDIT (To OP):  I don't see what being from the South has to do with anything.  It's not as though people in the Northeast, Midwest, and Western states have the market cornered on good grammar, and to insinuate otherwise is an insult to all southerners.

EDIT (To OP):  I tried to reply to your other post, asking why people give replies that have nothing to do with your question, but it was deleted.  Here was my response:

Okay, just relax.

I think the reason people pointed that out to you in that particular instance was that you were asking how you could make your child "more smarter." Some of the posters just picked up on the obvious irony of that. It isn't as though the issue of your grammar was entirely unrelated to the question you asked.

Part of being perceived as smart and educated is using proper grammar. And since that's obviously what you want for your child, you could set a good example for her by working on your own grammar, so that when she learns to speak and write, she is learning properly. I think that is the spirit in which most of those comments were made.

Answer 10

Read to her daily and make her watch older kids movies  

Answer 11

Ok, I have to say it because it will drive me nuts if I don't... "More smarter" isn't correct english.  

Ok.  I feel better now.

Baby Einstein DVD's will do nothing to stimulate her learning.  Read to her, talk to her, etc.  But putting her in front of a tv with a DVD isn't going to help.  Just because Baby Einstein's brand says it helps, doesn't mean it actually does help.

Answer 12

You should definitely read to your child as often as you can. My 19 month old begs for stories now.

Also, take your child for walks and point out various things in the neighborhood. When my son was much smaller, we pointed out the green trees, the blue car, the white mailbox, etc. Now he has a very big vocabulary. We still point out things to him and he picks them up very quickly.

I don't think the others are trying to be rude, but if you want your child to be well-spoken and well-educated, you should speak properly to her. I'm from the South, too, but I use proper grammar. Good luck!

Answer 13

Babies should not be watching t.v.  Even baby einstein.  Do a little research and every reputable child development specialist will tell you children before the age of 2 should not be watching any t.v.

You can't make your daughter smart.  You can however be a good influence.  Read to her.  Spend time talking to her about what's around.  Babies that are verbally stimulated will end up being better communicators.  

Take her for walks in the neighborhood and talk about the houses, trees, animals, etc.  This will teach her MUCH, MUCH more than baby einstein and you get quality time with her.

Answer 14

-Take a walk in the stroller or a bike ride with a trailer

-Go play at the park (in the swings, in the sand)

-Build towers with soft blocks and let her tear them apart

-Read books together

-Sing and dance together

-Spread out a blanket and surround her with toys

-Make rattles out of water bottles and with pasta inside

-Play with a ball

-Play in the bathtub

-Practice walking

-Join a playgroup or a gymboree class

-Let her play with pots or plastic containers

....

Just play with her and talk to her.  The possibilities are endless.  You don't need anything fancy.  At this age, they love to play with anything.  My baby loves to chase a water bottle around.  It entertains him for at least 15 minutes!

Answer 15

I'm really not trying to be rude but I know this comment will come across that way.  You might start with working on some grammar yourself.  More smarter?  I think parents have to lead by example.  The best gift my parents ever gave me was an extensive vocabulary and a good grasp of the English language.  It's helped me in my professional life more than words can say.  

Answer 16

I agree with Johnny's Mommy, about the grammar and the videos.  Baby Einstein is probably ok every once in a while, but she doesn't really need it.  Play with her, sing to her, talk to her, take her places, show her things, go for walks, read to her, etc.  She'll learn by experiencing the world for herself.    

Answer 17

That is a lot of tv for a baby, even if it is baby einstein. She's 9 months old, read to her, talk to her and show her things. Don't sit her in front of the tv.

Answer 18

Read aloud at least 20 minutes a day. Too many parents don't take the time to read out loud to their babies. I used to read a story or five as I fed her a bottle. She is now three and cannot get enough of trips to the library or new books.

And talk to her as if she were a friend your own age. Not saying you should swear and complain to your kid, but there is no need to just use baby talk. Relate the world to your child. The more you talk about the world that surrounds you, the more your child will understand.

Answer 19

What on earth is "Playpen Time?"  How does that help her learn? What happens during playpen time?  Looks to me like your baby doesn't get a lot of floor time. s/he is either in a chair being fed, in an exersaucer, playpen, crib, walker .... Can s/he sit up on thier own? Crawl?  if so, put some colorful toys out and watch him/her play ... engage and show how things work.  Go for a walk and point out things like tree's and birds and squirels. When my daughter was that age she loved measureing cups (still does) and pots and pans ... Listen to a lot of music.  Music stimulates the brain - Try some classical, Jazz even Rock!

I know many have said it, but that's way too much TV. A little should be fine, but I'd keep it to well under and hour per day.  At 9 months our daughter would watch about 5 minutes of the Backyardigans (she loved the theme) and it was right back to the play room.

Do you have a dedicated space in your home for play? If not, it's a good idea to. Someplace safe where you keep books and toys etc (without TV).

I think people are mentioning the "more smarter" thing because it's ironic, that's all.

(Ironic: coincidental; unexpected: It was ironic that the asker of this question used improper English while asking how to make her infant smarter)