Quantity vs. Quality: Prioritizing Your Baby's Needs

As parents these days, we have options available to us that previous generations could only dream about. Disposable diapers that hold a lot, disposal options we don't have to smell, baby food makers that cook several baby meals within minutes, and educational toys. We are living in the future!

More is not always better for babies. Technology has advanced to make caring for babies easier than ever, and marketing tells parents of all the things that could make life even more convenient. However, babies do not need flashy toys and high-tech gadgets. They need their parents.

New parents are bombarded with advertisements marketing the "best" toys, clothes, tools, and other items for their newborns. No wonder everyone thinks babies are super expensive! But when it comes down to it, babies need good, old-fashioned, face-to-face interactions with their parents more than anything else.

The Thrive 5: The Basics of Healthy Infant Development

Babies need five fundamental factors to develop healthily in their first year: good nutrition, adequate stimulation, neighborhood safety, positive caregiving, and regular sleep .

These five factors are essential to developing a baby's brain and social connection skills during his first year; and that development lays the foundation for his whole life . Let's take a look at each factor.

Good Nutrition

You may have heard that "breast is best" for babies. Breast milk is packed with all the wonderful nutrients your little one needs at her stage of development, plus antibodies to fight off illnesses . 

The goodness of breast milk is further compounded by spending precious time cuddling your baby, which provides a boost to you and your little one!

The first 1000 days are vital for a baby's development because, during that period, so much rapid growth occurs.

That is precisely why the USDA (U.S. Department of Agriculture) and the WHO (World Health Organization) strongly recommend at least 6 months of breastfeeding before introducing solids. However, breastfeeding and nutritious solid food are beneficial up to two years of age.

Though breast milk is best, breastfeeding your child is not always possible. In such cases, formula is acceptable. Formula contains plenty of nutrition but does not adapt to your baby's needs or supply antibodies.

Baby Food Quality Issues in the U.S.

The quality of solid food you provide your baby matters, but it isn't as easy to provide as marketing says. A 2023-24 study on baby food in the U.S. found that 60% of baby food sold in grocery stores failed to meet international nutrition standards for babies or toddlers .

About 70% lacked the recommended protein requirements, while 44% had gone overboard on sugar. Furthermore, the study found that 1 in 4 products were short on calorie requirements, and 1 in 5 had far too much sodium.

Pouches--the most convenient baby and toddler food option by far--ranked among the worst in meeting baby and toddler nutrient standards . How ridiculous is that?

So, what can parents do? One way to ensure your little one gets the quality nutrients she needs is to make the food yourself at home. This is far more convenient with baby food makers.

Moreover, stellar plastic-free storage solutions exist with the convenience of being dishwasher, microwave, freezer, and fridge safe. Check out our genuinely spill-proof .

With options like these at hand, you can make your baby's food for the week within 30 minutes or simply toss a portion of what you are cooking for everyone else into the processor.

Your baby's diet quality matters for development, so beware of options that seem too terribly convenient. Odds are that those super-convenient options will ultimately cost more.

Adequate Stimulation

Babies learn about the big world around them through their senses. They need lots of looking, interaction with others, language exposure, and interesting stimuli. However, that does not mean lots of music and flashing lights.

Contrary to popular baby product marketing jargon, babies do not need electronic toys that repeat the ABCs and 123s over and over. They need qualitystimulation that they can engage with. Of course, the best stimulation comes from playing and interacting with parents .

Other forms of stimulation should encourage focus and active participation rather than passively sitting and watching overwhelming waves of lights and sounds. Here are a few age-appropriate stimulating activities ;

• watching a bouncing ball

• sucking on clean, baby-safe objects

• touching a variety of textured objects

• spending time sitting with you outside

• going on a walk with you outside

• holding onto a rattle or other graspable baby-safe objects

• watching things move (fan blades, shadows, leaves, etc.)

• playing in water

• listening to music

The more you do with your little one, especially together in direct, playful interactions, the more your little one will learn!

Neighborhood Safety

Babies need to feel safe to develop well, and this starts in utero. A study on how a pregnant mother's feelings about neighborhood safety impact her baby's health, birth weight, and postpartum recovery revealed interesting suggestions.

Of the mothers who reported feeling often or always unsafe during pregnancy, 23% were more likely to have low birth-weight babies (5lbs 8oz or less), twice as likely to have depressive symptoms, and 10% less likely to attend more than eight prenatal care visits .

In other words, if a mother is scared and stressed by her environment, her mental health is impacted, which in turn seems to affect her baby's health in utero. Unsurprisingly, a child's environment likely continues to play a role in his development after birth.

The most extensive and longest-running study of brain development and child health in the United States suggested that children raised in disadvantaged neighborhoods (considering socioeconomic factors and neighborhood safety perceptions) had connections to smaller brain size and performance.

How safe you and your little one feel seems to have an impact on your baby's brain development. We learned from studies in the mid-1990s that adverse childhood experiences (any kind of abuse, neglect, or violence) can cause toxic stress, which increases the odds of having chronic health conditions later in life .

Clearly, creating a safe home environment for your baby—before and after birth—is crucial to healthy development.

Positive Caregiving

Babies need nurturing interactions with their caregivers, like physical touch, soothing, talking, feeding, and napping. Nurturing increases bonding, which is essential for little ones to feel safe. As we have already learned, feeling safe is necessary for healthy development.

Positive caregiving does more than make a baby feel safe. It helps lay the foundation for emotional and social health. Babies who know they will be held, fed, or cared for when they cry feel secure. Responding to your baby's needs builds trust!

Nurturing that trust creates a bond that helps your baby learn and express her emotions to you. Every time you respond to those cries for help or cries of discomfort, you reassure your baby that she is heard, loved, and worth taking care of.

Obviously, positive caregiving results in mentally and emotionally healthy and resilient kids!

Positive caregiving and bonding need to come from all caretakers in the home. So, dads, you are not off the hook! 

Regular Sleep

Believe it or not, your baby needs regular sleep. It certainly doesn't feel like it with so many wakeful periods at night, but the need is there! Sleep plays a ridiculously vital role in brain development.

Specifically, babies consolidate memories, process new information, and build neural connections for functions like thinking, learning, and behaving while they sleep . That's a lot of work while sleeping!

While in utero, your baby alternated between waking and sleeping, spending most of the time asleep. He even had four sleep stages, including a REM sleep period during which dreams could happen .

After birth, newborns are not accustomed to day and night, so their circadian rhythm must adjust over time. Moreover, that tiny digestive system needs to oust digested milk and refuel every couple of hours, so waking throughout the day and night is a thing.