Hello, I am looking to start teaching my 3 month old daughter a few different things, like swimming, reading, and math. I’m a first time mom so I don’t have much experience with setting up a daily schedule for my baby. I’m also a single mom who find it hard to make ends meet sometimes, so I’m looking to try to teach her on my own without having to buy all these crazy expensive programs. I like things to have structure but I know with a baby that is not always going to happen, but I would love to find even a basic routine to start getting her into.
Was just curious as to what your daily routines are from the time you wake up to the time your little one goes to bed, or some suggestions you may have for me for ways to teach my baby girl without having to spend a ton of money.
Physical activity stuff - Doman’s basic physical program for a 3 month old doesn’t really require any $$. The basic crawling/tummy time can be done on any smooth surface - perhaps your basic laminate flooring or if you only have carpet a yoga mat or the large children’s rubber like mats (usually with letters or #'s). Try providing this opportunity to your baby after each nap or diaper change.
The basic balance program mostly requires you to carry/hold/swing your baby is different positions and motions. Again, no $$ required and can be done a few times a day and it only takes about 2-3 minutes at a time. You might try ‘scheduling’ it before each feeding.
Thankfully to teach swimming at this age you don’t need to spend $ on a pool. Most of the swimming ideas can be implemented in a shower/bath once a day when you would normally provide your baby a bath/shower anyway.
I didn’t start with the physical program, but if I had another child, I would worry about the physical program first, the math second, and language third. I have some other ideas, that hopefully I can write about later.
Good Luck to you and remember every little bit of love counts!
Do you have Doman’s Physically Suberb book? If so, your baby would fall somewhere between Stage I and II and maybe even a little of stage III - no $$ required and very little time.
Checklist for Stage I is:
Mobility Program - It says 10 floor opportunities day. [Sounds like a lot, so remember that even 1 or 2 is better than none. I scheduled mine after diaper changes and after baths, but still only managed about 5 a day]
Manual Program - It says 10 sesson of hanging from your thumbs a day (should hang about 10 seconds per session) [I accomplished some of these by incorporating it into every time I lifted my baby up for something, for a diaper change, or out of the carseat I would lift her up by my thumbs and then help her hang]
Balance Program - It says one each 15 basic activies (15-45 seconds per activity). [I didn’t buy the book until my dd was over 18 months and by then it was too late to do most of this. If I had know I might have tried to incorporate this into the small amount of time during the day when she was awake and happy].
The 15 activies are:
Cary Baby Around, Move Baby through space, Rock in a rocking chair, Rock a pillow, Pitching, Accelerating on a mat - forward, backward, right and left, Horizontal rotation clockwise, counterclockwise, horizontal spin prone, left, right, pitching up and down, rolling, and trot about with your baby.
I found that the easiest way for me to do the balance activities was in a dance. I would put a song on and then do the backward, forward, rocking, spin, etc. I just did them as I danced instead of on a pillow exactly the way Doman outlines, but it still gave her the motion, and was more fun for both of us.
I would also add that I think the eyesight activities are important at this stage. Big bold clear pictures are very interesting - can be of anything.
Also learning to grasp and use her hands. You can give her different kitchen utensils (spatula, spoon, cup, etc to explore) Also anything with moving parts inside of it. I took little plastic containers or plastic jars and put beans or rice or colored jelly beans in them and let my daughter shake and explore.
Hello! I envy you a bit just getting ready to start out. It is so exciting to begin teaching your baby. You can teach your baby most things for a very little investment. I like to think of it as a mindset, rather than a schedule or a program. If you have the mindset that language and mobility are important to you and your baby, you will notice many opportunities throughout your day to encourage growth in these areas.
We have just released a new product called A Guide to Teaching Babies to Read. You can get it as a download or order a hard copy. It is 80 minutes of thorough instruction on how to teach your baby to read. It demonstrates the 8 different methods you can implement as well as how to stick to a schedule and how to make your own materials. It is loaded with information and will save you lots of time and money trying to figure these things out on your own. It will answer every question you might have as well as show you how to do it.
The downloadable version is on special now for only $7.95 and the hardcopy is only $14.95. Believe me, it is packed with information. I know because when I began this adventure I had many questions that took years to find the answers to. It answers all the questions a newbie may have.