Playing with My Infant

By Sinem Özen Canbolat

Playing with My Infant: All you need to know about development-boosting “Play”

Playing with My Infant was first published in Turkey in 2014. The first publication sold out in forty days. It is currently one of the best-selling childcare books in Turkey. This is the first book of its kind, which explores developmentally appropriate skill- building games to play with infants (newborn to 6 months old) and also guides parents in establishing effective and consistent communication with their babies. The book provides play activities in order of development and offers parents a checklist to evaluate development in the following areas: motor development, cognitive development, language development, social- emotional development. PLAYING WITH MY INFANT is not only a book which consists of play activities. It is also a guidebook for parents to understand their babies and to build a multi-dimensional relationship with them.

While a few other books have been written on playing with infants, no one book has done all of the following:
- Playing with My Infant offers parents comprehensive information on: Why to Play? How to Play? When to Play? Where to Play? What to Play? Other books have focused on only one or a couple of these topics.
- Playing with My Infant, unlike other baby-play books, provides in-depth information about the development of the baby and helps the parent get to know her/his baby. The book shows the parent how to develop strong communication with the infant. Further below is an example of a diagram which is available for each of the play activities in the book.
- The 101 play activities described in Playing with My Infant systematically differ from other books. The activities are organized into 6 groups beginning with the first month, going up to the 6th month. They are also categorized by developmental contribution to the baby: physical, cognitive, lingual and social-emotional. Parents know that the quality of time spent playing with their babies directly contributes to the development of critical skills and abilities in the baby.
- The book also comes with a toy list as well as a checklist to track infant development.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Sinem Özen Canbolat
• Release date: Jan 3, 2019
• ISBN: 9780463612026

Sinem Özen Canbolat

Sinem Ozen Canbolat is a Developmental Psychologist with a focus on infancy. She provides consulting services to parents on the following issues: Parent-infant relationships, structuring the ‘feeding-activity-sleep’ cycle of infants, supporting the development of an infant’s ability to fall asleep on their own, tracking an infant’s development with tests and supporting their development with play. She was among the international sleep consultants of the Family Sleep Institute, the IACSC (International Association of Child Sleep Consultants), is a member of the Mother and Baby Health Foundation, Infant Mental Health Association(TR) and a participant of infant observation groups guided by the Tavistock Clinic (UK). As an accomplished sleep consultant, Canbolat has developed a novel sleep training method which promotes a secure and attached relationship between mother and infant. She has also developed and tested a scientifically based Playing with My Infant Toy Set, designed for infants [0-6 months of age]. She has a blog named yeoynauyu.com (eatplaysleep.com). The Turkish version of her book, "Playing With My Infant" is one of the best sellers among all parenting books in Turkey.

Book preview

If this book had been published when my sons were born, I would have been glued to it.

Regina Röttgen, Chief Editor, Alternatif Anne

I believe your book is a very important and valuable tool in correcting a huge mistake we make by placing a secondary importance on psychological nutrition our babies after their physical growth.

Armağan Oğuz, Pediatrician

I am 25 weeks pregnant. Until now, I have read a few books on children’s developmental psychology, but with your book I was hooked even before I was half way through. It’s not just a book on play; with this book I have learned more about child development than I did with the others I read. The language is very simple, the clear and explanatory information is terrific.

Miray Artagan, Reader

My baby is 17 months old now, and we have a wonderful world of play and its foundation was laid with the help of your book. I truly learned a lot from this book...

Bilge Kızılkaya, Reader

Playing with My Infant

Complete with a toy list and a checklist to track development

101 Developmental Play Activities from Birth to 6 Months

Why to Play? How to Play? When to Play? Where to Play? What to Play?

All you need to know about development-boosting Play for your infant in five questions

& 101 Developmental Play Activities from Birth to 6 Months

Complete with a Checklist to track the development of your infant and a Toy List to aid in development from birth to 6 months!

Sinem Özen Canbolat, Developmental Psychologist

Copyright 2018 by Sinem Özen Canbolat

This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgements

Foreword

Reading This Book

Chapter I

Why to Play?

Playing is much more than keeping the baby busy

Play will enhance the bond between you and your baby

Play helps prevent the loss of a high number of brain cells and strengthens the connection between them

By playing, you encourage your baby’s development

Play increases your baby’s self-awareness

Play makes your baby calmer

Play nurtures the creative side of your baby

The parent who learns to play will be able to deal with, even prevent, potential problems when the baby goes through early childhood

Play is the cornerstone of academic success

Chapter II

How to Play?

Synchronize with your baby and spend quality time

You as producer, your baby as director

Mirror your baby

Offer play activities appropriate for your baby’s level of development

Offer simple activities to your baby

Your baby learns by imitating

Your baby likes to repeat

Announce transitions to your baby

Give your baby artistic freedom

Appreciate your baby

Set up few and applicable rules

Prepare the setting according to your baby’s needs

Do not constantly pick up after your baby

Television is not play

Establish your play style from first month on

The color of your energy affects your baby

Chapter III

When to Play?

Play is closely associated with sleep and nutrition

What is an appropriate cycle?

How much time to spend on play in each month?

Signs of Your Baby’s Needs

Sensible parenting

Chapter IV

Where to Play?

Go out!

When the playing field is the house

Vary the settings

Chapter V

What to Play?

Month 1

Physical Development

Mental Development

Language Development

Social-Emotional Development

Month 2

Physical Development

Mental Development

Language Development

Social-Emotional Development

Month 3

Physical Development

Mental Development

Language Development

Social-Emotional Development

Month 4

Physical Development

Mental Development

Language Development

Social-Emotional Development

Month 5

Physical Development

Mental Development

Language Development

Social-Emotional Development

Month 6

Physical Development

Mental Development

Language Development

Social-Emotional Development

List of Play Activities for 0-6 Months

List of Toys

Development Follow-Up List

References

About the Author

Acknowledgements

I would like to express my gratitude to the many people including

Ada and Barış Ege, my deepest and most infinite loves, my wonders, my children who made me write this book and let me experience what is written,

My dear husband Enver, my love, my unequaled happiness, the man who lives life lightly as in a play, radiates the same light around him, one who has been always there for me both mentally and spiritually at every phase of the book, made me change my mind every time I was ready to give up, and given me strength at every step I take,

My dear parents, who have always supported the new in my life, encouraged me, loved me and known how to show it, snowballed with us in the hallway with the snow they carried in buckets when we were too sick to go outside, who endeared for us play and learning life through play,

And my brother and sister as well as my friends who always stood with me in this process, helped me and made me say so glad I have you.

Foreword

I got the news of my first pregnancy at a consulting firm while working with parents and their children who suffered from pervasive developmental disorders, developmental delays and social-emotional problems. Until then, I had always been interested in children’s development and had shaped my educational path in this direction. What I knew about babies was limited to developmental information contained in course books. However, once my daughter Ada was born, I realized this was not nearly enough. I began to read and research more extensively about her sleep, schedule and activity times. During this process, I noticed there was so much information that I could reach but other parents could not, things they thought I wish I knew all this while raising my baby; everything could be so different. In other words, there was so much information that was not compiled and organized for parents.

There were both local and foreign resources as well as some training seminars. Yet in these resources, babies’ wakeful times, which are just as important as their sleep and feeding patterns, was dealt with either from a one-directional perspective or independent from the rest of the babies’ life. Some of the articles focused only on the kind of play activities, but they didn’t have a systematic structure that would allow parents to track development. Others mentioned why this was an important issue yet failed to offer an array of developmental plays in detail. In many of the resources, topics such as sleep, nutrition, caring for the baby—areas where parents experienced the most problems—were addressed, and the topic of play was offered as a summary at best. There were also books or seminars about how to play with children, but not with infants.

However, as far as babies are concerned, all this needs to be dealt with at the same time because how you play with your baby affects the development of your baby just as much as what you play. The way you play might maximize the benefit of the activity or render it completely useless. Besides, while you are learning how you are supposed to play, you also gain insight about many topics including understanding your baby, parenting attitudes, your baby’s emotional state and learning style, and so on. Knowing why you play, on the other hand, will give you the vision and strategy about the things you need to pay attention to while raising your baby. Additionally, babies need to have sound sleep and feeding patterns so that they could be receptive for learning. Rather than being merely games, play is a way of learning and bonding, a perspective to life and self, a basis paving the way for future academic success, a bridge to work off energy to connect nutrition and sleep. Hence, play had to be approached within the framework babies’ entire day, doing what other resources failed to do until now.

For this purpose, I set out to write this book once I organized all I had learned, experienced and jotted down with Ada. With my second baby, Ege, I both continued to write and had the opportunity to practice what I had written until then. Now Ada and Ege are no longer babies, and with the expertise I have gained thanks to them, the book Playing with My Infant along with workshops and seminars are ready for new babies and their parents.

As I had my affairs in order, ready to set out, I observed how little the topic of play was addressed during the first six months of infancy, how it did not receive due attention or how play disappeared in the chaos that befell on the parents’ lives upon the arrival of the baby whereas the steps taken during the early months, bonding between the parent and the infant, communicating with the baby and supporting the development of the baby mattered very much to the extent to influence the rest of