Human babies are born with incredibly sophisticated brains that look exactly like adult brains, even if they are four times smaller. Then, in the first three years of life, the infant’s brain will triple in size. According to neuroscientists and child development experts, the baby’s brain malleability is at its peak during this period of lightning growth, setting the stage for future learning and development.
Charles Nelson, a professor of pediatrics at Boston Children’s Hospital and a steering committee member of Harvard’s Center on the Developing Child says that, at this critical time, a lot can go right or wrong for a child: “Most aspects of brain development after birth depend on experiences occurring during this sensitive period.” Without those experiences, early development can go awry, and the longer the baby’s brain is deprived from them, the weaker becomes the hope to recover.
Picture: Baby Olivia (ChildUp.com)
