Welcome to the My First Five Years Blog. Here you will find all sorts of information, ideas and activities that will help you to support your child.
Together with our friends at Bloomsbury, we are bringing you a monthly book bundle that you can enjoy with your child or children.
Amy Borg, our guest blogger, shares her advice on how to make a long car journey far more bearable.
When you prepare for the birth of your baby, you might enjoy shopping for tiny babygros and outfits, and carefully folding them away as you wait to meet your baby. It can be hard to imagine how quickly your little one will outgrow their first set of outfits, and their second, and even their third!
You’ll hopefully know by now that here at My First Five Years we are all about play. But you might be surprised to know that play is definitely not just for children. There are many scientific studies that have researched the importance and power of play for all ages. Dr Stuart Brown, a leading researcher on play, says that “we are built to play and built by play,”[1] and according to Scott G. Eberle[2] (editor of The American Journal of Play), “We don’t lose the need for novelty and pleasure as we grow up… play brings joy. And it’s vital for problem-solving, creativity and relationships.”
I’m Cath, one of the My First Five Years content team. Before joining My First Five Years I taught under-fives for 25 years, so my working life has been filled with play. At My First Five Years, we are all about information for parents supported by research, so what does the research tell us about playing with our children?
I am sitting in our front room, half-dressed as a princess (I cannot fit the costume over my head properly so it is currently looking like a synthetic, glittery straitjacket for misbehaving grown-ups). My three-year-old is serving me plastic cake from a small red plate. I say serving me, often he is insisting that I put the grotty-looking thing into my mouth and when I resist, he shouts toddler obscenities at me. He’s like a very pushy parent (?) and I am counting down the minutes until I can escape and make a cup of tea, or put the washing away, or do anything other than another second of this role play.
Last week was baby communication week, with a focus this year on listening to newborn babies.
Before having our baby, I had fully intended to breastfeed. It was really important to me, I had breastfed before and knew the benefits. But two weeks and numerous extra visits from the midwife later, I realised that, actually, the most important thing was that our baby was fed.
Getting started with breastfeeding can be difficult, and we are sure that you would have heard (or even experienced with a prior baby) some horror stories about breastfeeding going wrong. Below are some tips and some useful information to get your breastfeeding journey started on the right boob (ha ha, see what we did there!).
The Lullaby Trust has restated the importance of following safer sleep guidelines in response to news reports about a new study which investigates possible causes of Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS).