How babies learn, how we can help, and why less is more

by Anya Dunham, PhD

Understanding how babies learn can help you support your little one's innate abilities.

I am sure you know that early childhood is a very important period for brain development. A newborn’s brain is her least developed organ; it will double in the first year and reach 80-90% of its adult size by the time she’s 2 years old.¹ But it’s not only brain growth that matters; it’s what happens within it.

In this article, we will explore how babies learn, and what we, parents and caregivers, can do to help. Putting together this information – already there yet largely hidden in disparate pieces in many academic papers – was probably my most favourite part of writing Baby Ecology. There is a really good chance you might find what I am about to show you a bit surprising. It will also run contrary to what baby toy industry would like you to believe. Yet, it’s actually quite intuitive once you see it put together this way.

OK, let’s take a look.

Why early experiences are important

The part of human brain responsible for intelligence, language, memory, and creativity is called the neocortex. Recently, researchers proved what they had suspected for many years: no neurons are added to the neocortex after birth. In other words, all of the brain cells in the neocortex are formed before a baby is born.^2-4 It develops not by adding new cells, but by creating and re-organizing connections within itself.⁴

Childhood is when the majority of brain wiring happens: billions of cells are connected into networks, layers, columns, and functional areas in a process called blooming. Babies’ brains become more highly connected than they will be in adulthood. A typical 2-year-old has at least twice the number of brain connections she will have when she grows up.

That being said, each connection starts out relatively weak. Over time, connections that are used more are strengthened,^6,7 while those that are used less are gradually eliminated in a process called pruning. As Dr. Alison Gopnik describes in The Philosophical Baby, babies’ brains look like a map of old Paris, with many winding, interconnected little streets; in contrast, adult brains have fewer but more efficient boulevards and even highways.⁸

Does this mean we should choose intense enrichment activities for our babies and toddlers so they grow more connections during the blooming phase of brain development? Studies say, no.^6,9,10 The number of brain connections appears to be largely under genetic control. Blooming can get disrupted in extreme circumstances like severe malnutrition, toxin exposure, and chronic stress,⁶ but under normal circumstances experiences do not affect the number of connections.

In other words, deprivation disrupts blooming, but enrichment does not enhance it. Experiences do, however, affect connection strength, ultimately determining which ones stay and which ones get pruned out. So what matters is not how much baby is exposed to, but what the events or activities are and how she experiences them.

So what, then, helps babies learn new things and strengthen those brain connections?

How babies learn and what helps their learning process

I put this part into diagrams just in case you’re a visual learner like me!

1. First, babies make observations

At the core of any learning is the ability to pay attention and notice new things. To fully notice something, we must detect something new, separate it from everything else, make sense of it, and store it in memory.

Let's say, a baby detected bright colours in a tree. He then visually separated something (a bird), figured out its basic shape, and remembered this observation in some way: 

See those little watering cans? I’m using them to show what helps this 4-step process of making an observation:

• Sound sleep helps with the first and last step. It’s easier for a well-rested baby to stay calm and regulated when he’s awake so he can detect new things around him; when he goes to sleep again, his experiences are integrated into memory.^11-13 (I like Dr. Avi Sadeh’s analogy here: a baby’s brain is like a librarian who gets a chance to carefully organize books in his care only after the library closes for the day.)
• And for the two steps in the middle, less stimulation is actually better than more. Calmer environments — less background noise, less unnatural movement, less visual clutter — help baby separate new sounds, sensations, and sights from everything else and make sense of them.¹⁴

Being rested and not overstimulated is especially important for young babies, but continues to matter through the first year and beyond.

2. Next, babies combine observations into patterns

Once our hypothetical baby had a chance to observe birds a few times, he adds up these observations and figures out a pattern:

Essentially, babies, like scientists, place events they have repeatedly observed into categories, and then they use these categories to predict the outcomes of future events. For example, by about 5 months a baby usually learns that when she drops something, it falls down.¹⁵ It will take her years to label this as gravity, but she’s discovered a pattern about her physical surroundings. Babies begin understanding that liquids and solids behave differently around 6 months,¹⁶ and they gain a sense of object transparency around 8-9 months.¹⁷

It’s easier for babies to see patterns when they have opportunities to move around freely and to observe natural events in stable, predictable environments where they see the laws of physics play out again and again. And, of course, babies notice patterns not only in their physical environment, but also in how people around them behave and interact, what events follow each other, and how they feel. For example, a baby may learn that when Mommy says “I’ll be right back” and goes into another room, she’s still nearby and always comes back in a minute; that when food gets dropped, it falls down and he can no longer eat it; and when he looks at a book with Daddy, it will soon be time for bed.

3. Patterns + surprises = learning

In our example, the next time baby sees a bird, he is not surprised: his brain tags this predicted experience as “usual,” integrates it into existing knowledge, and stops paying attention to it. But when his experience is unusual — for example, he sees a kite! — he cannot easily fit this observation into his existing knowledge. Because of this, his brain pays special attention.¹⁸

To recognize surprising events, babies benefit from interacting with supportive adults and from exploring new objects safely and freely on their own.

• Positive interactions help babies learn new actions and words, especially when adults actively support what babies are interested in. A study showed that when moms routinely play with their babies in a positive but less stimulating way (allowing babies to lead and not tickling or excessively repositioning them), babies show neural activity indicative of stronger early brain development.⁷
• Exploring new things safely and freely on their own — for example, manipulating toys and play objects with different textures, weights, and shapes or simply watching natural events like a ray of sunlight travelling across the carpet — helps babies understand the world around them and develop mastery for more goal-directed play in later years.¹⁹

Creating environments for learning

Bringing it all together, these are the 5 elements that help babies learn:

1. Sound sleep
2. Not too much stimulation
3. Seeing natural events in a stable, predictable environment
4. Interacting with supportive, mind-minded adults
5. Free exploration

What stands out in this list for you? For me, three things do:

• None of this requires formal teaching or structured activities
• None of this requires purchasing anything
• What is needed is our thought, intention, time, and loving presence

Instead of only focusing on educational toys and experiences, we can put effort into creating the environments that support our babies’ innate drive to learn – like good gardens that can support a variety of plants with unique needs and unique strengths (More on this.)

These articles can help you create such environments in your home:

How to create a gated “yes-space” to foster free exploration
Are you practicing mind-mindedness?
The best baby activities may not be what you think
Understanding baby sleep cycles is key to sound sleep

Let me know if you have questions or things to add, via Contact Form, Instagram, or Facebook! 

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Warmly,

Anya

Hi! My name is Dr. Anya Dunham. I'm a scientist with a PhD in Biology, an award-winning author, and a mom to three young kids. Here and in my book, Baby Ecology, I analyze the research on baby's first year to find the optimal nurturing environment — the (usually wide) range of good options — to help you choose what works best for your baby and your family. Let's find the answers to  your new parent questions that are too complex to google. 

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