Some basics:

~ Swaddle your baby…it’s organizing for him/her

~ Encourage looking at highly contrasted items, i.e. black, white, and red colored items or shiny items and/or mirror

~ Hiccups can be a sign of over stimulation…give your baby a break and time to regulate/”regroup”

~ You should encourage your baby’s “play” when they are putting fingers and safe toys in their mouths. This is how your baby learns about textures, sizes, etc.

~ Also, encourage your infant to hold and/or grasp toys/rattles in his/her left hand and then right hand (or vice versa) instead of favoring one hand. (Developmentally, your child will use one hand to hold onto an object, then both at the same time, and then will transfer items between his/her two hands. Early on, we want hand skills to develop in both hands, so do not worry about hand dominance for now.)

~ Allow your baby to be exposed to different positions throughout the day such as being on his/her back, side-lying, belly, and sitting in a supported position for play/interaction experiences, even if they are for brief periods of time (seconds to minutes). Make sure you are Supervising. 

~ Set up general routines. Know that your new member of your family will change this up a bit as his/her needs change and develop, but you can adapt. Feedings tend to structure you. You may want to consider incorporating bathing and a short story time each night.

~ Eye contact is very important! Set yourself up in a position that encourages and establishes eye contact with all of your interactions. Always be eye level – yep, even if it means squatting down!

~ Be animated

~ Sing songs, even if you make up your own…they’re often the best kind

A wonderful website to visit and reference is http://www.zerotothree.org