4 Stages of must-have baby essentials for baby’s brain development

As a mom, it is so important to me to make sure my little baby’s brain is getting everything it needs to develop properly. I want my child to be healthy, smart, and even ahead of the game when it’s time to start schooling! If you’re a mom, I’m sure you feel the same way. So, I’ve made this list of 4 stages of must-have baby essentials for baby’s brain development that will give them a head start in life!

Content:

| Best essentials for newborn baby

| Best essentials for 3 months up

| Best essentials for 1 year old up

| Best essentials for 2 years old to 99 years old

Best essentials for newborn baby

Queebi pacibuddy

If you have a pacifier loving baby you've probably been through the painful experience of frantically searching for your baby's pacifier while your little love screams out in desperation for their lost soother. Search no more, there's a better way with Queebi. Queebi’s huggable designs are sized for little hands and textured for touch and exploration.

Read more: Queebi the next world’s most famous pacifier holder

Why Queebi?

Queebi is a vibrant brand of baby products

Founded by Wendy, a young mother who deeply understands the importance of providing safe and comfortable products for babies. She has devoted herself to creating a series of high-quality products that bring endless happiness to both babies and parents.

Simple, lightweight objects like Queebi work well for babies discovering cause and effect. Bonus points if the toys have tags or flaps that make them easy to hold.

Queebi has wide range of products

Not only bedtime products, Queebi also providing mealtime range and playtime range products.

Best essentials for 3 months up

Baby’s mealtimes can be a stressful part of the day, but it can also be lots of fun and a chance to share some learning with your baby. It’s important your baby has time to experiment with their food, to squish and squeeze, as well as taste everything they want to.

Grabease silicone spoon and Grabease utensils set

Children explore through touching. Mashing food supports their sensory development. Let them play with their food. You can engage with them by asking if the food feels good, is it also yummy?

And we know scooping is hard. Start with working on hand mouth connection by preloading the Grabease spoon with food for your lil one.

Read more: History of Grabease - What make Grabease so special?

Why Grabease?

Grabease is a utensils also a teether

Grabease have designed the step one - silicone spoon to be safe and soothing to chew for our children’s developing teeth and sore gums. While there's plenty of things we don't want to chew on in their early teething stages, this spoon is one of them!

Read more: Self-feeding utensils, Grabease or Bumkins silicone chewtensils?

Grabease for a proper pencil grasp development

Step two utensils, the first patented ergonomic safe self feeding utensils recommended by occupational therapists. The ergonomic handle fits comfortably in babies' natural hand grasp, making the hand-to-mouth motion easier! Using this set will also help strengthen their fingers while encouraging proper pencil grasp development.

Best essentials for 1 year old up

MOLUK Plüi and Boi

It’s not just bath time—it’s math and science time! Babies love to pour water while your little one is happily playing in the tub, she’s also learning cause and effect, how gravity works and observing the volume of water, and these are early science skills.

MOLUK Plüi Rain Cloud and Rain Ball

Both Plüi Rain Cloud and Rain Ball beautifully illustrates the cycle of water and magically turns kids into little rainmakers. The smart bath toy works like a pipette and makes simple physics tangible and fun. The Pluï Cloud is sure to inspire wonderful stories. It delights and surprises and quickly becomes an indispensable accessory during bath time. The lower half of Plüi Rain Ball is made from elastic silicone rubber is wonderful to touch and offers exciting new play possibilities. Push the feet in Plüi Rain Ball to create a big water fountain. Pluï encourages children to experiment and explore while stimulating their imagination and senses.

Read more: Recommended toys to develop child's skills for the future!

Plüi Rain Cloud

The lower half of Plüi Rain Ball is made from elastic silicone rubber

Plüi Rain Ball

MOLUK Boi

Boi floats and dances in and out of the bathtub. Is it a penguin, a duck or some other bird? We let the children decide. No matter how you spin or roll it, Boi always gets back upright again and continues to bravely explore the world.

Best essentials for 2 years old to 99 years old

The multi-award winning Bilibo is widely regarded as one of the most innovative and versatile open-ended toys. Deceptively simple and magically attractive, Bilibo's iconic shell shape and bright colors immediately appeal to children. Bilibo arouses curiosity, engages the imagination and playfully trains basic motor skills and balance. Both boys and girls find unlimited ways to play with Bilibo – using it to rock and spin in, hide under, sit on, tote with and peek through. Bilibo provides hours of fun, indoors and outdoors - all year round.

Why Bilibo?

Bilibo engage your child's curiosity, imagination and physical abilities

Kids think it's a turtle shell, a rock, a stepping stone, a rocking bowl and so much more, and parents think it's an awesome way to develop their kids' strengths. Crawl under, climb on top, walk across, rock inside or spin endlessly inside this magical plastic shell. Use at home, at the park, at the beach, in the water, and even in the snow, Bilibo provides hours of stimulating play.

Here are more about benefits of playing with Bilio

• Great for individual play or group activities

• Ideal for kids with sensory processing disorder and autism

• Helps with motor planning and balance training

• A good source of vestibular input

Photo from Instagram

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“The work of education is divided between the teacher and the environment.”

— Maria Montessori

Grabease 2021 new product: Big Kids Utensils Set and Cup Set

You must know Grabease - the first infamous ergonomic utensils brand. After launching toothbrush, all-over bibs, and silicone bowl last year, this year Grabease has launched utensils set for bigger kids and sippy & straw convertible cup set. In this article we will give you a quick introduction about these 2 new comers.

Spoutless sippy & straw convertible cup set

Includes clear cup, silicone sippy lid, straw, cleaning brush & mini open cup

Grabease created a cup that offers 3 options of use, as we never know what will suit our little one best. Some do great with a straw, while others prefer sippy cups. Grabease cup set helps baby transition from one stage to another.

Grabease consulted with occupational therapists and feeding specialists to come up with the perfect cup with toddlers' perspectives in mind.

Clear cup is designed to allow baby to see what they are drinking. When your little one is able to see the liquid in the cup, visual feedback helps them understand that the liquid is pouring into their mouth as they tilt their cup. The textured pattern enhances grasp sensory awareness, and when your little one is able to see the liquid in the cup, visual feedback helps them understand that the liquid is pouring into their mouth as they tilt their cup.

The food grade silicone lid and straw are resistant to all bacteria, odors, and stains. Use the included straw cleaning brush to thoroughly clean the straw after use.

Product basic information:

• Available colors: Teal, Blush, Gray

• Suitable for 6+ months

• BPA-free, phthalate-free, lead and pvc-free

• Dishwasher safe.

Stainless steel fork, knife & spoon set

aka big kids utensils

As Grabease family grew larger, they were asked to develop the next stage of ergonomic utensils. Grabease 2.0 includes a thinner handle with grooved finger guides to encourage proper pencil-like grasp. The trio set includes a fork, spoon, and knife with a curved tip for safe self-use.

Grabease big kids utensils set is ergonomically designed to safely nurture independence in little ones ready to meet their next self-feeding developmental milestone. Using this set will also help strengthen their fingers while encouraging proper pencil grasp development. Recommended by occupational therapists and feeding specialists, Grabease utensils are the perfect learning tool for baby led weaning and beyond!

Product basic information:

• Available colors: Teal, Blush, Gray

• BPA-free, phthalate-free, lead and pvc-free

• FDA-tested safe

• Suitable for 18+months

• Dishwasher safe.

How to help my baby develop their pincer grasp?

It is thrilling to see your baby accomplish developmental milestones! While most parents look for common ones like ‘rolling over’ or ‘walking’, a multitude of them are cited by the American Academy of Pediatrics. Pincer grasp is one of them. According to Claire Lerner, “Getting the pincer grasp is one of the biggest keys to independence. Eventually, a child will use this grasp to do essential things like feed and dress herself and brush her teeth.”

Holding your finger also can shown your baby is developing pincer grasp.

What is the pincer grasp?

Basically, the pincer grasp is the coordination of the index finger and thumb to hold an item. It helps your little one understand how to pick up things. Once they learn to use pincer grasp or pincer grip, they can successfully feed theirselves with fingers and even can use a spoon. We use pincer grasp daily - when we're holding a pencil, buttoning a shirt, and picking up small objects.

Babies usually develop their pincer grasp between the ages of 9 to 12 months. As babies start to use the pincer grasp, it represents development of other fine motor skills that involve muscles in their hands, strength, and hand-eye coordination.

Source: Growing Kids

How can I help my babies when they developing pincer grasp?

We can help baby's progress by allowing them to play with (appropriate) small items and toys and letting them self-feed. Their pincer grasp can be developed as they play with toys that require them to squeezed, pushed together, pulled apart, picked up, etc. These actions later progress into ones such as painting, coloring, writing, tying their shoes, and other skills.

You might already know that Grabease's original ergonomic utensils are designed to develop children's independence. How exactly do they do that though? Well, one way is through their ergonomic handle, which is shaped and sized specifically to help develop your little one's pincer grasp.

Left side: stage 2 utensils for 6 months up ; right side: stage 1 utensils for 3 months up - made with 100% food grade silicone.

Pincer grasp activities for baby

• Play with blocks (read more about playing with blocks here)

• Turning pages of a book - start with board books and gradually introduce books with thinner pages

• Finger foods or you also known as BLW

• Any activity or toy that promotes squeezing or pinching movements

Pincer grasp activities for toddler

• Play board games (check more idea here)

• Play card games

• Playing with play dough

• Search and find sensory play activities (check more idea here)

• Peeling stickers

How is the pincer grasp and baby led weaning related? 

Good question - both involve hand eye coordination and babies can use the pincer grasp as they feed themselves when they pick up food and use their utensils. The pincer grasp does not need to be fully developed in order to start baby led weaning. Rather, baby led weaning is just another activity that can help your little one develop that skill!

Encouraging the pincer grasp skill simply means allowing the little explorer to investigate a lot with fingers. Let her enjoy touching and manipulating toys or household objects.

Read more: History of Grabease - What make Grabease so special?

Wondering which hand is the correct hand for baby to use?

Now is NOT the time for babies to develop a hand preference. Why? Because by learning to use either hand means baby is also using BOTH sides of her brain. Very young children often use both hands equally. Most children have a preference for using one hand or the other by the age of about 18 months, and are definitely right or left-handed by about the age of three.

We’re focusing on brain development (rather than developing hand dominance, typically seen closer to age three or even four) so parent proactively & encourage baby to learn to fork with both hands.

What happens after the pincer grasp development?

Once the pincer grasp is developed, grasping becomes precise. Babies explore more by shaking, moving, throwing, and rotating. Mouth is no longer their primary sensory preceptor. They use both the hands to determine the size, hardness, texture, weight, and other properties.

Pincer grasp helps in later activities such as writing, coloring with crayons, cutting with scissors, and so on. The child’s preference for using left or right hand emerges slowly, although it can completely develop by two or three years.

Read more: Baby essentials that is important for your children's development

Welcoming you to be part of BabyLux family, if you want to be baby products distributors but not sure where to start, drop us a message!

Modified from Grabease blog post.