How much interaction is beneficial for a newborn baby's development?

Question

I have a 2-month-old baby and my wife and I take care of him together. As he grows, his sleep time is decreasing. Sometimes, due to our schedules, we want him to sleep, but the baby remains awake and appears to desire more interaction from us. Will increasing our interaction with the baby be helpful for his development?

Answer 1

Yes, the more interaction you and your wife have with your child, the better!

Babies are learning at a phenomenal rate, and the more stimulus they receive, the more they are able to pick up about the world around them. Studies have shown that there is a link between parents reading to young infants and reading habits:

Shared book reading at 4-months was not predictive of later expressive language, but it was related to shared book reading at 8-months, indicating a reading habit can be established and persist until the infant is more ready to benefit educationally from shared book reading.

Increased interactions with your child help teach the infant to recognize you and your wife. These interactions will also lead to your child giving their first true smile sometime over the next few weeks, and trust me: that is not something you want to miss! :)

Touching and massaging your child regularly can have significant benefits.

Even though you aren't going to see huge levels of response from a 2 month old, the more you interact, the better you will become at recognizing your child's body language and other cues as to whether they are happy, content, hungry, uncomfortable, or just plain bored.

Answer 2

I voted for the answer by Beofett above because it includes great information. I would simply add that you can give your child attention even while you are getting other things done simply by narrating what you are doing. Speak to him as though you fully believe he understands everything you say (they usually understand far more than they can express back, and even when they don't it is engaging their little brains and helping them learn language along the way). Include questions occasionally and pauses for him to have a turn. When he responds with "goobleck goblah" you can respond with the things like, "wow! really?" if you wish which introduces him to the rythm of conversation as well as language.

As you do things around the house and talk about them (whether it is changing his diaper, or chopping carrots) he is learning the sounds that combine to form words and later the nouns and verbs especially that you use most. Additionally, it will help you give him the time and attention he needs while still getting your daily tasks done.