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Infant Aerobics

Can Exercise Make Your
Baby Smarter?

By Teri Brown

According to Zurn, babies come into the world helpless but preprogrammed to interact and adapt to their environment. "They are using their brains from the moment of birth, if not before, and unless they are in situations of extreme sensory deprivation (organic or environmental) it's hard for me to even think of an infant who isn't using his or her brain full tilt," she says.

But can infant exercise lead to maximum brain development? Zurn is less sure and believes more research is needed to make that connection anything more than conjecture.

"I don't know of any research that would tell us what the brain growth potential of a given infant is," Zurn says. "This makes it difficult, if not impossible, to determine just which (and how much) experiences with the environment will lead to maximum brain growth."

But Zurn does point out that babies are in constant motion. She gives the example of a baby's search for food. First, she roots around searching for nourishment and begins to build neck strength. This strength gives her more control over her future searches, which in turn helps her make the connection that her motions can bring relief from hunger.

Janet Doman, director of the Institutes for the Achievement of Human Potential, an international nonprofit organization devoted to early childhood education, has spent most of her life working with brain-damaged children. She says the single most mportant thing for parents to understand is that the brain grows by use. It is a process that can be stopped, as it is by severe injury to the brain. It is a process that can be slowed, as it is by an environment of deprivation. But most important, Doman says, it is a process that can be speeded.

Want to see more?

• Tummy Time: On the Back to Sleep, on the Stomach for Play
• Baby's Gotta Move! How Movement Affects Baby's Brain Development
• Let's Get Physical: The Importance of Getting Your Toddler up and Active
• Check out our Article Library.
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