Parenting can feel overwhelming at times. You want what is best for your child, but through the exhaustion, overwhelm, and social pressure, how do you ensure they are going to develop properly, and have all they need to grow during this busy time of development? The answer is incredibly reassuring. The MOST IMPORTANT thing your child needs to grow a healthy brain is you, and your ability to connect with your new babe.

Building that Relationship

You’ve likely heard that in the first few years of life, babies and children are building neural connections at an astounding rate. In fact, more than 1 million new neural connections are formed every second!

Early experiences affect the quality of that brain architecture by establishing either a sturdy or a fragile foundation for all of the learning, health and behavior that follow.

But what influences this growth?

And how are those neural connections created and strengthened?

Your baby's brain develops through use — by your baby interacting, observing and doing things. By interacting with attentive caregivers.

It’s through interactions and experiences with loved and trusted adults that babies begin to make sense of the world. Scientists call this back and forth, between parents and children, “Serve and Return.”

Background info - This two-minute video explores the science behind serve and return, including how connections are made in a child’s brain in response to serve and return interactions with an adult. Serve & Return Interaction Shapes Brain Circuitry

Here is how you can participate in this crucial aspect of your child’s development

Learn how you can support your baby’s thinking skills from 0-12 months. Below, find a couple resources that give step-by-step instructions on how to respond to a child’s serves in a way that builds their brain.

5 Steps for Brain-Building Serve and Return

This step-by-step guide shows how serve and return interactions unfold, and gives practical advice on how to recognize a child’s serves and respond. (It’s easy!)

How-to: 5 Steps for Brain-Building Serve and Return

Watch serve and return in action! For those who prefer to view instead of read, this video walks you through the five steps of serve and return with examples of real children and their caregivers.

Introducing Solids and Establishing Healthy Eating Habits

On Monday, 10/21, Dr Glynn will be visiting our New Parent group at 12:30 to share information about introducing food to our infants. Feeding your baby can be a fun process of introducing the many different flavors and textures of whole foods.

The goal is to emphasize healthy eating and to teach parents how to positively shape their child’s taste preferences. A growing body of research shows that babies’ palates are influenced before birth. Maturing in the “amniotic soup” infants taste the foods their mothers eat. This process of “sampling” foods continues for breast-fed children, as mother’s milk takes on the flavors of what she consumes.

Our little ones love tasty food as much as we do! Learn about adding seasoning with herbs and spices, garlic or onion, & get some guidance on how to get started feeding your little one solids.

Suggested donation: $15. No one is turned away for lack of funds.

Learn more

Nicole Glynn, MD grew up in Santa Cruz California where she was first introduced to the idea of integrative medicine. Dr. Glynn’s father, a pediatric dentist, influenced her to become a pediatrician. She received her bachelor’s degree in Combined Sciences at Santa Clara University and before attending medical school was involved in research at the UCLA Center for Human Nutrition and Stanford University Center for AIDS Research. She earned her medical degree from Creighton University and completed her pediatric residency at UCSF Benioff Children’s Hospital Oakland. During her residency, she provided care to many underprivileged children and became especially curious about the growing pediatric epidemics of asthma, eczema, and obesity. After becoming a mother her interest in nutrition, supporting breastfeeding, and integrative medicine deepened. During her pregnancy, she made changes to “green the womb” as her awareness of the impact of environmental toxins on fetal development became more personal.

Dr. Glynn and her family live in San Francisco where she has practiced at a variety of locations including Kaiser, Noe Valley Pediatrics, and Stonestown Pediatrics. Dr. Glynn joined GetzWell Pediatrics in part because she loves taking more time with patients and their families, building strong relationships and providing personalized holistic care.

She is a board-certified pediatrician and a member of the American Academy of Pediatrics. In her free time, she enjoys hiking, spinning, yoga, barre classes and nurturing her young daughters.

Learn more about Dr. Glynn and why she loves helping patients at GetzWell Personalized Pediatrics in her video.