Even when your baby is very young, it is important to talk to them and introduce them to you and your life. When you are dressing a small baby you can talk about the baby gifts people have given. You can talk about how you are putting on the giraffe sleepsuit that Auntie May gave them. Or you can tell them how grandma gave them the rattle you are shaking and show them their photograph in the special photo frame that another relative or friend gave.

You will certainly have visitors from your family and friends and on these occasions you can tell your baby that here is Grandma or Auntie May and start to link the things you have been saying with the wider family.

A small baby won’t understand the words you are saying, but over time as you repeat the same ideas and names, these will become familiar to a baby and as they grow they will come to recognise the names and eventually be able to associate the name to the correct person. Everything you are doing with your new baby is introducing them to the world they live in and all the things you say and toys you use to play with your baby are teaching them about the world.