In a collaborative effort between the John P. Ellbogen Foundation, the Ruth R. Ellbogen Foundation, the Zero to Three Better Baby Care Campaign, and the WYCF, a task force has released the You and Your Baby English/Spanish book to help new parents better care for their infants.

“Our goal for the book is to encourage quality interactions between children and parents in order to increase language, cognitive, social/emotional, and physical development that will in turn build confidence in children and parents and strengthen families,” said Dr. Margaret Cooney, a member of the task force. “This is accomplished by focusing on interactions during daily routines. Routines include feeding, playing, changing, bedtime, and hello/goodbye transitioning.”

Mary Garland, ED of the JPE Foundation and secretary of the RRE Foundation, said, “Some of the most important investments the Ellbogen Foundations can make are in our state’s youngest citizens. We need to do what we can to ensure quality care and education, accessible health services for children and support systems that strenghten families. You and Your Baby is a wonderful gift for new parents.  It helps them connect with their babies in meaningful, fun and developmentally critical ways.  We are very excited about this book, and most appreciative of those who have worked to put it together.”

Research findings by child development specialists reveal the critical importance of quality interactions between adults and young children during daily routines for healthy development. While early childhood professionals are learning about this best practice, parents are sometimes left out of the loop. Parents are the children`s first teachers and will benefit from a resource developed and designed especially for them. If parents and providers engage in quality interactions with young children everyday, this can have a positive impact on children`s development. In fact, the daily interactions for the first five formative years have a great influence on children`s readiness for kindergarten. 

The book outlines suggested activities for daily routines that create a feedback loop between parent and child and can allow personalized interactions responsive to the unique development of each child. It requires the parent to observe the child`s responses, even when she`s a tiny infant, making adjustments that bring more joy to both parent and child during daily routines.

The book has received a tremendous response; over 4,500 copies have been distributed to date.

The WYCF served as the fiscal sponsor for this project. The Wyoming Community Foundation is a statewide nonprofit organization with total assets in excess of $45 million. In 2008, the Community Foundation awarded more than $2.5 million in grants to nonprofit organizations across Wyoming. The mission of the Wyoming Community Foundation is to connect people who care with causes that matter to build a better Wyoming.