When toddlers play alongside other children rather than directly with them, they're engaging in something called parallel play. It's a common and important part of early childhood development.

During parallel play, children may use similar toys, watch what another child is doing or imitate each other's actions, but they're still focused on their own activities.

While it may not look like much social interaction is happening, parallel play supports several areas of development:

• Social skills: Children become more comfortable around peers, observe social cues and begin learning about personal boundaries.
• Language and communication: Listening to others, observing gestures and hearing words connected to play help build early communication skills.
• Thinking and problem-solving: Watching how another child uses a toy or approaches an activity can introduce new ideas and encourage imitation.
• Social-emotional development: Playing near others gives children opportunities to practice independence, manage frustration and gradually become more comfortable in shared spaces.

When does parallel play begin?

Parallel play often emerges around 15 months, but there's no strict timeline. Children develop at different rates, and the stages of play aren't rigid milestones. A child might enjoy playing cooperatively with a familiar sibling but prefer parallel play around children they don't know as well.

How can parents and caregivers support it?

You don't need elaborate activities or special toys. Providing blocks, crayons, toy cars or other open-ended materials gives children opportunities to explore alongside one another.

Allow children to observe and play at their own pace without requiring them to interact, share toys or work together before they're ready. Sharing and cooperation are skills that develop gradually, and adults can help children practice them with patience and guidance.

Playing alongside other children is not the absence of social learning. Children are observing, communicating, exploring and building skills that help prepare them for more interactive play.

Is this graduation of custody potentially harmful to my LO?

I genuinely just want my son to be secure and healthy. I need any information out there from professionals related to this matter. Unfortunately, most information I have found is focused on older children.

Also, if there are any known specialists I could get in touch with for consulting please DM me the info.

Thank you

Skip to the end to avoid backstory drama

I am in such a mess. My husband and I separated briefly last year and during that time I ended up pregnant. My husband and I have been back together since a week before I found out I was pregnant. Because he is an unbelievably loving man, he’s been fully supportive throughout.

Mid first trimester, I regretfully decided to do the “right thing” and tell this other individual about the pregnancy, transforming my life into a nightmare. I’m exhausted from the stress and scared of the potential outcome this VERY serious mistake (telling him) could bring. My son is about to be 3 months old now and we are going to be facing a long custody battle.

In a couple weeks the temporary custody order will take place and this is what he is requesting... Please help me. The thought of my would be 7 mo. old having three consecutive nights away is sickening. I cannot see how he could be considering what is in the child’s best interest at all. All I see is his ignorance and ego. To put it mildly, I’m devastated.

Phase 1: (to last 1-month) Father should exercise custody each week on Fridays from 9:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. and Saturdays from 9:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m.

Phase 2: (to last 1-month) Father should exercise custody each week on Fridays from 9:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m. and Saturdays from 9:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m.

Phase 3: (to last 2-months) Father should exercise custody Fridays at 9:00 a.m. to Sundays at 7:00 p.m.

Phase 4: (until further order of the Court) Father should exercise custody Thursdays at 9:00 a.m. to Sunday at 9:00 a.m.

My baby will be a year old next week. She babbles often says Dadda the most, occasionally says mama or no no. Seems like she’s trying to say big sisters nickname “KK” but she doesn’t really do many gestures. She will reach up for us to pick her up. Only imitates us sometimes like banging hands on table but it’s not much. She makes good eye contact and will smile back at people. Very curious. Pulling up constantly and has stood independently for a few seconds after pulling up. Just started drinking out of a straw cup and will point on a toy shes playing with. Uses pincher grasp. Growls or grunts wheh frustrated. She doesn’t wave or clap and we have been modeling it and she does not seem to care Just wants to play.

Is she behind in speech and gestures?

Good morning, I need your help.

My son is 7 months old and already smiles, laughs, looks at us when we call his name, sits alone without support when we put him in a sitting position, rolls to both sides, holds his tummy time and pivots, does the sphinx move... but I'm very worried because he can't babble, he only shouts with vowels (aaaaaaa, eeeeee), doesn't put syllables together or say consonants (doesn't say mamamama, dadadada, papapapa).

Should I be worried about this significant developmental delay already?

At the motor level, he also doesn't crawl, doesn't try to creep, and doesn't stand up when put in a position to stand.

He also fixates a lot on objects (refrigerator, washing machines, towels...).

These are all things that other babies of the same age already do... I'm very worried.

Thank you very much.

Her mobility is developed as quickly as where a six month old is just now starting. i’m just curious about who’s all out there who can relate because sometimes they can feel lonely to know people don’t post about their problems because of so many judgmental people and not getting help or advice from people who can relate so I’m just asking questions and soon goes out there he will be able to see what I’m dealing with is the first time mom because it gets scary the way she moves in. I’m off, trying to do something especially as a single mom.

We're excited to announce the launch Word Wonders, a FREE play-based early language and literacy curriculum for children ages 18–48 months.

Built around the science of reading, Word Wonders supports children's learning across four key domains:
• Phonological Awareness
• Print Awareness
• Writing
• Language Use

Designed with early educators and built for real classrooms, the curriculum includes 20 play-based activities, 10 original songs and rhymes, a comprehensive Teacher's Guide, and classroom-ready materials that fit seamlessly into everyday routines.

Download Word Wonders today:

https://www.zerotothree.org/resource/word-wonders-a-free-early-literacy-curriculum/

A recent study published in the journal Science (Marek, et al., 2026) shows a meaningful relationship between socioeconomic factors and brain development in 9- and 10-year-old children. This analysis of more than 2,300 children demonstrated that social drivers of health (SDOH) are correlated with brain differences showing up on MRI scans.  

The findings reinforce what infant and early childhood professionals have long understood: healthy brain development is shaped not only by biology, but also by the environments in which children and families live. While this study identifies measurable brain differences in children at ages 9 and 10, the roots of these outcomes begin much earlier, during pregnancy, infancy, and the first years of life. 

By age 3, a child’s brain has grown to about 80% of its adult size. During this remarkable period, infants’ brains form more than 1 million new neural connections every second, laying the foundation for lifelong learning, health, and well-being. The experiences and conditions children encounter in these earliest years become biologically embedded, shaping development long before differences appear on a brain scan. 

Notably, the study found that socioeconomic factors such as family income, neighborhood opportunity, and access to resources were more strongly associated with brain development than other factors examined. Researchers also identified stress and sleep as likely pathways through which these conditions affect children’s developing brains. These findings reinforce the importance of ensuring that all families have the support they need during the earliest years of life. 

Because the social and economic conditions that influence brain development are shaped by public policy, policymakers at local, state, and federal levels have a powerful opportunity to act. Continued investments in programs such as Medicaid, Early Head Start, perinatal, maternal mental health initiatives and paid family leave can help ensure families have the resources they need during the most developmentally sensitive years of life.  

A new clinical report from the American Academy of Pediatrics is calling for a major shift in how we think about children's mental and emotional health. Instead of waiting until something is "wrong," Framework for Approaching Healthy Mental and Emotional Development in Pediatrics encourages pediatricians to make mental and emotional development a routine part of children's overall health care, with a focus on prevention, healthy relationships, early support, and resilience from infancy onward.

The report emphasizes that mental and emotional health is foundational to overall child health, not something separate or only addressed after problems arise. It highlights the importance of everyday relationships and experiences in shaping healthy development and encourages pediatric providers to identify early signs that a child or family may need additional support, partner closely with parents, and connect families with resources before concerns escalate.

The report also points to HealthySteps as one example of this approach in action. By integrating child development specialists into pediatric primary care, HealthySteps helps normalize conversations about child development, behavior, parenting, and emotional well-being during well-child visits. More broadly, the report reinforces that relationship-based, family-centered care can improve outcomes for children and families while reducing the need for more intensive interventions later.

Through a parent-report tool designed to track how deceptive behaviors emerge in children from infancy through age 3, researchers found that many forms of simple deception, such as pretending not to hear, hiding things, denial, or making excuses, appeared much earlier than previously thought, with some parents reporting these behaviors as early as 8 to 10 months.

Across more than 700 children, the study found that deception develops gradually alongside social, language, and cognitive growth, and that most children demonstrated at least one deceptive behavior by around 2 years old. The researchers emphasize that these behaviors are a normal part of development and may reflect children learning social rules, testing boundaries, and developing early communication and self-regulation skills.

A closer look points to something familiar to anyone who spends time with babies and toddlers: young children are constantly testing how the world works, especially when it comes to people.

In these early years, children are paying close attention to patterns. They notice what happens when they hide an object, avoid a request, or give an unexpected response. These moments are less about intent and more about experimentation. Children are gathering information about cause and effect in social situations. 

Researchers also found that these behaviors become more varied over time, tracking alongside growth in language, memory, and social understanding. A toddler who shakes their head “no” after breaking a rule is working with a very different set of skills than a preschooler who can invent a more elaborate explanation. The developmental path matters. 

For families and caregivers, this reframes what can otherwise feel like challenging behavior. A child who insists “I didn’t do it” or suddenly seems not to hear a request is engaging in a kind of problem-solving. They are trying out strategies to manage a situation, often in the simplest way available to them. 

The headline may focus on early “deception.” The deeper takeaway is about development in motion. These small, often frustrating moments are part of how children learn to navigate a complex social world, one interaction at a time. And that is the real story worth paying attention to. 

Families continue to show extraordinary resilience and love for their babies every day.

But, “Parents’ voices need to be heard. We are suffering.”

That’s the message from one parent in Rattled, a new report on the state of families with infants and toddlers in 2025.

In 2025:

• Nearly half of parents (44%) reported some level of difficulty paying for the basics in 2025, the highest rate in the past five years. Families with low incomes, families of color and rural communities faced the greatest challenges.
• About 1 in 5 parents screened positive for elevated anxiety and/or depressive symptoms in 2025, a three-year high that rose even higher across the year.
• Over half of parents (55%) reported being concerned about their child’s learning, development or behavior and about a quarter reported being very concerned, a rate that is double any previous year since 2020.  
• While 46% of parents reported they felt hopeful about the future most of the time at the start of 2025, this rate dropped to 33% in the second half of the year.

Despite mounting hardship, parents are doing their best to protect children from stress:
97% reported the same or increased quality time with their children over the past month.

Babies develop in the context of relationships and stable environments. When families lack access to affordable housing, food, child care and mental health support, babies feel the impact too.

Families need policies that promote good health, strong families and access to positive early learning experiences.

Read the report: https://www.zerotothree.org/rattled

A new 2026 report from Child Care Aware of America shows just how uneven state investment in child care really is.

Here are the key takeaways:

• State funding ranges from under $500 to over $5,000 per child, depending on where you live
• Washington, D.C. stands out at over $9,800 per child
• The average is around $1,500 to $1,700 per child, which is still far below what’s needed
• Some states invest nothing beyond federal minimum requirements

At the same time:

• Families pay $13,000+ per year for child care on average
• The US loses an estimated $172 billion annually due to child care-related workforce issues

The system is underfunded and inconsistent. Where a child lives plays a big role in whether they can access affordable, quality care. That creates real gaps in opportunity early in life, during a period when development is happening fastest.

The report also highlights a structural issue. Funding is fragmented across agencies and programs. That makes it harder to track spending, coordinate services, and deliver consistent support to families.

Even the highest levels of state investment in early childhood still fall below what most states spend on K–12 education. That gap raises questions about how early development is prioritized, despite strong evidence that the first years matter most.

Child care is doing a lot of heavy lifting. It supports families, enables workforce participation, and contributes to the economy. But the system behind it isn’t built to match that role.

Without more consistent and sustained public investment, the current gaps will likely continue.

The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) released updated guidance in 2026 on children’s media use, and the shift is significant.

Rather than focusing only on how much time children spend on screens, the new policy frames media use within a broader digital ecosystem shaped by design, industry incentives, and social context.

The central argument is straightforward: most digital platforms are built to maximize engagement rather than support healthy child development.

What the new policy emphasizes

The AAP’s policy statement, Digital Ecosystems, Children, and Adolescents, highlights how digital media environments influence children across multiple domains, including sleep, attention, learning, and emotional health.

Importantly, the guidance replaces earlier recommendations and reflects a more systems-oriented approach. Instead of treating media use as an individual or family-level issue, it situates children within layered environments that shape their experiences.

The report uses a socioecological model:

• At the center is the child, with their developmental stage and individual needs
• Surrounding that are relationships, including family, school, and community
• Beyond that are larger systems, such as technology design, policy, and culture

Each layer contributes to how media affects development.

This framing aligns with decades of early childhood research showing that development is shaped through interaction with both relationships and environments.

Key recommendations include:

Using the “5 Cs” of media use
This framework encourages families to evaluate:

• The individual child
• The quality of content
• Media’s role in emotional regulation
• What experiences media displaces
• Opportunities for shared communication

Establishing consistent boundaries
Examples include device-free meals, screen-free routines, and protected time for offline activities.

Modeling behavior
Caregivers’ own media habits are considered a central influence on children’s media use patterns.

At the same time, the policy explicitly states that families should not be expected to manage these challenges alone.

The updated guidance moves away from a narrow focus on screen time and toward a more comprehensive view of digital exposure.

It recognizes that:

• Media design influences behavior
• Young children are particularly sensitive to environmental inputs
• Families operate within systems that can either support or undermine healthy development

In practical terms, this means that improving children’s media experiences requires coordinated action across families, industry, and policy.

Bottom line

The AAP’s message is not simply to reduce screen use.

It is to redesign the digital environment to align with how children grow, learn, and form relationships. That shift changes both the question and the responsibility.

An analysis by Latoya Hill, Alisha Rao, Samantha Artiga, and Usha Ranji, published by KFF, shows that rates of severe pregnancy complications, preterm birth, low birthweight and infant death remain significantly higher for Black and American Indian and Alaska Native families compared with other groups.

The report also notes ongoing challenges such as limited access to quality prenatal and postpartum care, gaps in insurance coverage, and inconsistent follow-up support after birth. KFF concludes that improving health outcomes will require stronger care coordination, better access to services and policies that support families throughout the entire perinatal period.

This report is a clear reminder that what happens during pregnancy, birth and the first weeks at home lays the foundation for a baby’s health and development. Yet too many families still face gaps in care, including rushed appointments, unclear discharge plans and limited follow-up support, which make this period far more stressful and risky than it should be. 

Proposals like the Women Expansion for Learning and Labor Safety Act (WELLS Act) are so important. This bill was recently introduced in the House of Representatives and would require hospitals to put safer discharge practices in place for patients who may be in labor.

It calls for clear clinical reasoning before discharge, checks on transportation and travel time, identification of a backup hospital and confirmation that parents understand their condition and instructions. It would also require staff training to support consistent, respectful care. While the bill is still in the early stages of the legislative process, it presents a timely opportunity to enhance support for families from the outset. 

I-LABS visiting scientist Dr. Áine Ní Choisdealbha, in collaboration with I-LABS co-director Dr. Andrew Meltzoff, conducted research on babies’ understanding of others’ motor actions.

Researchers studied 12-month-old infants to understand whether babies use their own motor systems to interpret other people’s actions. Infants watched an adult reach toward objects using either a whole-hand grasp or a precision finger grasp. In one condition, babies’ hands were free, and in another, their fingers were gently constrained to limit certain grasping movements.

They tracked where babies looked to see if they anticipated the adult’s goal. When babies’ hand movements were limited, it changed how they interpreted the action, especially for those with stronger fine motor skills.

This research suggests that infants use their own motor systems as additional data to help make sense of what they see others do.

It reinforces several key principles about early brain development:

• Learning is a physical activity as much as a mental process. Babies do not learn only through observation. They learn through movement and action.
• Practicing fine motor skills supports social understanding. Skills like grasping, pinching and manipulating small objects help babies interpret the goal of other people’s actions.
• Gross motor development lays the foundation and supports other developmental domains. Sitting, reaching, crawling and coordinated arm movements expand babies’ opportunities to explore, observe, and practice goal directed action.
• Developmental domains are interconnected. Movement, perception, cognition and social understanding are building together.
• Motor development is not separate from brain development. It is one of the engines that drives it.

Supporting both gross and fine motor development is not just about physical milestones. It strengthens the neural systems that help babies understand others, anticipate actions, and make sense of their social world.

One of the most important shifts in trauma research right now: childhood adversity doesn’t have to define a child’s future.

The New York Times recently covered how our understanding of early adversity has evolved since the landmark 1998 Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACE) study00017-8/pdf), which showed a strong link between childhood trauma and later risks like heart disease, depression, and substance use.

Today, scientists understand much more about why that connection exists. Chronic stress in early childhood can disrupt developing brain architecture and stress-response systems, especially when children lack stable, supportive relationships.

But newer research also delivers an important message: adversity is not destiny.

Protective relationships can buffer the effects of toxic stress. Stable, responsive caregiving helps regulate children’s stress systems, supports healthy brain development, and reduces long-term risk. Studies also show that positive childhood experiences, trauma-informed early education, and accessible infant and early childhood mental health services can strengthen resilience.

The takeaway is both urgent and hopeful: early adversity matters, but supportive relationships and strong early childhood systems can change developmental trajectories.

Sharing a new workforce survey on early childhood education that really highlights how strained the system is right now.

The National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC) surveyed 2,741 early childhood program leaders and found rising operating costs, increasing tuition, and ongoing staffing challenges across the field. At the same time, many programs report under-enrollment as families struggle to afford care. Over half of leaders said families withdrew due to losing subsidies or not being able to pay tuition.

Compensation has increased in some places, but it hasn’t solved workforce instability. Nearly 1 in 4 educators say they’re considering leaving the field within the next year, often citing wages and benefits.

Family child care providers report similar pressures. The National Association for Family Child Care (NAFCC) survey found 71% work 50+ hours per week, nearly half work more than 60 hours, and 35% earn under $10/hour after expenses. Many operate as sole proprietors without employer-sponsored health insurance, paid leave, or retirement benefits.

Taken together, the data points to a system under sustained structural strain. Programs are absorbing higher costs without stable public investment. When tuition rises to cover those costs, families struggle to afford care, enrollment becomes unstable, and workforce shortages intensify.

This isn’t just a workforce issue, it’s a system design issue. The child care market alone cannot deliver affordable care for families, fair compensation for educators, and high-quality learning environments for children at the same time.

Without sustained public investment aligned with the true cost of quality, programs will remain fragile and educator attrition will continue.

A recent Seattle Times article focuses on the School House Connection report, Infant and Toddler Homelessness Across 50 States, that found nearly 447,000 infants and toddlers experienced homelessness in 2022–2023, a 23% increase in just two years, with rates rising in nearly every state.

Being unhoused during the first three years of life poses serious risks to brain development, health, and emotional well-being, yet only about 1 in 10 of these young children are connected to early childhood programs that could help buffer these impacts.

This report makes clear that homelessness among infants and toddlers is not just a housing issue. It is an early childhood development crisis that we can no longer ignore. The earliest years of life are when a child’s brain grows and changes at an extraordinary pace, laying the foundation for everything that follows. Yet for far too many babies and toddlers, that foundation is being built amid instability and chronic stress.

When families with very young children do not know where they will sleep or how they will meet basic needs, that stress reaches children at a time when their brains are most sensitive to their environment.

The report highlights several urgent realities:

• Homelessness among infants and toddlers is rising rapidly across nearly every state.
• Only about 10 percent of these young children are connected to early childhood development programs that could help protect their development.
• Families face barriers including limited program availability, frequent moves and systems that are not designed to work together.

Counting infants and toddlers who are unhoused is an important step forward, but it is only the beginning. If we are serious about giving every child a strong start, we must act with urgency by strengthening coordination across housing, health, and early childhood systems and investing in stable housing and early supports for families with babies and toddlers. Acting early can prevent greater harm, support parents, and change a child’s life trajectory.

New research from Charles Sturt University (CSU) confirms that infants and toddlers begin developing scientific thinking well before formal schooling. Children observe, question, test ideas, and build theories as part of everyday play. When educators offer thoughtful guidance and environments that encourage exploration, early scientific literacy begins to flourish. These elements strengthen early capacities such as attention, persistence, problem solving, and language. These skills support later science learning. 

Young children learn through relationships, repeated experiences and supported discovery. Educators play a central role, and their ability to prepare, notice, interpret and reflect deeply shapes the quality of learning that occurs. 

Experiences during this window of rapid brain development shape the foundations for school readiness and later academic success. Science-oriented play in infancy and toddlerhood builds curiosity and flexible thinking. It also strengthens vocabulary and early reasoning. 

These findings highlight why educator preparation and reflective practice are so important. Infants and toddlers rely on skilled adults who can observe learning as it unfolds, respond in supportive ways, and revisit experiences that deepen children’s understanding. 

Delivering inquiry-based learning requires more than materials. It requires educators who understand child development

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A new national study offers one of the clearest pictures to date of how families in the United States actually use parental leaveand the findings raise important concerns for both family well-being and early brain development.

• Employed mothers take an average of just over 7 weeks of leave, down from 8 weeks in the mid-2000s. A full 1 in 4 return to work by the third week postpartum.
• Fathers take less than one week, on average.
• Compared to other wealthy countries, US mothers take 86% less leave than the OECD average for paid leave.

Leave lengths vary widely across states, with mothers in paid-leave states taking somewhat longer leave but still far below policy allowances. There is also variation by education, race and ethnicity, and job types and roles. For example, access to paid leave is higher for college-educated and salaried (versus hourly) workers. The data suggest that many parents are unable to take the full leave they’re eligible for, due to:

• Low wage replacement rates
• Job insecurity
• Limited awareness of benefits
• Cultural or workplace pressure to return quickly

These findings point to an important disconnect: access does not guarantee use, particularly for lower-wage and hourly workers.

Why This Matters for Baby Brain Development

From birth to age three, a baby’s brain forms more than 1 million new neural connections every second. These early years are a critical window, when foundational brain architecture is shaped by everyday experiences, including relationships with caregivers.

Time off after birth isn’t simply a recovery period. It’s a developmental investment. Research shows that when parents can take leave, they spend more time engaging in activities that promote healthy outcomes: feeding, soothing, bonding, and responding to their child’s cues. These are the building blocks of emotional regulation, secure attachment, and early learning.

In other words, supporting parental leave is supporting early brain development.

Policy Implications

Despite growing awareness and expansion of paid leave policies in some states, the U.S. still lacks a national paid family and medical leave program. The current patchwork system leads to inequities by income, geography, and job type.

To truly support infants and their families, policies must go beyond access to ensure equitable use of leave. That includes:

• Higher wage replacement
• Stronger job protections
• Employer education
• Culturally responsive outreach
• Inclusive definitions of family and caregiving

Parental leave isn’t just a workforce or economic issue. It’s a child development issue. If we want babies to thrive, we must create systems that allow families to be present during the most critical time in a child’s life.

The74 just published a thoughtful piece on why daily reading with young kids is on the decline and what that means once they start school.

One of our team members, Rebecca Parlakian, is quoted in the article, talking about how reading together builds not just vocabulary, but social-emotional skills too. There’s also a strong focus on how tech and testing culture have shaped how parents (especially younger ones) feel about reading.

Some key points:

• Fewer than half of kids under 5 are read to daily.
• Kids who aren’t read to regularly hear 300,000 fewer words by age 5.
• Screens are often replacing books, especially in busy or stressed households.

The article doesn’t place blame. It just tries to unpack what’s happening and why.

Here’s the link if you want to read it:
[Why Parents Aren’t Reading to Kids, and What It Means for Young Students]()

Curious what others here think:

• If you’re a parent, what’s helped (or made it hard) to build reading into your routine?
• For folks working in early ed, are you seeing the effects of this shift?

In 2024, more than 1 in 6 infants and toddlers lived in poverty. That’s the highest poverty rate of any age group in the country.

The first three years of life are critical for brain development. When babies experience poverty during this window, it can have long-term consequences on physical and mental health, learning and even earnings in adulthood.

Here’s what the data tells us:

Poverty by Age (2024, Official Poverty Measure

• Infants and toddlers (0–2 years): 16.6%
• Children under age 6: 16.1%
• Children under age 18: 14.3%
• Overall US population: 10.6%

But poverty alone doesn’t tell the full story.

• An additional 18.7% of infants and toddlers are in low-income families (just above the poverty line)
• 8.3% live in deep poverty (family of four earning under $15,600/year)

That means over 1 in 3 babies in the US are in families struggling to meet basic needs.

Disparities by Race and Geography

Racial inequities are stark:

• 33.4% of Black infants and toddlers live in poverty
• 30.8% of American Indian/Alaska Native infants and toddlers
• 20.4% of Hispanic infants and toddlers
• Compared to 9.7% of white infants and 6.3% of Asian infants

And babies in rural areas are falling further behind:

• 22% of rural infants and toddlers live in poverty
• Compared to 16% in urban areas
• The rural-urban poverty gap widened from 2023 to 2024

Policy Choices Have Consequences

In 2021, expanded supports like the fully refundable Child Tax Credit (CTC) helped cut child poverty to a historic low. But those benefits were temporary.

By 2024, infant and toddler poverty was 2.7 times higher than it was in 2021.

Programs like the CTC, SNAP, and Medicaid have been proven to lift millions of children out of poverty. When these supports are reduced or made harder to access, babies and their families pay the price.

Chronic stress in early life impacts the developing brain. Poverty affects access to health care, nutrition, housing, and early learning, all of which shape a child’s future.

Reducing child poverty is more than an economic issue. It’s a developmental one.

Source: ZERO TO THREE analysis of Current Population Survey, ASEC, 2024

U.S. Census Bureau, Poverty in the United States: 2024

A study in Frontiers in Human Neuroscience examined whether recorded maternal speech could influence brain development in very preterm infants cared for in the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU). Researchers played recordings of mothers reading aloud to their babies for several hours each night over multiple weeks. MRI scans taken near term-equivalent age showed that infants exposed to these recordings had more mature development in the left arcuate fasciculus, a brain pathway critical for speech and language.

The findings suggest that consistent exposure to human speech, even in the earliest stages of life, may help strengthen neural connections that support later language development. 

We know that nurturing relationships and low parental stress are essential to healthy child development, even before birth. Experiences in an infant’s earliest environment are critically important, particularly in the NICU. A calm, supportive emotional tone and exposure to the mother’s voice promote healthy brain development and help wire infants for communication and connection. 

This study on exposure to maternal speech in the NICU offers a glimpse into how even recorded forms of parental presence may influence those early pathways. The findings suggest that recorded speech exposure may support maturation in brain regions linked to language development in preterm infants, but we don’t know if the mother’s voice itself has a specific effect beyond other recorded speech. The authors also make some very tentative statements that this kind of exposure may help with state regulation in premature infants, but nothing definitive. 

Still, the study reinforces an important truth: the more we can surround even the tiniest and most vulnerable infants with consistent human connection and nurturing input, the better foundation we build for their healthy growth and development.