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Study: Nearly a Third of New Parents Know Little About Infant Development

When you're a new parent, you usually feel like there's more that you don't know than you do. You learn as you go, using your baby -- and often stacks of parenting magazines and books -- as your guide. But it's easy to forget what infants should be doing when and exactly what you can do to help encourage your little one to learn and develop.

That's why a group of researchers set out to figure out exactly how much new parents really do -- and don't -- know. They looked at information from a nationally representative sample of more than 10,000 parents, including a survey in which the moms and dads of 8- to 13-month-olds answered 11 questions about infant development.

What they found: Almost a third of U.S. parents knew very little about normal infant development, correctly answering only four of the 11 questions (about things like talking and potty training).

And the moms and dads who weren't up on what their children should be doing or how to stimulate their learning and development were far more likely to have "poorer quality interactions with a child and less cognitive stimulation" (like reading books, telling stories, and singing songs).
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