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CNN Live Today

Author Discusses Keys to Smart Babies

Aired November 14, 2002 - 11:45   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


DARYN KAGAN CNN CORRESPONDENT: New research could help you have smarter children. The latest thinking on child rearing shows your baby's IQ is not encoded on his DNA. Researchers say that a number of factors, such as a nurturing home life, breast feeding and high levels of parent child interaction, can all help increase your baby's brain power. With hundred of thousands of babies born every day on this planet, just imagine what the new research could mean for their potential.
We are paging somebody who was probably a very smart baby.

Dr. Sanjay Gupta, right here.

DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: My mom would disagree.

(CROSSTALK)

KAGAN: Right here -- we'll get Mr. Gupta on the line for that for another time.

But we also have with us the author of the book "The Secure Child," child psychologist Dr. Stanley Greenspan. And he is joining us from Washington, D.C.

Dr. Greenspan, Good morning to you.

DR. STANLEY GREENSPAN, CHILD PSYCHIATRIST: Good morning, nice to be with you.

GUPTA: And I tell you, we have lots of questions on this topic and one of our most popular topics. A lot of people want to have smart babies out there.

Dr. Greenspan, thank you for joining us.

I'm going to go straight to the e-mail questions. Get through as many of these as we can.

First question: I understand some research has been done in regards to having sensory stimulation of the fetus during the last trimester of gestation, late in pregnancy, that leads to a smarter child.

What do you think about that? Any follow-up research on this Dr. Greenspan? GREENSPAN: The research is not definitive enough, long term enough or broad based enough. But in general, good diet and nutrition, lots of exercise on the parent's part, begin relating to your new baby all throughout your pregnancy, especially in that last trimester. Follow the baby's movements, talk to your baby, just enjoy your baby in utero, and get ready for your baby to come out, and really interact with you in a new and different way.

KAGAN: This next one is from a baby's mom in Alexandria, Virginia. It's from Kate, she writes: "My 8-month-old seems very content to play by himself for hours. He smiled very late. He is not babbling. What can we do to promote social interaction and development? He is physically advanced. He rolled over at 4 months, and crawled at 6 months, and now he stands alone." At 8 months.

GREENSPAN: The key thing with an 8-month-old is to interact, interact, interact. Look at what he's interested in, whether it's a little rattle or his fingers and interact with that. For example, take his fingers and put it up to your mouth. If it's a rattle, put the rattle on your head and see if he'll reach for it. Get back-and- forth interaction, exchange emotions, exchange sound. The key is wooing your baby, enticing your baby and pulling him into interactions.

I have a book, in addition to "The Secure Child," called "Building Healthy Minds," which will give lots of specific exercises you can do with 8-month-olds.

So interact, enjoy and have fun.

GUPTA: And our next question, Dr. Greenspan, moving right along, is a question that comes up on several different ways. This question comes from Frank: I am attempting to raise my son, 19 months and 3 years-old -- I assume -- bilingual, Spanish and English. What do you think about that guidelines? How they know -- how do you know your not confusing them?

GREENSPAN: Bilingual education is great for kids. The key thing is to have fun while you talk to your kids. So if Mommy wants to talk in one language and Daddy in another, or divide your day into parts where you talk in different languages, that's terrific, as long as you're having fun, enjoying and using the language interactively. Don't use flashcards. Don't have the child memorize new words. Have the child have fun, pretend, play, interaction.

(CROSSTALK)

GUPTA: Go ahead.

GREENSPAN: Also, the other key is that interact in the language that's native to you, because I find that parents when they talk to their babies in their native language are more emotional and more natural, and the kids enjoy it more. So use your native language. That's the key.

KAGAN: Sanjay, as a neurosurgeon, I'd like to know -- you're the neurosurgeon, not me. But what do we know about language in the brain?

GUPTA: What he's saying is actually very interesting. Because the way we process language when you teach a child a second language early in life, they tend to store the second language in the same place they store the native language, making it much more easier to recall. So the earlier you learn a second language, the more likely you are to retain it and use it later on in life.

KAGAN: Just physically how it's working all wired up in there.

This next question looks like it came from Billy Bob Thornton: It's about orange foods.

(CROSSTALK)

KAGAN: Yes, he wants to know, Does eating the orange baby foods, like butternut, squash, carrots, does it really increase brain development? That's from Michael Riley in Canton, Connecticut.

Dr. Greenspan, you go with that.

GREENSPAN: Basically, good balanced diet, you don't want to overuse any one food group. But the orange foods, carrots and squash, they're great, so they should be an active part of the diet. But along with the other foods too that a baby needs. Baby needs essential fatty acids, a baby needs all the vitamins. So you want to have a good, broad-based diet.

GUPTA: I like the way red foods taste myself when I was growing.

KAGAN: Red food?

GUPTA: Just red, tasted red.

KAGAN: What is even a red food? Like a turnip, a radish?

GUPTA: Exactly.

Next question.

(CROSSTALK)

GUPTA: "Does listening to classical music boost your child's intelligence," Dr. Greenspan? "If so, does the amount time spent listening make a difference as well?"

GREENSPAN: Yes, the key with music is to enjoy music together. Rhythmic interaction between mommies and daddies and the babies, while listening to music. The music you should listen to should be the one you enjoy. Some kids enjoys one of kind of music; some like jazz, some like rock and roll, some like classical. Look what gets your baby focused and attentive and having fun, and interact. Rhythmic interaction a lot of motor activity during music and exchanging vocalization, singing, dancing, that's the key.

KAGAN: Dr. Stanley Greenspan, thank you for helping us try to create some intelligent babies, appreciate it.

Sanjay, thank you so much, as well.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com







Aired November 14, 2002 - 11:45   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
DARYN KAGAN CNN CORRESPONDENT: New research could help you have smarter children. The latest thinking on child rearing shows your baby's IQ is not encoded on his DNA. Researchers say that a number of factors, such as a nurturing home life, breast feeding and high levels of parent child interaction, can all help increase your baby's brain power. With hundred of thousands of babies born every day on this planet, just imagine what the new research could mean for their potential.
We are paging somebody who was probably a very smart baby.

Dr. Sanjay Gupta, right here.

DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: My mom would disagree.

(CROSSTALK)

KAGAN: Right here -- we'll get Mr. Gupta on the line for that for another time.

But we also have with us the author of the book "The Secure Child," child psychologist Dr. Stanley Greenspan. And he is joining us from Washington, D.C.

Dr. Greenspan, Good morning to you.

DR. STANLEY GREENSPAN, CHILD PSYCHIATRIST: Good morning, nice to be with you.

GUPTA: And I tell you, we have lots of questions on this topic and one of our most popular topics. A lot of people want to have smart babies out there.

Dr. Greenspan, thank you for joining us.

I'm going to go straight to the e-mail questions. Get through as many of these as we can.

First question: I understand some research has been done in regards to having sensory stimulation of the fetus during the last trimester of gestation, late in pregnancy, that leads to a smarter child.

What do you think about that? Any follow-up research on this Dr. Greenspan? GREENSPAN: The research is not definitive enough, long term enough or broad based enough. But in general, good diet and nutrition, lots of exercise on the parent's part, begin relating to your new baby all throughout your pregnancy, especially in that last trimester. Follow the baby's movements, talk to your baby, just enjoy your baby in utero, and get ready for your baby to come out, and really interact with you in a new and different way.

KAGAN: This next one is from a baby's mom in Alexandria, Virginia. It's from Kate, she writes: "My 8-month-old seems very content to play by himself for hours. He smiled very late. He is not babbling. What can we do to promote social interaction and development? He is physically advanced. He rolled over at 4 months, and crawled at 6 months, and now he stands alone." At 8 months.

GREENSPAN: The key thing with an 8-month-old is to interact, interact, interact. Look at what he's interested in, whether it's a little rattle or his fingers and interact with that. For example, take his fingers and put it up to your mouth. If it's a rattle, put the rattle on your head and see if he'll reach for it. Get back-and- forth interaction, exchange emotions, exchange sound. The key is wooing your baby, enticing your baby and pulling him into interactions.

I have a book, in addition to "The Secure Child," called "Building Healthy Minds," which will give lots of specific exercises you can do with 8-month-olds.

So interact, enjoy and have fun.

GUPTA: And our next question, Dr. Greenspan, moving right along, is a question that comes up on several different ways. This question comes from Frank: I am attempting to raise my son, 19 months and 3 years-old -- I assume -- bilingual, Spanish and English. What do you think about that guidelines? How they know -- how do you know your not confusing them?

GREENSPAN: Bilingual education is great for kids. The key thing is to have fun while you talk to your kids. So if Mommy wants to talk in one language and Daddy in another, or divide your day into parts where you talk in different languages, that's terrific, as long as you're having fun, enjoying and using the language interactively. Don't use flashcards. Don't have the child memorize new words. Have the child have fun, pretend, play, interaction.

(CROSSTALK)

GUPTA: Go ahead.

GREENSPAN: Also, the other key is that interact in the language that's native to you, because I find that parents when they talk to their babies in their native language are more emotional and more natural, and the kids enjoy it more. So use your native language. That's the key.

KAGAN: Sanjay, as a neurosurgeon, I'd like to know -- you're the neurosurgeon, not me. But what do we know about language in the brain?

GUPTA: What he's saying is actually very interesting. Because the way we process language when you teach a child a second language early in life, they tend to store the second language in the same place they store the native language, making it much more easier to recall. So the earlier you learn a second language, the more likely you are to retain it and use it later on in life.

KAGAN: Just physically how it's working all wired up in there.

This next question looks like it came from Billy Bob Thornton: It's about orange foods.

(CROSSTALK)

KAGAN: Yes, he wants to know, Does eating the orange baby foods, like butternut, squash, carrots, does it really increase brain development? That's from Michael Riley in Canton, Connecticut.

Dr. Greenspan, you go with that.

GREENSPAN: Basically, good balanced diet, you don't want to overuse any one food group. But the orange foods, carrots and squash, they're great, so they should be an active part of the diet. But along with the other foods too that a baby needs. Baby needs essential fatty acids, a baby needs all the vitamins. So you want to have a good, broad-based diet.

GUPTA: I like the way red foods taste myself when I was growing.

KAGAN: Red food?

GUPTA: Just red, tasted red.

KAGAN: What is even a red food? Like a turnip, a radish?

GUPTA: Exactly.

Next question.

(CROSSTALK)

GUPTA: "Does listening to classical music boost your child's intelligence," Dr. Greenspan? "If so, does the amount time spent listening make a difference as well?"

GREENSPAN: Yes, the key with music is to enjoy music together. Rhythmic interaction between mommies and daddies and the babies, while listening to music. The music you should listen to should be the one you enjoy. Some kids enjoys one of kind of music; some like jazz, some like rock and roll, some like classical. Look what gets your baby focused and attentive and having fun, and interact. Rhythmic interaction a lot of motor activity during music and exchanging vocalization, singing, dancing, that's the key.

KAGAN: Dr. Stanley Greenspan, thank you for helping us try to create some intelligent babies, appreciate it.

Sanjay, thank you so much, as well.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com