Your baby’s brain is an marvelous thing. At just four weeks gestation, before the baby even remotely resembles a human being, its neurons – the first brain cells – are forming at the astounding rate of 250,000 every minute. At birth, your baby’s brain contains one hundred billion of these neurons. In the first few years of his life, he will develop trillions of brain-cell connections; these are called neural synapses, and they’re built through external stimulation. In other words, the more stimulation you give your baby through interaction and language-enriching experiences, the better wired his brain’s neural connections and pathways will be. And the better his “wiring,” the better his language and reasoning skills will be. But it’s a use-it-or-lose-it concept; synapses that haven’t been connected via stimulation are automatically “weeded out” by the brain as the child grows. In her book Baby Prodigy: A Guide to Raising a Smarter, Happier Baby, author Barbara Candiano-Marcus gives this simple explanation: “My favorite analogy to illustrate how synapses are strengthened or discarded over time compares them to the trails created by travelers who are making their way through a previously uncharted wilderness. Footpaths that are frequently traveled soon become easily accessed and eventually become roadways that allow travelers to move quickly and efficiently. Other paths, which started out as equally possible routes but that are not traveled frequently, soon become overgrown, unused, and finally impassible.” Therefore, it is of utmost importance to shape your baby’s brain while it’s at its most pliable, during the first years when experiences build so much more than just memories.