What is sensory motor nourishment and why does it help with baby sleep?

What are your baby's sensory motor needs?

Your baby's brain is ready at birth to receive and process multisensory stimulation.

In the first months after birth, pathways are being laid down in your baby's brain which may last a life-time, in direct response to the input that your baby receives through her senses. These neural templates develop best if she experiences rich and variable

• Stimulation of her senses of sight, smell, taste, hearing and touch

• Pressure on her skin and joints (proprioceptive stimulation)

• Positions relative to gravity (vestibular stimulation), which give her many opportunities to practice movements and adjust her posture.

Needless to say, your baby also needs rich and enjoyable interactions with his parents, siblings and loving people, which we discuss elsewhere. Two-way communication with others builds on, and further develops, baby's many neural pathways of sensory input and movement.

Movement of your baby's body, which starts spontaneously in the womb about eight weeks after conception, is at the very foundations of healthy sensory and social development. Movement, sensory experience, and the development of social skills are inextricably entwined.

Because of the rich sensory environments in which humans evolved over the course of our long evolutionary history, babies' hunger for lots of sensory and motor experience is a hardwired and powerful biological drive. Yet our babies' sensory motor needs are still not well understood in our society. I call this your baby's need for 'rich sensory experience', or for 'sensory nourishment', or for 'sensory motor nourishment'.

How can you know if your baby is receiving enough sensory nourishment?

Babies tell us when they need more sensory stimulation by dialling up, that is, by grizzling and crying! If your baby's hunger for sensory nourishment isn't met, he'll dial up in the same way as he dials up from a hunger for milk. This is why sensory motor nourishment is your second superpower for keeping your baby dialled down during the day. (Milk is your first superpower.)

Have you noticed that stepping outside your house dials your baby down? Or, if you live in an apartment and you have a patio, have you noticed that your baby dials down when you step out onto your patio? You could experiment with this next time your baby dials up inside the home.

You might find it hard to believe that the inside of your home is a low sensory environment. Perhaps your home is full of light and colour. Perhaps you have set up baby play gyms and mobiles and interesting toys. I hate to say it, but no matter how hard we've tried to liven it up, the inside of our homes remain low in sensory adventure for babies, compared to the outside world. You could try experimenting with this. Unfortunately, a play gym or new toy or colourful tunnels and blocks often only entertain your baby for a short period of time, if at all!

Think of a tree, with hundreds of thousands of leaves moving in the breeze. Your baby may be so little that his eyes can’t focus yet on a tree – but he will still be fascinated by the moving colours, the intricate change of light and shadow. Compare that visual complexity with a wall in your home. And that's just one tree! The world outside your home (whether it's the street, park, shops, or a friend's place) contains a kaleidoscope of changing things to look at, a feast of colour, changes of air temperature, the pleasure of the experience of movement in the carrier or pram for the developing vestibular system, a feast of sounds.

A change in sensory input might be picking your baby up, rocking, talking to him, singing, walking, moving to another room - but these strategies are very hard work, hour after hour, when someone is caring for a baby on their own, inside a house. The richest sensory experiences, easiest to provide and with the biggest impact on dialling a baby down, occur easily the minute you step outside the home. Going on an adventure outside the house - for a walk, or to a parents' group or café, or to visit your workplace - is a wonderfully rich sensory adventure for our baby (and will have benefits for you, too).

Let the world do the work of keeping your baby dialled down!

Why does rich sensory experience help with baby sleep?

Babies often dial up inside the house because they need a richer sensory experience than the interior of the home can offer. Parents might worry that this dialling up is a sign their baby is tired. But the baby dialls up even more as the parents try to put him down to sleep, because his sleep pressure isn't particularly high. The little one needs richer sensory stimulation, instead.

This is why I recommend that you take off the sleep lens, and put on the sensory lens instead as you go through the day. When your baby dials up, don't think sleep, just think sensory! Experiment with a new sensory adventure, keeping your baby dialled down while his sleep pressure builds. This way, sleep pressure rises so high that your baby eventually drops off to sleep easily (perhaps with a feed, or just in the carrier or stroller or car seat whilst you are underway with your day).

You can trust that your baby's sleep will look after itself, if you experiment between offering milk and sensory motor nourishment, aiming to keep your baby as dialled down as you sensibly can through your days together.

Recommended resources

Filling your baby's sensory tank

Why baby wearing makes life easier (not harder)

What your baby needs for best possible motor development

The holistic NDC or Possums 8-step approach to supporting baby's motor development

The NDC evolutionary perspective on positional plagiocephaly, motor development and sleep

About positional plagiocephaly and motor development

Selected references

Heffler KF, Acharya B, Subedi K, Bennett DS. Early-life digital media experiences and development of atypical sensory processing. JAMA Pediatrics. 2024:doi:10.1001/jamapediatrics.2023.5923.

Nava E, Giraud M, Bolognini N. The emergence of the multisensory brain: from the womb to the first steps. iScience. 2024;108758:http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0

Craighero L. An embodied approach to fetal and newborn perceptual and sensorimotor development. Brain and Cognition. 2024;179:106184.