During the first year of your baby’s life, you’ll spend a huge amount of time holding them close to you. Let’s face it- once your tiny tot enters their crawling phase- you’ll probably need a safer space and area for them to continue developing their skills. When your baby is ready to wiggle out of your arms, we recommend investing in a play mat.

Baby play mats are one of the best baby accessories you can own. They provide a safe and soft play area for toddlers and babies to explore the world around them and grow. Not only does it encourage your baby to interact with you and their surroundings, but it’s also a great way to help your baby reach their developmental milestones and build their muscles.

We give you five reasons why investing in a play mat is worth it (for your little one’s growth).

1. It supports cognitive growth

Baby play mats help your child understand the basics of cause and effect. Between 6 weeks to 4 months, they tend to engage more with primary circular reactions (which are actions they tend to repeat when done accidentally). Some really good examples are, pulling on hair (not fun for the parent), kicking a toy etc.

By investing in a play mat, such as these reversibles ones from Milk It Baby, you can stimulate the development of cognitive functions by showing them iconic places, stimulate them with colours, and encourage your child to interact and play with them repeatedly.

2. Helps in Building Eyesight

At birth, infants are very near-sighted, meaning objects placed further away will appear blurry to them. With the help of baby play mats, you can develop a newborn’s visual perceptual skills. Contrasting colour combinations and colourful patterns are best to help in the development of depth perception.

3. Beneficial in building motor functions

If you’re wondering — what age is it appropriate to put a child on a play mat? The right answer is when they’re able to turn over and steady themselves. For example, a baby who is 6 months or one-year-old should easily do this.

The benefit of investing in a play mat for your child is to provide gross motor development. Being large enough, they can explore bigger areas during their tummy time, thus strengthening the arms, back, and neck and supporting the development of higher gross motor skills like walking and crawling.

4. Development of self-awareness

The good thing is that there’s no time limit for how long a baby should spend on a play mat. Add in a few toys, and they increase their self-awareness. For example, equipping the mat with estimation toys, and toys with small mirrors will mean they spend time looking at themselves and noticing themselves. Thus encouraging them to start smiling, laughing, making faces or even touching the mirror and toys.

5. Encourages and develops Sensory Stimulation

Sensory stimulation is a well-known means of playing and interacting with infants during their first years. Milk it baby play mats are soft and 100% sustainable, inspired by iconic cities around the world.

Place teething toys so that the child can reach for them and play with them for oral stimulation. Besides sensory stimulation, play mats will also help facilitate the toddler’s awareness of sensory stimuli like auditory and visual senses.

Milk It Baby

Milk It Baby was created with the belief that playtime should be adventurous and educational for the child, without parents having to compromise on style. By redefining baby lifestyle products, Milk it Baby offers luxurious and environmentally-conscious playtime toys and mats without compromising on aesthetics.

Inspired by the multitude of cultures around the world, Milk It Baby’s travel and culture-based print designs are the perfect way to invoke a sense of love for colour, art and adventure in your child. Shop it here.