These Five Factors Help Ensure Baby Thrives, Researchers Say

Sometimes, it can feel like the list of things that baby needs is endless, from the best onesies and diapers to organic foods and top-of-the-line toys, it can be hard to keep up. Amid this whirlwind, there’s a comforting revelation: recent research underscores that a baby’s essential requirements for thriving boil down to just five fundamental elements.

Researchers at Washington University in St. Louis recently looked at a combination of five “Thrive Factors” to determine their impacts on baby’s brain, behavioral and cognitive development. Published in JAMA Pediatrics, study authors Deanna Barch, PhD and Joan Luby, MD, looked at 232 infants and their mothers accessing each child’s exposure to these “Thrive Factors” in its first year and thus its T-factor score overall.

The results found Thrive Factors to have a powerful impact. “When they have access to these basic supports, even in the face of adverse environments, it enhances their brain development, cognition (measures of IQ) and social-emotional development,” said Luby.

The five “Thrive Factors” include plenty of environmental stimulation (lots of looking and reciprocal interactions), good nutrition (breastmilk packs big benefits but ‘fed is best’), a safe neighborhood, positive caregiving and regular circadian rhythms and sleep.

Unlike previous studies this was the first to look at the effects of all these factors in conjunction. “The novelty here is putting them all together and thinking of them as a constellation of things that are necessary and important for a child to be able to thrive,” Barch said in a press release.

While it may seem obvious that a baby needs care, sleep, food, stimulation and safety, Luby says that “nobody has particularly focused on or prioritized the importance of this during fetal development and in the first year of life to enhance critical developmental outcomes.” By highlighting these factors, she and researchers aim to encourage policymakers and pediatricians to prioritize supporting parents in meeting these crucial needs.

“We need to make it so families can have the resources necessary to provide these core things to kids because it’s going to have such a big impact on kids’ development across the course of their lifespan,” Luby said.