Oh, the joy! After a decade of crafting fine art and three months of dedicated work, my latest masterpiece – this sensory book for infants – has finally come to life! Seeing the English version published on Amazon fills me with immense pride and exhilaration. This post provides a preview of some of the book’s pages, and dives deeper into the motivations and personal experiences behind the book.

The Birth of an Idea

The inception of this sensory book for infants and parents was subtle. I noticed that the infants and toddlers in my life were enchanted by my artwork. The positive feedback I received, coupled with my mother’s persistent suggestions to make my art accessible to other children, nurtured this idea.

However, it remained dormant for a while as I was balancing part-time office work.

Embracing Parenthood

Then, I stepped into the incredible world of motherhood. My little one, a tiny bundle of joy and energy, started filling my days with precious moments, love, and excitement. And, let’s be real, becoming a parent was like being thrown into the deep end, right? Suddenly, my partner and I found ourselves dedicating every waking moment to this tiny human being. It was intense, more than we had ever anticipated.

Most prenatal courses and resources focus on the birth. And that’s wonderful! We mamas need to be prepared and it’s good to know what’s coming! But, I personally, see it a bit like a wedding. You prepare every detail from flowers to napkin colours for the big day for months, then it’s suddenly there, everyone is having a blast (hopefully) and then…you’ve married the love of your life and have a marriage to navigate through for the rest of your lives. And you need to figure things out as you go. You find your own dynamic. Every marriage is different.

Now we have a baby.

That thought hit us hard when we left the hospital. We, and we alone were responsible for this tiny precious being. And although there are studies, and recommendations and advice out there, every baby is unique. Every family is unique, and we needed to figure it out on the go. Learning by doing.

The sea of information in parental advice books, often over 200 pages long, seemed overwhelming during my pregnancy. I invested a lot of time preparing for birth, cooking meals to freeze for the first weeks after, mastering breathing techniques, and crafting my birth plan. I assumed I’d have time to read these information troves again or in detail once our baby arrived. But it proved to be more challenging than I thought. The extra time I had before the birth was suddenly gobbled up in feeding, pumping, nappy changes, naps and other baby related activities.

In the little time I had, I began reading numerous studies about brain development and the latest research on babies, hoping it would offer some magical tools or insights as to why my son was crying and if certain behaviours were normal (they almost always were!).

The Idea Ripens

One thing that always intrigued me, as an artist, was the claim that newborns only see black and white in the early weeks. While that might be true, I wondered why there were so many black and white books for those early months of development? Who’s to say there might not be a hint of green or blue on day 3 and a splash of yellow on day 9? The argument is that babies would mostly care about the contrast and shapes they would see, rather than colours. And while sharing a rather ‘black and white’ picture book with my son, whose eyes always darted back to my painting on the wall, it clicked.

I wanted to create a high contrast and intriguing book for infants and toddlers. But in full colour and open for imagination and wonder!

The Creation

Life has a way of making things happen, and circumstances allowed me to immerse myself fully in the creative process.

When I thought about the concept of the book I wondered: How could I package my highly stimulating artwork? How could I add value to a family and also make the bonding time a bit more enjoyable for both, the baby and the parent?

I discovered that the rhythm and melody of a language play a crucial role in a baby’s language development, not necessarily the meaning of the words. This revelation made nursery rhymes the perfect companion for the images.

But what could keep a parent engaged and interested while also making their lives a bit easier? Perhaps some words of encouragement and reassurances? This led to the idea of including a section for parents on each page that delves deeper into what the nursery rhyme expresses.

Words of encouragement for new parents pair perfectly with the images for the baby. Moreover, parents could let their minds wander along the organic forms of my artwork and simply enjoy the moment.

The Core Topics

Sensory Bonding covers a range of topics that are of paramount importance to parents such as Sleep, Baby’s First Language, Growth, Leaps, Boundaries, Emotions, Tantrums, and Coping Techniques. These topics are often a source of concern for parents, and it’s easy to find ourselves over-analyzing them! It always helped me to remember that each family is unique. We need to find our own rhythm and flow, rather than trying to conform to a one-size-fits-all plan. I focussed on what feels right for our family. However, figuring out what that means can be challenging, especially for first-time parents

The Desire to Do Right

As a mother, it’s instinctive to want to do the best for my child, a feeling that’s universal among parents. In my quest to understand my son, I sometimes felt drowned with an overwhelming amount of suggestions, techniques, and advice:

“Feed him formula, that keeps him full longer.”
“Tightly wrap him like a burrito, that reminds him of the womb.”
“We sleep-trained our child, maybe that works for you too.”
“Bouncing on a ball while holding him in your arms works like a charm.”
“Our baby always falls asleep in the car.”
“Babies love to feel secure in the embrace of their caregiver, carrying them all the time relaxes them.” “White noise/music/singing helps.”
“My baby wakes with every sound, complete silence is our saviour!”
“Dark rooms are great.”
“A night-light helps us.”

You guessed it, sleep was our main hurdle, and we heard all the advice you can imagine and tried and discarded many things. Even now, my son isn’t exactly a champion sleeper. Mom-guilt is a thing and I got desperate and thought I was doing something wrong. After over a year into the parenting journey, I received a piece of advice from a father of six that struck a chord: ‘Every baby is unique, and your actions don’t necessarily influence whether your baby is a great sleeper or prefers more contact.’ I knew that. Regardless, I needed someone to say it out loud. It served as a reminder to embrace my family’s unique journey and experiences. Other parents struggle with feeding, that was never an issue for us. Some have a baby with severe colic, we did, but not to an extreme. We struggled with sleep.

The Challenge of Routine

We are often convinced that we need to provide a strict routine for our baby to thrive. However, I discovered that our son was not receptive to this, regardless of my efforts. As a first-time parent, it is challenging to understand the personality and unique focus points that lie beneath the infant’s basic needs of sleep, feeding, and hygiene. Some babies are easily adapting to a given routine, some are not.

The Breakthrough

One breakthrough that significantly eased life for me and my partner was discovering the Dunstan Baby Language (DBL) system. That was around his 4th month of life. This system allowed me to understand what my little one wanted to communicate without having to go through a checklist, thus eliminating frustration for both of us. Today I know that his sleep was impacted by the need to burp or gas that was trapped, which caused him tummy aches. Watching videos from his early days, I’d like to tell my past self that “he clearly needs to burp” or “stop the play time, he is clearly tired!”.

Correctly distinguishing the five different sounds that DBL identified, brought about a change in our world. It transformed me and my partner into more confident and relaxed parents. Our son was happier and more relaxed than he had been before, which was the ultimate reward.

Sensory Bonding – Sharing the Journey and Art

While I am far from perfect and fully aware that I will continue to make mistakes on my parenting journey, I embrace this path with open arms. I am eager to share my ‘lightbulb’ moments with you, offering a sneak peek into the exciting journey that awaits new parents. At the same time, I am thrilled to share my vibrant art with countless other babies, adding a splash of colour to their world.

Next Steps on the Journey

I am working full-steam on a Spanish and German version of the book and a thicker paper version with a printer.

Check the book out on Amazon or contact me if you are interested in buying a copy!

You can buy the book on almost all Amazon market places. If you are based in New Zealand, get your copy directly from me or go to www.amazon.com.au

When creativity strikes, I throw myself into it because these times are need to be explored. I have stopped to push myself too hard if there is a desert of inspiration the only thing coming out of my brush or spatula and onto the canvas is a result of ‘Oh dear, what happened there?’.

I deeply enjoyed painting when I was visiting my family in Germany. It was a great experiment that can be compared to cooking at your neighbors house: Everything is there but different.

The colours had a different texture and intensity that was fun to play around with. My ‘ingredients’ for acrylic pouring were slightly different and I needed to use my alchemy feeling to determine what the right mix would be. It was a fun time.