Physical Safety is Important to Brain Development The foundation for healthy brain development is a safe environment in which a child can grow, develop, and achieve good health. Measures that create a safe and healthy world for a child include:

safe, responsible caregiving
a safe indoor and outdoor environment
good health practices and health care
good nutrition and healthy mealtimes.

A healthy child who can rely on safe surroundings, caring adults, and a predictable environment feels secure and able to explore and learn without danger of injury. He can relate to people without anxiety, and can develop the ability to regulate his social and emotional behavior.

A child cannot create a safe and healthy world for himself. The caring adults around him, however, can take basic actions to help assure a child’s physical well-being and create an environment that nurtures him and promotes his healthy brain development.

As an example of a measure that adults take to assure physical well-being, during the first four months of life, while he cannot turn over readily, an infant should sleep on his back to prevent apnea, or the continued stopping of breathing, known as Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS).