Coming soon Self-paced · Ages 0–12 months

Birth to 12 months: cues, attachment, and the first year.

A calm, research-based picture of what infants are actually doing in the first year: how they communicate before words, how attachment forms through ordinary moments, and what the science actually says about sleep, stimulation, and the noise that surrounds new parents.

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6 modules · ~1 hr each Self-paced · Watch on any device Founding member pricing · Lifetime access Free milestone tracker included

Who this class is for

If any of this sounds familiar, you're in the right place.

  • You have a baby under 12 months and are drowning in conflicting advice about what they need.
  • You're not sure how to read your baby's cues, or whether you're responding "right."
  • You want to understand what's actually happening developmentally, not just what to do this week.
  • Sleep, feeding, and stimulation all feel like high-stakes decisions and you'd like a calmer framework.
  • You want research-backed guidance without the judgment or the scripts.

What you'll learn

By the end of the class, the first year will feel a lot less like guessing.

  • How to read your infant's signals, like hunger, fatigue, and overstimulation, with more confidence.
  • What secure attachment actually looks like and how it forms through everyday moments, not perfect ones.
  • What infant sleep science actually says, and what you can and can't realistically change.
  • How language development begins long before words, and how your ordinary conversations shape it.
  • A working picture of infant motor and sensory development that cuts through the noise.

Module breakdown

Six short lessons for the year when everything is new.

Each module translates a core area of infant development into plain language you can use from day one. Six modules · ~1 hour each · self-paced · works on your phone.

Module 01

What Is Actually Being Built

What is developing in the first weeks and months, how experience shapes brain architecture, and why the developmental sequence runs the way it does. The through-line is that responsive, ordinary caregiving matters more than enrichment, and the pressure to optimize a closing window is one you can put down.

Module 02

Reading Your Baby

Your baby's behavioral states, the approach and stress cues they use before they have words, and what crying is and how it actually changes across the first months. Plus temperament as goodness of fit, not a verdict on who your baby will become.

Module 03

The Language-Ready Baby

What newborns already hear, how they narrow in on the sounds of their own language, why babbling is a conversation, and what the research actually says predicts language. This is also where we explain which popular claims about talking to babies do not hold up.

Module 04

Connection and Security

What secure attachment is and is not, the still-face research and why repair matters more than perfect attunement, separation and stranger wariness as an achievement rather than a regression, and co-regulation in the first year.

Module 05

Bodies in Motion

Motor development and how wide the normal range really is, tummy time and safe sleep, and how movement and thinking grow together. This is also the module that carries sleep and feeding, with what the trials do and do not show and no shame about any one method.

Module 06

Everyday Life

How play, object permanence, and shared attention develop, how routines and a calm adult buffer ordinary stress, an honest look at screens, and the part most courses skip: your own wellbeing as a caregiver is part of how the first year goes.

While you wait

Free reading that lines up with the first year.

The class is still in development, but these are free now and map onto what this age is about: reading cues, lending calm, and protecting sleep.

Why this approach is different

Research, translated for the way your day actually goes.

Research-based, not trend-based

Built from peer-reviewed developmental science across brain development, language, executive function, and emotion regulation, not a single personal philosophy.

Plain language, no jargon walls

The science is translated for parents: concise, readable, and honest about what the research can and can't tell us.

Realistic for a normal day

Every recommendation is filtered through actual family life: tired adults, multiple kids, work, daycare pickups, and dinner.

Calm and non-shaming

No scripts to memorize, no suggestion that one slip ruins your child. The tone is the way you'd want a thoughtful friend to talk to you.

Why trust this

Built on peer-reviewed developmental science.

The content in this class is grounded in developmental neuroscience, child development research, and over 50 years of rigorous published research, created and taught by Matthew McArthur, a Child Development Specialist with graduate training in developmental psychology and years of direct work with young children and families in Los Angeles.

About Growing Minds Science

Common questions

A few things parents usually ask first.

When does the class open?

The class is in active development. Waitlist members are notified first and get early-bird pricing before the class opens to the public.

Is there any risk? What if it's not right for me?

No charge until you choose to purchase. Joining the waitlist is free, and we send one short note when the class opens, and you decide then. No obligation, no spam, unsubscribe anytime.

Do I need special software or equipment?

Nothing special. The class is designed to work on your phone, tablet, or laptop. Self-paced means you watch on your schedule, with no live sessions and no deadlines.

Who created and teaches this class?

Matthew McArthur, a Child Development Specialist with graduate training in developmental psychology and years of hands-on work with children and families in Los Angeles. Content draws from four research domains: developmental neuroscience, language acquisition, executive function, and emotion regulation.