Baby Handbook

Making the perfect baby... through science!

enjoy the pain of childbirth; it's a bonding experience
Point at things and use meaningful hand gestures[1]. This simple technique can boost early learning and vocabulary and gets one much of the benefits of baby sign.
Use baby sign. It is well established that babies can learn sign language long before they can learn to talk (takes about half the time). There are lots of books and specific baby sign stuff out there, but why not just learn ASL? Just like for baby, It's actually much easier for most adults to learn a signed language than it would be for them to learn a new spoken language. It's the easiest way to go bilingual (without hiring an alterna-tongued nanny), which gives a big boost to mental ability as well.

For later on in life:

Things to avoid:

Don't get baby language DVDs, they can slow your child's speech development.[3] It's not how baby's learn.
Play classical music for the baby... only if you like classical music. There may be a Mozart Effect--a temporary increase in certain cognitive abilities after listening to classical music--but it's just that: temporary. Playing classical music for your child does not increase their intelligence, and should never be used as a substitute for teaching.[4][5]