Archive for the 'Baby Development Stages' Category

As your baby approaches two years of age, you will begin to realize what the word “terrible twos” means. The more your baby wishes to exert his independence, the greater will be your need to wield your authority.

Though it may disturb you, remember that this is completely normal behavior for a two-year-old child, who is about to reach a new milestone in development.

Independence:

The main reason for the sudden change in behavior and seeming rebellion is that your child is ready to make decisions for himself. Most of the decisions won’t be of your choice, so you will need to learn to handle the situation.

Though you set limits for your child, s/he disregards them and does what s/he wants. If you continue the battle, both you and your child will wind up more than a little aggravated. Offering your baby a few simple choices every day can dilute his frustration to some extent.

If your baby insists on clothing himself, try to negotiate that he doesn’t wear stripy sweaters with plaid shorts, for example. Keep numerous outfits, but let him know that he does have some choice.

The second year of your baby’s life offers more freedom for him/her.

While every developmental phase offers new achievements, s/he still has a lot of learning and growing to do.

Baby development from 13 to 15 months:

Once your baby reaches his/her first birthday, s/he will be able to walk effortlessly without your assistance.

If your baby is not yet able to walk, there is no need to worry as this developmental stage varies greatly. Over the next couple of weeks, the baby will catch up easily.

As your baby matures and tries to understand about the new things around him/her, s/he will gradually start to move away from you. Until that time, ensure that you are there right by their side.

Babies at this stage become fascinated by small toys in the form of animals and cars, so make sure you give them a wide selection which are age-appropriate. During this time, your baby tries to keep everything in his/her mouth. So, be aware of choking hazards and continue reading and singing to him/her.

This is also the time to switch over from breast milk or formula milk to whole milk. It is essential that your baby gets lots of vegetables and fruits as well as some meat in small quantities.

A period of rapid growth for your baby, you will observe various changes for the next months in your baby’s life as he gains new skills and learns more about the world.

While there is a general growth curve for children of this age, remember that each baby’s development will not be the same. If you think your baby’s development is not up to the mark, contact a pediatrician for a second opinion.

Baby development during 7th and 8th months:

By this stage, your baby will be able to move for some distance. While he won’t be able to crawl, your baby will try to find another way of reaching the desired destination. Some babies scoot along with the help of their bottoms and push themselves backwards by staying on their tummies, roll or raise their knees and hands and then droop forward.

These are the initial crawling movements. Generally, the baby will grow from crawling to dragging up and then walking. The baby’s age and the kind of the movement the baby uses will greatly vary from each child.

From the day of birth, your baby’s development is an adventure, as s/he learns something new on a daily basis, for the first six months of life.

Each new developmental phase offers an opportunity for celebration which can be recorded in various ways.

Because every child has an individual learning curve, it is a good idea to store the memories in the form of photographs or videos. However, important milestones do follow a general trend:

Baby development during first and second months

Most mothers don’t realize how much their new little baby is aware of the world around them during the initial few weeks of life. While babies spend most of the day sleeping, when they wake, they want to learn about all the new things around them, including family members and other people in the environment.

At this time, your baby’s eyesight still needs to develop and can only see things that are six inches away.

Because people’s faces are the most interesting objects your baby sees, when you talk and sing, make sure that you are close enough for your child to notice. Though it may look strange, it is completely normal for your baby’s eyes to become crossed when s/he tries to look at you.

Infants learn a great number of skills throughout their initial two years of life.

They not only try to learn new information, but also their brains physically develop at an amazing rate and that varies the kind of attention and knowledge they are capable of.

The cognitive development of your infant from birth to two years of age:

Stage 1:

This stage is the period from birth to one month of age. During this stage, your infant purely responds by reflex, for instance, sucking in response to the nipple. Frankly speaking, there is not any cognitive development in these reactions.

Infants imitate the observed mouth actions. This is the first language objective; along with this your infant vocal cords also develop in order to make language-like sounds.

Stage 2:

This stage is the period from one to fours months of age. During this stage, your infant can understand the patterns, like the existence of a bottle means it is the time for feeding.

Your baby begins to select to do the activities because he/she can expect the outcome. Babies try to learn, trust or mistrust. They start to coo and make vowel noise. By the end of this stage, the babies learn to make some constant sounds.

Many things happen from birth to three months. You have to recognize, reinforce and watch these changes in your young ones. Your baby will grow and develop on her own.

Considering the milestones of infant development will be easy as you know your baby.

During first month, your family members can feel some trouble to adjust. But soon they will be habituated to it.

You can feel it as the endless circle of soothing, feeding and diapering. You can delight at your infant development and growth and it becomes a routine work for you.

Motor skills:

You can observe your baby wobbly during first few days. Your baby can lift their head when lying on tummies and face their head straight while on their back. These changes are observed few months later.

Your baby may not roll over but can turn from side to back. Kicking and stretching of your baby becomes vigorous. Your baby will grasp the toy that you hold and can hold for few minutes tightly.

Hearing:

Coming into the world is a big adventure for the babies.

The new born development involves the social and emotional development.

Sleepy and shy babies also take interest in your face and voice.

New born development in babies is understood by observing these.

• The new born can feel but they cannot think.
• They can’t understand what is happening to them.
• They do not know who is feeding them.
• They cry when they are hungry and tired but they don’t know who they are cared for.
• Smile by four to five weeks.
• They cannot respond to the parents with consciousness.
• Laugh out loudly by three months.

Some physical development characteristics are many babies cry a lot especially at late afternoons and evenings. The baby can feel overwhelmed and bombarded by external stimuli.

Hearing and seeing in newborns:

New borns can hear the noises and has been hearing before birth. New borns can see with their immature eye muscles but they cannot organise the visual images into meaningful shapes.

The newborn developmental characters are that they are attracted by bright lights, stripes, colors, patterns and dots in the first two months.

Your little baby will be growing day by day, when he or she became toddler you can observe various physical and mental developments in them.

Know various physical, intellectual, social, emotional and mental toddler developments that you can observe.

Physical toddler development:

• The toddlers may grow less quickly when compared to infancy.
• Most probably children at this age will eat less, but they prefer to eat more frequently throughout the day.
• Most of them will walk without support by 14 months.
• They can walk backward and up steps by 22 months.
• They prefer to eat the food by themselves although spills can be expected.
• They will like to drink water with cup (with help).
• They can scribble and stack blocks.

Social and emotional toddler development:

• They like to do their things independently.
• You can observe common toddler temper tantrums in them.
• They don’t like to play with other children. They like to play by themselves.
• They may be possessive or feel difficult to share toys with other children.
• Rules cannot be remembered by them.
• They feel themselves as the center of attraction to the whole world.