"By leaps and bounds": Child development by months

A baby's first year is probably the most important and amazing one in his life. Every morning, opening his eyes, he comprehends all new knowledge and skills and discovers a whole world full of incredible events. The main task of parents is to help their baby go a long way from a small lump to a completely conscious "year old". Young mothers are not always able to objectively assess the level of development of the child - is everything normal or something needs to be corrected. They can understand this by reading the article.

Baby at 1 month: development

The first 30 days after birth, a child is considered a newborn. All his organs are beginning to actively adapt to life outside his mother's tummy, where he felt completely safe. It is common for babies to keep their fists clenched and pull their legs up to the stomach (hypertonicity). The face is still slightly puffy, the eyelids are red. The umbilical wound is healing.

The child's weight increases by about 600 g, and his height by 3 cm. As a rule, most of the time, the baby is in a state of drowsiness or deep sleep. Gradually, you need to teach the baby to sleep, stay awake and eat at about the same time - this is how the daily routine is formed.

Despite its tiny size, child already knows something:

• lying on his stomach raises his head;
• fixes his gaze for a few seconds if you bend your face towards him;
• listens to sounds, smells a mother's smell, for example, breast milk;
• monitors bright, slow moving objects;
• chaotically waving legs and arms;
• makes sounds if he needs something.

Baby at 2 months: development

Behind the first month of adaptation of the baby to existence in a new, alien world for him. The first attempts to communicate with mom and dad appear through a smile, gaggle and holding out pens. The kid recognizes the emotions of adults and reacts to them vividly, turns his head when he hears a loud sound, and also actively examines his hands and sucks his fingers.

Now, thanks to the development of memory, he knows exactly what his loved ones look like. Congenital reflexes gradually fade away. If you put the baby on his stomach, he will hold the head for 20-30 seconds. Now the baby has become heavier by 700-800 g and is awake a little more than a month ago - about 20 hours. At this age, children can confuse day with night, especially when the baby is suffering from colic. Try giving him a tummy massage using light palm movements in a clockwise direction. A warm diaper and "dill water" will help to cope with gaziks and the child will fall asleep peacefully.

For harmonious development, the baby needs regular walks in the fresh air - at least two hours a day, unless the air temperature is below 20 ° C.

Baby development at 3 months

Only three months have passed, and what incredible changes are taking place with your baby! He is no longer a helpless lump, but a completely formed child with characteristic features and a meaningful expression on his face. He still feeds exclusively on breast milk or special infant formula. You should not introduce too early complementary foods, because, despite the fact that intestinal colic almost does not torment the baby, his gastrointestinal tract has not yet fully formed. A correctly selected number of feedings will allow him to gain about 800 g, while his growth will increase by 2.5 cm.

What has the baby learned over the past month?

1. The total number of hours for sleep is reduced to 18.
2. In a horizontal and vertical position, the child holds his head for about 30-60 seconds.
3. Lying on his tummy, he tries to lean on his forearms, he can turn on his side.
4. If you hold the baby over a flat surface, he will start to push off with his legs.
5. The emotional spectrum will expand - the baby actively walks, smiles, laughs.
6. The fists are fully open, the child tries to take the rattle with his fingers, and pulls his legs into his mouth.

The daily bathing routine should take place in the evening. It is allowed to use a special baby shampoo or a weak decoction of chamomile and string to eliminate diaper rash.

Baby development at 4 months

The beginning of the fourth month marks the end of the problems with colic and gas in the baby, which caused a lot of anxiety and worries for his parents. The nights are calmer and the day is more orderly.

The child now needs constant supervision, because he is more and more exploring his capabilities and pulls objects into his mouth that are in his field of vision. In addition, he has favorite toys, with them he performs deliberate actions - knocks, shakes and throws on the floor. When feeding, the baby learns to hold the bottle.

Another great skill for 4 months is the back-to-stomach flip. Having changed the position, the baby turns its head in different directions, tries to crawl and lift the upper body. Considering that the baby is 700-750 g heavier, the total weight will be 6 kg, and another 2.5 cm will be added to the height.

The child increasingly begins to make various sounds and even the simplest syllables. Hearing continues to improve, the child responds to his name and pays attention to the sounding music, turning his head to the source of the sound.

At this age, children most often give preference to their mother, loudly declaring their dissatisfaction if she leaves the room.

Baby development at 5 months

In the fifth month of life, children continue to delight and surprise their parents with new successes. The pace of their physical development is no longer so rapid - their weight has increased by 700 g, and their height by 2 cm. Now they recognize loved ones not only by their voice, but also visually, they are wary of strangers.

Especially active children are already learning to lean on the palms and sit on their own, keeping their back straight.

There are other equally important skills:

1. The baby itself encourages parents to communicate - pulls hands, pronounces the syllables "ma", "pa", "ba", repeats the facial expressions of adults.
2. Children enjoy looking at pictures of animals.
3. If the baby is put in the playpen, he can keep himself busy for 15-20 minutes.
4. Playing games using various objects is becoming a regular part of the daily routine.
5. The child's sleep is divided into daytime - 2-3 times and nighttime with a break for 1-2 feedings.
6. On a walk, five-month-old children now not only sleep, but are also interested in what is happening around.

Baby development at 6 months

On the eve of the first long-awaited date, the toddler becomes even more active and requires a lot of attention from adults. A little fidget, sitting in a special highchair, drinks from a cup and tries new products - at the 6th month, complementary feeding with hypoallergenic cereals and mashed vegetables (cauliflower, zucchini, broccoli) and fruits (apples, pears, peaches) begins.

The baby sleeps about 14 hours a day, while during the day he still has to be laid 2-3 times.

Having gained another 650 g, the child increases the weight to 7 kg and makes attempts to get down on all fours, sways to the sides, bends over to pick up the fallen object, but so far only crawls on his bellies. Some children understand simple prompting words, babble, pronounce syllables. And also:

• freely roll over from back to stomach;
• express various emotions - discontent, fear, joy;
• transfer the toy from one hand to the other;
• look at pictures in books;
• play "magpie-crow", "okay", "ku-ku";
• examine, twirl and break objects.

For the speedy development of speech, you constantly talk with the baby, explain all the actions that you perform, clearly pronouncing the words.

Baby development at 7 months

The beginning of the seventh month of the child is held under the motto "I am mastering the space by any means." Children are no longer as dependent on their parents as in the first half of their life. If earlier, they could take an object, only the one that their parents gave them, now the young researcher is becoming more independent, new skills help him in this:

• many babies sit on their own for a long time, without support, but sometimes they still rely on their hand;
• most of them make attempts to crawl on their bellies or on all fours, get up at the support in order to get to an interesting object or favorite toy;
• try to "imitate" animals ("woof-woof", "meow", "moo", etc.);
• understand the meaning of many words, show body parts on request;
• love to swim and play in the water;
• study the contents of the plates and, with the help of parents, drink from the mug;
• put a small item into a larger one.

At 7, the little fidget can already boast of one or two teeth. Since the growth of teeth, bones and muscles continues to gain momentum, it is important to add all new foods rich in vitamins and microelements to the diet - cottage cheese, turkey, light chicken broth, potatoes, pumpkin, carrots, and various types of cereals.

The weight of the seven-month-old baby has increased by about 600 g, and the height has increased by 2 cm.

Baby development at 8 months

At 8 months, the child becomes more and more free in the possibilities of movement, and his growing curiosity does not allow his parents to leave him alone, even for a minute. The young explorer spins like a whirligig - he crawls perfectly on all fours back and forth, sits down and stands at the support from any position. Holding onto pieces of furniture or the arms of an adult can take a few additional steps. As well as:

• shows objects in pictures with pleasure;
• understands and fulfills the simplest requests “give”, “take”;
• disassembles the pyramid and selects the desired lid for the pan;
• dances and stomps his foot to the beat of the music;
• may smile while showing off a few new teeth.
• the emotional range and vocabulary of children is expanding - at this age, some of them pronounce their first conscious words.

Child mode does not undergo significant changes. He still sleeps for about 13-14 hours, of which 9-10 are at night.

Most of the diet, as before, is breast milk or infant formula, but complementary foods are no longer academic, but energetic, becoming more nutritious and varied. Thanks to this, children gain about 550 g in weight and 2 cm in height.

Baby development at 9 months

In the ninth month of life, the baby consolidates his motor skills, preparing for independent walking and becoming less and less helpless. Crawling on all fours is still the main form of movement, but now the child is perfectly oriented in the familiar space, and, leaning on pieces of furniture, can go around the whole room even with a toy in his hand. The favorite pastime of children of this age is hand-walking.

What kind of metamorphoses occur with the development of speech and psychoemotional sphere?

1. The child learns his name and responds to it.
2. Begins to speak in a language only he understands, using intonation, facial expressions and gestures of adults.
3. Knows the names of the objects that surround him. On request, he will find them with his eyes or point with a finger.
4. Plays cubes and string rings on the base of the pyramid.
5. Opens boxes, inquiring about their contents.
6. Attempts to manipulate adults by screaming and crying.

The duration of the child's sleep is reduced to 10-12 hours, and he still sleeps 1-2 times during the day.

With an average weight gain of 500 g and a height of 1.5 cm, the baby “grows heavier” up to 8, 5 - 9 kg.

Baby development at 10 months

In the tenth month of life, children are actively copying the movements and behavior of adults. They are happy to carry out various assignments "give", "bring", "take", etc., because their motor skills allow them to do this. The child skillfully moves around the apartment, holding onto the walls or one hand of an adult, easily sits down and gets up from a sitting position. At this stage, it is very important to encourage and praise the baby for his desire to help, even if he did something wrong.

A ten-month-old baby also has other important skills:

1. The kid begins to give preference to those other types of games, favorite toys appear.
2. Tries voice capabilities - pronounces syllables and words loudly and in a whisper.
3. Holds in hands 2-3 objects at a time.
4. Shows parent's face and body parts and a plush toy.

The grown-up baby sleeps less and less - now in total it turns out about 10 hours. The kid is actively growing, but in weight and height he is gaining less and less - only 450 g and 1.5 cm.

Baby development at 11 months

Eleven months after the baby is born, lifestyle families changes dramatically. The child makes his first independent steps, easily gets up from any position, stands unsupported for several minutes and still crawls on all fours very quickly.

The little man easily understands what you demand from him and gladly fulfills requests, wanting to show that he is already an "adult". Reacts to praise or punishment in the form of strict intonation of parents. When taking food, he tries to hold the spoon correctly and drink from the mug without spilling the contents.

The speech abilities of children are actively developing, but there is no need to demand too much from them, because everything is individual. Someone else uses vowel sounds to express their emotions, and some kids are already funny parodying animals and can express a desire or name an object in one word.

Music books with colorful pictures become favorite toys of the child, because he learned to turn pages without mother's help.

For an eleven-month-old toddler, it is better to divide the daytime sleep in half for 1.5 hours, otherwise he will be very tired and capricious.

Child development at 12 months

Often, parents do not even believe in how quickly the whole year of the life of their little miracle has flown by! Now the child walks and even runs on his own, periodically falling over, falling, but continuing to improve the skill.

What else did the little one learn during these 12 months:

• the child knows how to squat and step over obstacles;
• pronounces a few words, correlating them with objects and actions, most often his speech is still difficult to understand;
• eats less and less breast milk and formula, gradually moving to the "common table";
• learns to eat with a spoon and drink from a mug;
• vigorously expresses joy and discontent.

Despite the fact that your baby already seems to be quite an adult and weighs 10-11 kg, he still badly needs parents and painfully perceives their absence. He needs constant support and love of loved ones, then the results of development will not be long in coming.