“Not by the day, but by the hour”: Child development by month

A baby's first year is probably the most important and amazing year of his life. Every morning, when he opens his eyes, he gains 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 “one-year-old”. Young mothers are not always able to objectively assess the level of development of the child - whether everything is normal or if something needs to be corrected. They can understand this by reading the article.

Baby at 1 month: development

The first 30 days after birth, the child is considered a newborn. All his organs begin to actively adapt to life outside his mother’s tummy, where he felt completely safe. It is common for infants to keep their fists clenched and their legs pulled toward their 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 height by 3 cm. As a rule, most of the time the baby is in a state of drowsy or deep sleep. Gradually, you need to teach the baby to sleep, stay awake and eat at approximately 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 tilt your face towards it;
• listens to sounds, feels the mother's smell, for example, breast milk;
• follows bright, slowly moving objects;
• chaotically waves its legs and arms;
• makes sounds if he needs something.

Baby at 2 months: development

The first month of the baby’s adaptation to existence in a new, alien world is behind us. The first attempts to communicate with mom and dad appear through smiling, cooing, and extending arms. The baby recognizes the emotions of adults and reacts quickly to them, turns his head when he hears a loud sound, and also actively explores his hands and sucks his fingers.

Now, thanks to the development of memory, he knows exactly what his loved ones look like. Innate reflexes gradually fade away. If you put the baby on his stomach, he will hold his head for 20-30 seconds. Now the baby is 700-800 g heavier and is awake a little more than a month ago - about 20 hours. At this age, children may confuse day with night, especially when the baby suffers from colic.  Try giving him a tummy massage using light clockwise movements with your palm. A warm diaper and “dill water” will help cope with gas and the baby 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 happening to your baby! He is no longer a helpless lump, but a fully formed child with his characteristic features and meaningful facial expression. He is still fed exclusively on breast milk or special formula. You should not introduce complementary foods too early, because, despite the fact that intestinal colic almost does not torment the baby, its gastrointestinal tract is not yet fully formed. A correctly selected number of feedings will allow him to gain about 800 g, while his height will increase by 2.5 cm.

What has your baby learned over the past month?

1. The total number of hours of sleep is reduced to 18.
2. In horizontal and vertical positions, the child holds his head for about 30-60 seconds.
3. Lying on his tummy, he tries to lean on his forearms, and may turn on his side.
4. If you hold the baby above a flat surface, he will begin 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 is trying to take the rattle with his fingers, and he is pulling his feet into his mouth.

The daily bathing procedure 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 problems with colic and gas in the baby, which caused a lot of anxiety and concern for his parents. Nights become calmer and daily routines become more orderly.

The child now needs constant supervision, because he is increasingly exploring his capabilities and pulling into his mouth objects that are in his field of vision. In addition, he has favorite toys, with which he performs conscious actions - knocking, shaking and throwing them on the floor. When feeding, the baby learns to hold the bottle

Another great 4 month skill is rolling over from back to stomach. Having changed position, the baby turns its head in different directions, tries to crawl and lift its upper body. Considering that the baby has grown 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 music being played, turning his head towards the source of the sound.

At this age, children most often give preference to their mother, loudly declaring their displeasure 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 voice, but also visually, but they are wary of strangers.

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

There are other equally important skills:

1. The baby himself encourages his parents to communicate - he pulls out his hands, pronounces the syllables “ma”, “pa”, “ba”, and repeats the facial expressions of adults.
2. Children enjoy looking at pictures of animals.
3. If the baby is placed in the playpen, he can occupy himself for 15-20 minutes.
4. Games using various objects become a regular part of the daily routine.
5. The baby's sleep is divided into daytime - 2-3 times and nighttime with a break of 1-2 feedings.
6. During walks, five-month-old babies now not only sleep, but are also interested in what is happening around them.

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. The little fidget, sitting in a special highchair, drinks from a cup and tries new foods - at 6 months, complementary feeding begins with hypoallergenic cereals and pureed vegetables (cauliflower, zucchini, broccoli) and fruits (apples, pears, peaches).

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

Having gained another 650 g, the child increases the weight to 7 kg and makes attempts to stand on all fours, swings to the sides, bends down to pick up a fallen object, but so far only crawls on his belly. Some children understand simple words that encourage action, babble, and pronounce syllables. And also:

• roll over freely from back to stomach;
• express various emotions - dissatisfaction, fear, joy;
• transfer the toy from one hand to the other;
• look at pictures in books;
• play “magpie-crow”, “ladushki”, “peek-a-boo”;
• they look at, twirl in their hands and break objects.

For the fastest development of speech, constantly talk to your baby, explain all the actions you perform, clearly pronouncing the words.

Baby development at 7 months

The beginning of the child’s seventh month passes under the motto “I master space by any means.” Children are no longer as dependent on their parents as they were in the first half of life. If earlier they could only take an object that their parents gave them, now the young researcher becomes more independent, new skills help him in this:

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

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

The weight of a seven-month-old child increased by approximately 600 g, and height increased by 2 cm.

Baby development at 8 months

At 8 months, the child becomes more and more free in his ability to move, and his growing curiosity does not allow his parents to leave him alone even for a minute. The young researcher spins like a spinning top - crawls excellently on all fours back and forth, sits down and stands up against a support from any position. Holding onto pieces of furniture or the hands of an adult, he can take several extra steps. And also:

• enjoys showing objects in pictures;
• understands and fulfills the simplest requests “give”, “take”;
• disassembles the pyramid and selects the required lid for the pan;
• dances and stomps his feet to the beat of the music;
• can smile, showing off a few new teeth.
• Children's emotional range and vocabulary expands—at this age, some of them utter their first conscious words.

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

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

Baby development at 9 months

In the ninth month of life, the baby strengthens its motor skills, preparing to walk independently and becoming less and less helpless. Crawling on all fours still remains the main type of movement, but now the child is perfectly oriented in the space familiar to him, and, leaning on pieces of furniture, can walk around the entire room, even with a toy in his hand. The favorite pastime of children of this age is holding hands.

What metamorphoses occur with the development of speech and the psycho-emotional sphere?

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

The child's sleep duration is reduced to 10–12 hours; during the day he still sleeps 1–2 times.

With an average weight gain of 500 g and a height of 1.5 cm, the baby “gets heavier” to 8.5 - 9 kg.

Child development at 10 months

In the tenth month of life, children actively copy the movements and behavior of adults. They are happy to carry out various tasks “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 develops other important skills:

1. The baby begins to give preference to other types of games, and favorite toys appear.
2. Tries vocal possibilities - pronounces syllables and words loudly and in a whisper.
3. Holds 2-3 objects in his hands at a time.
4. Shows parts of the face and body of the parents and the plush toy.

The grown-up baby sleeps less and less - now the total is about 10 hours. The baby is growing actively, but is gaining less and less weight and height - only 450 g and 1.5 cm.

Child development at 11 months

Eleven months after the birth of the baby, lifestyle families is changing dramatically. The child takes his first independent steps, easily gets up from any position, stands without support for several minutes and still crawls very quickly on all fours.

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

Children’s speech abilities 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 amusingly imitating animals and can express a desire or name an object in one word.

The child's favorite toys are music books with colorful pictures, because he has learned to turn the pages without his mother's help.

For an eleven-month-old toddler, it is better to divide daytime sleep into two times of 1.5 hours, otherwise he will become very tired and capricious.

Child development at 12 months

Often, parents can’t even believe how quickly a whole year of their little miracle’s life has flown by! Now the child walks and even runs on his own, periodically collapsing and falling, but continuing to improve the skill.

What else has the little one learned in these 12 months:

• the child knows how to squat and step over obstacles;
• pronounces several words, correlating them with objects and actions, most often his speech is still difficult to understand;
• feeds less and less on breast milk and formula, gradually moving to the “common table”;
• learns to eat with a spoon and drink from a mug;
• violently expresses joy and dissatisfaction.

Despite the fact that your baby already seems quite grown up and weighs 10-11 kg, he still greatly needs his parents and is painfully aware of their absence. He needs constant support and love from loved ones, then the results of development will not be long in coming.