A baby is born into the family, and young parents are happy to celebrate more and more successes in its development. Just recently he was wriggling his arms and legs chaotically. And now he easily grabs the toy to immediately put it in his mouth. Just yesterday I could only cry and groan. And today he responds to his mother’s voice with joyful cooing. However, there are plenty of reasons for concern... Mom and dad often worry: is their child developing correctly? Is there any delay, lag, or some kind of violation? Why does my friend’s son already know how to crawl, but ours has just started sitting? The daughter of my mother’s friend at this age was already reciting poetry, but ours only knows how to say: “baba” and “av-av”... In order to avoid unnecessary anxiety, we suggest that you familiarize yourself with the psychological characteristics of a child’s development by month from birth to 1 year.
The period from birth to one year includes two stages: newbornness and infancy. This is a very important period for your entire future life. It is at this time that the basic qualities of a person are laid, relationships are built with those closest to them and with the world as a whole.
Newborn
In official medicine, a newborn is considered to be a child in the first 28 days from the moment of his birth. From a psychological point of view, this is the time of experiencing the first crisis - the crisis of birth. The baby’s main task is to adapt to new environmental conditions, to adapt to life outside the mother’s body. In this he is helped by a number of innate, or unconditioned, reflexes: sucking, searching, grasping, etc. - most of which fade away over time.
The child spends most of his time sleeping. Periods of wakefulness in the first days of life do not exceed 30 minutes. By the end of the month they increase to one hour. However, this sleep is most often shallow, intermittent and more reminiscent of a state of drowsiness in adults. Newborns can sleep while feeding, and sometimes even with their eyes slightly open.
The development of a newborn in the first days of life consists of a kind of “tuning” of perceptual and motor reactions, i.e. perception and movement. In order to study the world around us, well-coordinated work of muscles is necessary, allowing you to focus your gaze, touch and feel objects, find the source of sound, etc. Already by a month, you can observe the baby’s first successes: coordinated eye movements, turning his head towards the source of a loud sound, etc. The emotional reactions of a newborn are not yet varied. The baby experiences only three basic emotions: excitement, pleasure and displeasure. Facial expressions consist of grimaces replacing each other, which do not yet reflect the real state of the child very well.
Care
Proper child care is an important aspect in the life of a little person. The baby needs to be regularly bathed, washed, and taught to perform hygiene procedures independently.
In addition, you need to be reminded that you need to wash your hands before eating and after going outside. When bathing, combine business with pleasure. There is hardly a toddler who would not like playing in the water.
Daily regime
Over the course of 12 months, children’s daily routine changes several times. Every day the baby grows up, and by 1 year and 1 month he sleeps significantly less than at six months of age. For the excellent well-being of their son or daughter, it is important for parents to properly organize the baby’s sleep and wakefulness.
Waking period
The daily routine of a one-year-old boy or girl includes many interesting activities, such as active and quiet games with parents, activities with toys, walks outside, reading books, communicating with animals and much more. We must also not forget about the need for massage and gymnastics. It is better to perform them an hour before bedtime or an hour after waking up. A fidget should be able to perform basic exercises (arm swings, squats, bends).
Dream
At this age, children sleep about 13-15 hours a day. Night sleep takes approximately 10-12 hours. The rest of the time, babies sleep during the day. At the same time, the baby usually sleeps twice during the day. At about one and a half years old, the little fidget will sleep once. He should be able to fall asleep on his own in his crib.
You might be interested in: Which pacifiers are good for newborns?
Walking outside
Experts recommend walking outside with a one-year-old child at any time of the year and in any weather. If the child is healthy, you need to take him outside twice a day for several hours.
In the morning it is better to do this after breakfast or a second breakfast, and in the evening before the second bedtime. The time spent outside is affected by weather conditions. In summer you can walk longer, and in winter less. Fresh air is important not only for health, but also for a good emotional state.
Nutritional Features
At 1 year and 1 month, the baby should receive food 5-6 times throughout the day. At the same time, he should already be able to hold a spoon on his own. About 3-4 hours should pass between meals. It is important to follow the regime. Therefore, the fidget should be fed at the same time. You should not allow long breaks between meals. If the baby is still breastfed, it is better to offer breastfeeding before bed. One meal should contain approximately 250-300 ml of milk or formula.
Complementary foods should be introduced gradually. To begin with, you should start with vegetable and fruit purees. At this age, you can add meat, fish, and eggs in small quantities to your baby’s diet. After introducing a new product, the mother should carefully monitor her child’s reaction. If your baby has a tummy ache or rashes appear, it is better to hold off on using this product.
It’s better to avoid sweets for now. At 1 year and 1 month, the baby’s body is not ready to accept foods such as chocolate, cakes, and candies. If you want to pamper your son or daughter with something sweet, offer him dried apricots or dried apples. You should also avoid fast food, sausages, salty cheeses and other things. Even if the little one asks strongly, parents should be able to refuse.
Infancy
The period of infancy covers 11 months of the baby’s life: from the 29th day of life to 1 year. Since at this time there is a change in several important stages in the development of the world, we will consider each of them in more detail.
Child development at 1 – 3 months
This period is sometimes called the “fourth trimester of pregnancy.” The baby needs physical contact with his parents and often falls asleep in the arms of adults. By the end of the third month of life, a certain routine is established: three or four daytime sleeps and one nighttime sleep. The baby's wakefulness still takes up less of the day. Although periods of activity increase to 2-3 hours. Such a large amount of sleep is due to the fact that the baby’s brain continues to actively develop and form new neural connections, processing a huge amount of information about the world around him.
The muscles of the back and neck are strengthened. By 1.5 months, the child holds his head confidently. By the 3rd – holds her, leaning on her hands when she lies on her stomach. Controlling the position of your own body and improving vision makes it possible to study objects located at a distance of up to three meters, and to remember objects that constantly appear in the field of view. The first emotional reactions appear: smile, laughter, expression of surprise, etc. The main psychological new formation of this age is the “revitalization complex.” Hearing the steps or voice of a close adult, the child turns in his direction, actively and cheerfully coos, showing that he wants to communicate. This becomes possible thanks to the recognition mechanism - the ability to remember the appearance of a significant person - and a spasmodic breakthrough in psychomotor development, which contributes to a noticeable improvement in the coordination of body movements.
Child development at 3 – 6 months
At this age, several important events occur that foreshadow the rapid development of independence of the child. Firstly, the baby moves actively and at approximately 4-5 months he discovers that he can roll over from his back to his stomach and back. After a few random turns, the baby begins to actively practice the new skill, being happy if the attempt is successful, and upset if it fails. This first breakthrough of determination sometimes leads to the child not being able to cope with his own emotions. He may become overexcited, have trouble falling asleep or wake up frequently, and be capricious. At 4-5 months, many children experience a “sleep regression” - their usual daily routine breaks down. To calm down during this period, the baby needs the help of an adult: swaddling, stroking, gentle rocking, etc. As a rule, this difficult period passes after 1-2 weeks, when the baby gets a little used to its new capabilities.
An active interest in the surrounding world appears. At three months, the child is able to follow the toy with his eyes, turning his head to follow it. At six, he can easily reach it with his hand and put it in his mouth. Studying the world “by the tooth” is as important a channel of perception as sight or hearing. The first harbinger of speech appears - humming: melodious sounds consisting of repeated syllables: “guli-guli-guli”, “alalya”, etc. The child divides the people around him into familiar and unfamiliar and responds to attempts to interact with him with interest or refusal. The first simple games with adults bring great pleasure: “Peek-a-boo,” “Ladushki,” various nursery rhymes, etc.
Child development at 6 – 9 months
The beginning of the second half of the year is a time that is critically important for the development of the communicative and motor spheres of the psyche. During these months, three key motor skills are mastered: sitting, crawling and getting up from a support. Moreover, they can appear in any order. The ability to independently move within an apartment or house, as well as the verticalization of body position, opens up new opportunities for exploring the surrounding space. This clearly affects the quality of the game. Actions with objects become more and more meaningful, the child begins to play in the true sense of the word. As a rule, games are sensory in nature. The main goal is to reproduce a tactile, auditory or visual sensation. For example, rustle a bag, ring a rattle, watch the wheels of a car flash, etc. Adults can join the game by using “physical” games: “Rails-sleepers”, “Over bumps”, etc.
At about 6-7 months, the humming gradually gives way to babbling. The baby pronounces a variety of syllables, gradually choosing from them those that correspond to the sounds of the language spoken by the people around him. When communicating with adults, children can quite accurately copy their intonations and “mirror” the emotions they see. All this enriches the baby's ability to express his own feelings. About different needs and experiences: fear, hunger, pleasure, etc. – the child signals with different sounds and gestures, which significantly facilitates his interaction with his parents.
Child development at 9 – 12 months
The last three months of infancy are a transition period, preparation for a new stage in the baby’s development. At this time, the musculoskeletal system is actively preparing to master the skill of upright walking. Babies actively crawl, stand up and walk along the support. As the year approaches, quite a lot of people take their first, still clumsy, steps. In a psychological sense, this means the first stage of separation of a child from an adult, awareness of oneself as an actively acting subject. Like other crisis eras, the end of the first year of life is characterized by rather contradictory manifestations. A child may stubbornly try to perform this or that action, be upset that it does not work out, but categorically reject the help of an adult. The strong-willed side of the personality develops: many children actively express their desires and may disagree with the requests or prohibitions of adults.
The ability to move independently often gives rise to a child’s fear of losing a significant adult. Parents often note that one-year-old children “stick to their skirts,” that is, they refuse to let mom (less often, dad) out of their sight even for a few seconds. A baby’s emotions are already differentiated almost as subtly as those of adults. But he is not yet able to cope with strong feelings. Therefore, tears and hysterics are a fairly common result of violent experiences. Usually, physical contact is a good way to calm people down: hugs, stroking, etc. Speaking out what the child feels in “you form” also helps. For example: “you were scared, you are scared” or “I understand that you are now offended by my ban.”
Another important breakthrough in communication is the appearance, towards the end of the first or beginning of the second year of life, of the first babble words - simple combinations of syllables that are constantly used to designate specific objects. In addition, the child’s passive vocabulary develops. He can already fulfill some simple requests (“give”, “bring”, etc.) and show several familiar people or objects in pictures or in real life.
Speech of a child at 1 year and 1 month
After 12 months, children develop rapid speech development. Kids quickly improve their skills in this area and experiment with sounds. The vocabulary expands very quickly. If a toddler knew about 10-15 words at one year old, then by the age of 2 his arsenal will have approximately 250-300 words. At the same time, facial expressions and gestures are improved.
If you want to help your child develop speech, you can do the following simple activities:
- While reading a book, show the little one pictures and ask basic questions, for example, “where is the cat”?
- Try to talk to your baby more often, read nursery rhymes, fairy tales, and poems to him.
- Do not “lisp” under any circumstances. A boy or girl should hear clear and intelligible speech.
- For good speech development, play games that involve articulatory gymnastics (inflating a balloon, pronouncing various sounds, sticking out your tongue, folding your lips into a tube, etc.).
- Give your baby a finger massage every day.
- When doing various things around the house, voice your actions. For example, “I wash the dishes”, “I wipe the dust”, “I set the table”.
You might be interested in: When do newborns begin to see and hear?
If you see that your son or daughter is interested in something, talk about it as much as possible, no matter whether it is cars, nature, animals or something else.
About development standards
It is very important to remember that a child’s individual developmental standards may differ from the “statistical average.” During infancy, the permissible “span” is approximately 1.5 – 3 months. If the deadline for mastering a particular skill (crawling, walking, etc.), taking into account the possible “reserve”, has already passed, parents can seek advice from a specialist - a pediatrician or neurologist - to receive individual recommendations on how to help the child harmoniously develop.
According to the unanimous opinion of scientists, the most important activity for a child in the first year of life is direct emotional communication with an adult. This means that the key to a child’s psychological health is his communication with loving family, filled with hugs, touches and conversations - in a word, the warmth of a real family.
Author:
Natalia Ulyanova
Educational psychologist, play therapist
Lecturer at the Department of the Academy of Psychology and Pedagogy of Southern Federal University, author of more than 30 research papers
