Baby Development

A parent should bear in mind that baby development is very important as long as it is normal. They should not be tempted to compare the development of their baby with a neighbors baby. Incase they have a problem with their baby they should seek advice from a pediatrician or a health consultant.

The first month of baby development is marked alertness. This means that the baby is able to follow a moving object with his or her eyes. The baby should move the head. Hearing should be completely developed such that they can respond to different human sounds. At this stage, the baby can start smiling especially during their sleep. In the second month the babys movements are increased as the head muscles are more developed. Sounds of cooing and gurgling are more, the smile is enhanced, and they will sleep for longer durations lasting between 16 to 18 hours.

During the third month of baby development, the parent may notice that they have an improved recognition of voices, scents, and movements from people around them. The head muscles are stronger meaning that the baby can hold its head steady. By the fourth month, the babys speech starts developing and the parent may observe more gurgling and mimicking of sounds like mama, papa. At this stage, the parent should speak more to the child or even read them stories. In the fifth month, the baby starts to establish hand and eye coordination, whereby it tries to grasp on things.

During the sixth month, the baby starts putting objects in the mouth, moving forward, crawling may begin and most babies are able to sit unassisted. There are improved sleeping habits especially during the night. By the seventh month, the baby is usually more proactive and may start banging objects and consequently exhibiting a sense of delight when they here sounds. By the eighth month the baby continues crawling, and may try to stand in their crib; they also learn to pass objects from one hand to another.

At nine months of the baby development, most babies start saying words to the intended people like mommy to the mother, there is increased standing, and stronger grasp is acquired as they learn to pick things with the thumb and index finger. At month 10, the baby learns some gestures like clapping and waving as a sign of communication. They may also learn to hold their bottle and standing without support. At eleven months, the baby is able to understand simple instructions such as come, no, yes, clap and others.

At age of twelve months, gestures are increased, baby graduates from bubbling to making reasonable words, and some start walking. Parents should however know that every baby is and individual cannot therefore be gauged on the conventional baby development rationally. While some babies may be proactive from a very early age, thus meaning they could sit at four months and walk well at eight months, others may take some time before this happens.