Baby Development, What to expect from your 0-2 year olds
From birth to roughly two years of age our children learn about their world primarily from the use of their senses and their motor skills. That is he is using touch, sight, feel, smell, taste and audio clues to discover concepts and relationships within his world. His use of movement will also help in this development, as he shakes a rattle or sucks on his hand. Throughout this stage of your baby’s development some of the main relationships that he will learn are what names go with which objects. He will discover that he is capable of moving objects by his own force this in turn will help to form a basic understanding of cause and effect. He will also learn the concept of object permanence. This is where the baby learns that objects still exist even when he can no longer see or feel the object. The main limitation of this stage of baby development, is that the baby can only learn by doing. Although he is beginning to learn notions such as cause and effect and the names of objects, he will need repetition to help him along his way. So it’s handy to remember when he keeps doing something like dropping a toy for you to pick up over and over and over again or keeps on wanting “more” “more” he is just learning about cause and effect and other types of relationships. Repetition of songs and rhymes are a great way to help your baby’s development and understanding of the way our words and sound go together. Babies will learn their speech mainly by modeling us. Pronouncing our own words correctly and just a little slower than normal works best to help our baby’s development of language skills. Baby development has been mapped by Jean Piaget, a Swiss psychologist. Piaget’s work on the cognitive development (the mental processes of perception, memory, judgment, and reasoning) of children has been instrumental in both the psychology and educational areas. It is his work that the above is based on. The baby’s entire world involves around himself, his parents and any other close family members and because of this he will take many of his social responses from us. The more we smile, laugh play and interact with him the more secure and loved he will feel, which in turn should promote a more contented baby (barring any medical conditions). Below is a more detailed explanation of the stages of development for your baby. Please remember that all babies develop at different rates and the ages should only be used as a guide.
Newborn DevelopmentBaby Development (0-1mth approx) For newborn development to continue your baby needs only the simply things. Your love and touch. A newborn is yet to realize that she is separate from you and the world; instead she sees you and the world as an attachment of her. So what she needs at this stage is plenty of tactile responses, cuddle her, kiss her and caress her as often as you can. In your baby's development her sight is still not great. She will have trouble focusing on things that are in the background but she should be able to see your face if you are cuddling her. However her hearing is fantastic, in fact as you probably already know babies can hear in the womb. Speak to your newborn often and she will soon recognize your voice. So at this stage of your baby’s development, toys are not really necessary. Playing your newborn soothing music while interacting with her on a tactile level will stimulate her senses that are most developed, sound and touch. Something that worked wonders for us was to shower with both of them. It became a special time for Rob, my husband, to bond with them and both of our children loved it. In fact if they were unsettled for any reason we would put them in the shower with dad and it instantly calmed them done. If you are uncomfortable with the idea of showering your newborn try a bath instead. Either way the water often makes the baby feel secure (apparently it is similar to the womb), the baby also gets plenty of tactile stimulation and you have a beautiful way to bond with your precious newborn.
At this stage she is becoming more alert and responsive to those around her. It is likely that her eyesight has developed enough now and she will not only see your face from a distance but also recognize you by sight. Not only can you continue to talk to your baby frequently, but all the smiles and loving facial expression you give her will stimulate her visual senses. Don’t forget that while she is watching and listening to you she is also beginning to learn how to model you. She will be learning how to smile from your smiles and she will be starting to develop language skills. In fact she will be probably making noise of her own. Lots of positive reactions, smiles and talking back will encourage your baby’s language development. Plenty of soft matt time will encourage this stage of your baby’s development. Let her kick about and explore her latest amazing toy – her hands. By moving about she will be developing some coordination skills, moving her hand to her mouth is great for hand eye coordination. Give her some brightly colored toys to encourage her developing eye sight and when she can grasp onto a rattle place one in her hand for her. She will delight in the sounds of the rattle and love to check out its taste and texture with her mouth. And of course your baby will still love to have heaps of touching talking and interacting with mom and dad. Baby development at this stage continues along to the point where she is now beginning to understand more of her environment. She is learning more about language and that many sounds (words) have meaning. Reading simple books with lots of pictures will help to develop not only her language skills but also her ability to give names to many of the objects around her. Object permanence, an important part of baby development, is beginning to take shape. Games like peek-a-boo will give her plenty of enjoyment plus help to develop her concept of object permanence. Once she begins to realize that object still exists when she can no longer see them is a great time to introduce the game of hide and seek. Hide her toy in the room somewhere (behind a cushion is a great place) and let her explore around her, or the room (if she is more mobile) to find the toy. She is also learning the cause and effect relationship. Toys and objects that she can operate or manipulate are great to establish this relationship. Repetition is the key to help her learn all of these relationships. So remember you are more likely to get bored with games and songs way before she begins to lose interest in them. This stage of your baby's development is normally a continuation of what your baby was starting to learn between the ages of 3-7months. These concepts will become more concrete for her and it is likely that she will start to experiment with them. For example, if she has built a small tower from blocks she may well like to see what happens when she knocks them over. As your baby develops her knowledge that objects have names spend plenty of time naming the object that she is playing with. For example, say the name of what you are giving her and read books that name objects, like animals or colours. She will also be able to point to some of the object that you have named. This is an exciting time for your toddler she is finally mobile and will love to explore her environment. She will begin to move further away from you. She might even leave the room you are in for a small period of time before returning to make sure you are still there. This is all a normal part of baby development. Related Link A child is not a miniature adult. Learn about various aspects of
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Baby development of the 1-2 year old The typical 1-2 year old will start to engage in symbolic play. They will delight in playing games that mimic your behavior, for example, mommy and babies, talking on a toy phone, doing housework or even pretending to go off to work. Both of my children loved to mimic me on the phone. My son would take his toy phone up to my bedroom to talk (just like I would so I could hear), my daughter would also get a cup of tea to drink while she talked on her pretend toy. Even the conversations they had while on the phone were similar to ones I would have with my friends and family. Toys that mimic adult work are great learning tools for our toddlers. Remember that they learn best by play that engages their senses and from repetition. Outside plays is fantastic for this, there are many different sounds, sights and objects with different textures and feel to play with. All of this is fantastic for your baby's development. Play is the most significant way that our toddlers learn so remember to make any lessons that you which to teach your child, fun interesting and short. I would often take my children on small walks around our neighborhood. We would walk at their pace and talk about all things we could see or hear. I would point how birds in the sky, ants on the ground, the different flowers and what colours they were that we could see. We would pick up things like sticks, rocks and some wild flowers for them to feel and smell (and when I wasn’t quick enough taste).
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