Baby’s First-Year

When babies begin to participate and engage in the world around them it is indicative of them becoming more and more independent. From the moment a baby is born into this world she will begin the process of developing the motor skills that are necessary for her to take command of that which is around her and for her to relate with her environment.

Because of this, a baby who has mastered the motor skill of sitting up without help, for example, will have a completely different outlook on the environment than the baby who has not yet mastered this skill.

You will find as your baby begins to stack skill upon skill that his experience of the world, and in turn the complexity of newly learned skills will grow. As your baby’s motor skills grow and become more complex, so will your baby’s overall interaction.

Look out world, here I come!

Physical development can be broken up into three month intervals and divided into two categories: Gross motor skills and find motor skills.

Gross motor skills are the term used to describe your baby’s ability to control different parts of her own body.

Fine motor skills refer to your baby’s level of coordination of different body parts, such as picking up an object with her thumb and finger.

Infant muscle development starts at the head and works it’s way down. Your baby will first develop control over neck muscles. Soon after that he will learn to control torso and finally leg muscles.

Your baby will then roll over by herself, start sitting up on her own, and eventually crawl.

He will enjoy bouncing on your knee which is a great way to promote balance. By the time he is eight months old, he will probably learn how to pull himself into an upright position and walk around the room holding the furniture.

Typically, a baby will start to walk between the ages of nine months and fifteen months. If you baby isn’t walking yet but is crawling, sitting up and standing with no problems, he is developing just fine, don’t worry. Perfectly normal babies will sometimes walk as late as nineteen months. If you think there is a problem, ask your doctor.

Walkers are another one of those things that you will have to decide to use or not to use. Many people will tell you they are wrong to offer to your baby. Other people will swear it is the only way to go. Do your research and decide what works for you. As I look around me, I don’t see any grade school students still using their walkers so I can’t see any harm in using them.

To shoe or not to shoe. Babies learn to walk easier without shoes on their feet. If you floors are cold, it’s a good idea to put shoes on baby. Otherwise, let him run around barefoot.

Motor skills are not exactly the same as eye and hand coordination but they are pretty close. The development of eye-hand coordination often parallels and/or compliments the development of gross and fine motor skills. There are some activities your baby can do to increase her coordination and develop her motor skills.

Here are a few examples:

• Puzzles. Get your baby started on jigsaw puzzles. There are baby-style puzzles which only have 4 or 5 pieces. As baby accomplishes these easy puzzles, get progressively harder puzzles. Don’t move too fast, you don’t want to frustrate the new learning mind.
• Duplo Blocks. These are baby sized Lego type blocks.
• Plastic building blocks.
• Peg and hole toys. These teach baby to recognize different shapes.
• Plastic donut toy. Teaches eye-hand coordination.

Encourage baby to play and develop his skills. Don’t stress correctness right away. Stress fun. Baby will learn to do it right is it is fun to try. Avoid doing it for baby. It is hard to resist the temptation to just do it. Baby can’t learn by watching, he has to figure it out for himself. You watch and encourage.

A note about night feedings:  By the time your baby is six months old you will want to think about giving up those night feedings if you haven’t already done so.  You should start by offering less and less breast milk or formula during night feedings.  Eventually she will stop  waking as her body adjusts to not eating during the night.  If you are bottle feeding, you can gradually substitute water in your baby’s bottle in place of formula.

Four to Six Months:  Introduction to solid foods.  You should try to wait until your baby is at least four months old before introducing any solid foods.  When you do decide to offer solids, start with a tiny bit of baby cereal thinned with formula or breast milk.  Don’t offer too much at first.  Let baby’s digestive system figure out what to do with this new substance.

You can start to introduce baby to fruit juice diluted with bottled water.  Apple juice or white grape juice are good first juices.  Orange juice should wait until after 7 or 8 months.

Six to seven months:  Adding fruits and vegetables.  Once your baby has been introduced to cereal you will want to add mashed/strained fruits and vegetables.  Start with small amounts (one teaspoon).  increasing gradually as your baby get used to the new food.  You should only introduce one new food every 3 to 4 days.  This is so you will be able to see if your baby is having an allergic reaction to any of the foods you are offering.  If you start with 10 different foods and baby is allergic to one, which one is it?

Seven to eight months:  Adding protein.  Protein foods include strained meats, cottage cheese, egg yolk, yogurt and dried beans.  Follow the same guideline as six to seven months. One new food at a time and small amounts to begin with.

Eight to twelve month:  Adding other foods.  By now baby is probably eating what ever the rest of the family is eating.  Make sure all foods are in tiny pieces for baby to prevent choking.

A note about the bottle:  If you are bottle feeding baby, please never put anything other than formula, milk and water in the bottle.  Juices are for a cup.  Once baby is past 4 months, if you are offering a bedtime bottle, it should only have water.  You don’t want to damage those new teeth with fruit juice laying in the corner of baby’s mouth while she sleeps.

Here are a few solid food tips:

• Baby does not need sugar or salt added to his solid foods.
• Baby does not need dessert or pop.
• Introducing cow’s milk too soon can cause milk allergies.  Ask you doctor about this.
• Do not give baby nuts, seeds, popcorn, raw carrots or other hard foods.  Never give baby a whole sausage or hotdog.
• After you have determined which foods baby likes, make sure you offer a wide variety each day.
• As soon as she want to try, let her feed herself.  I know this is messy but your baby needs to develop her motor skills and what better way than with a hungry baby?

Finally, be patient with baby while he is learning his new eating skills.  You don’t want to make mealtime a stressful time.  Let baby enjoy the food and time spent with the family.

One of the more complex questions that you will ask yourself during your baby’s first year is:  What do I feed her?  When do I feed him?

Your baby starts out with a simple requirement of either breast milk or formula.  What happens after the milk?

This section will help you learn what types of foods to introduce into your baby’s diet at a certain stage of development.  This information should only be considered a guideline.  Your doctor and baby may have different ideas.

It is important to realize that not all babies will be ready for solids at the same time.  So how do you know when you baby is ready?  There are a few simple guidelines that you can follow to help you decide when you baby is ready for solids.  When in doubt, always check with your doctor.

Your baby is probably ready for solids when:

• His birth weight has doubled
• She tries to grab the food you are eating
• He watches you eat with great interest
• She consumes 32 oz or more each day of formula or breast milk
• He is always putting things in his mouth
• She can sit easily in the highchair
• He can demonstrate to you that he is full or hungry
• She always seems to be hungry

If you baby fits the criteria above, he is probably ready for solids. Introducing solids too soon can cause food allergies.  Don’t be in a big hurry to push solids on your baby.  If she is content with the liquid diet, leave things as they are.  Only consider solids when baby seems to need more food than just the bottle or breast.

Also consider:  Baby needs to be able to chew and swallow easily before solids will be safe to consume.  This should never be done in a prone position.  If baby can’t sit up, he can’t have solid foods!

The first six months is usually all formula or breast milk.  If you are breastfeeding you will be using cues from your baby as to when she is full or hungry.

If you are using formula, this is a little trickier.  How much formula do you make?  How much will baby need at each feeding?  The following chart may help you with this.  Ultimately, your baby will have the final word and that word will be very loud if he doesn’t get enough formula.