All About Your Baby’s Growth And Development

Unlike many of us who struggle to keep up with our work duties during the day and can sit back, watch TV and really relax only during the night your little baby is not governed by the rules of night and day. They will sleep whenever they feel like it, wherever they feel like it, and however long they want to.

On an average, babies sleep close to 17 hours a day. A whopping nine hours more than what we can just about manage. However, unlike us they don’t nap for long stretches of time - most of their sleeping spells extend only up to 2-3 hours. When they do wake up they expect to be fed or changed, and in case you forget to meet those expectations they’ll create a ruckus just to remind you!

To help your baby’s routine get more conventional, in terms of its sleeping/feeding time etc. you can take a number of steps. To make sure he/she learns that night time is the time to sleep and daytime the time to stay up and throw tantrums, put your baby in a room that is too bright during the day to fall asleep in. However, be careful not to put your baby in direct sunlight.

At night either shift your baby to a room that is cool and dark, or use the same room but just curtain it up and switch on the ac to make it cosy enough for baby to fall asleep. You can also put your baby in a sort of routine just to condition him/her to what comes before getting to sleep. Give him/her a warm bath or feed her or play soothing music right before putting him/her to bed every day.

Every child is born with certain reflexes. If you touch his cheek with the tip of your hand or your breast he will turn towards the tip and open his mouth; if you put your finger in his palm he will grasp it etc. These reflexes disappear after the few initial months after his/her birth and are duly replaced by more voluntary actions.

Although a large variety of baby food is available in the market today nothing is as high in nutrients as the mother’s milk. The antidotes found in a mother’s milk protect the child against infections and makes his/her immune system stronger.

After birth the baby’s weight undergoes rapid change. Within a matter of six months it becomes twice its birth weight. In the next six months its weight shoots up to around triple the weight at its birth. Once it crosses the one-year mark its growth pattern settles down and continues at a comparatively lower speed. At one years of age any average child is about 30 inches in length and 20 pounds in weight. At two these figures become about 33 and 26 respectively.

At three months of age, your child will love to study faces and try and grasp toys and moving objects of interest hanging over its head. He/she will also respond to voices and sounds and volume. By six months most babies will be able to stand and sit with some assistance. At nine months of age, your baby will be sitting alone and will also be able to pull herself/himself on furniture (provided their strength matches their weight). Their babble will now start taking a concrete shape and fingers will come handy in pointing and of course eating little pieces of food.

By the time your baby is 1 she will probably learn to walk on her own and also crawl up over more difficult terrain, like the stairs or over the crib or play pen. She will also show greater preference for one hand over the other, and will tend to do most of her movements with the preferred hand. They will also learn to recognize faces and thereby be afraid of strangers and will express love and affection.