Throughout the first year, infants grow at a tremendously fast rate. In fact, by the end of the first year they will have tripled in birth weight. Length can be expected to double. By their first birthday, most infants will be crawling and even may be taking a timid first step!
The most essential ingredient in infant care is a warm, responsive, and dependable parent. Spend lots of time holding, cuddling and playing with your newborn. Mom and dad will be richly rewarded with babbles, smiles, and squeals of laughter.
Ideas for Parents, Grandparents, and Caregivers
Help infants develop a sense of trust and security by responding to their cries. Feeling secure encourages infants to try new things. Be constituent so that they will know what to expect.
Place babies in new places and new positions so that they can see you and others from different angles.
Hold and cuddle infants when feeding them. Being held and cuddled frequently is extremely important in the development of baby’s sense of self-worth and security. Holding and cuddling a baby is also a great stress releaser for an adult. Do not prop infants drinking from a bottle as it may cause choking.
Respect a baby’s natural schedule. Most babies will settle into a regular routine for eating, sleeping and soiling their diapers, but the schedule will vary depending on the baby. Some babies need to eat more frequently than some others. Some will sleep more and take longer naps.
Baby-proof everything! Store toxic substances such as dish washer detergent, make-up, paint, or medicine up high. Put safety latches on cabinets and covers on electrical outlets. Lower crib mattresses so that older infants can’t fall over the rail. Cover sharp corners of tables or shelves that infants might bump into.
Expose babies to bright colors and a variety of objects to look at. Pictures, moving objects, brightly colored or contrasting color toys attract infants.
Provide an environment rich with sound. Help infants learn to recognize common household sounds such as a vacuum cleaner, a radio, a clock, a whistling tea kettle, or a door bell.
Provide interesting objects for infants to feel, touch, mouth and explore. Square nylon scarves, cold metal bowls, plastic measuring cups, large wooden spoons, and wet washcloths are favorite household toys. Keep easy-to-swallow objects out of infant’s reach. Babies should not been allowed to play with anything smaller than a half dollar (about 1-1/4 inch).
Provide opportunities for infants to smell different smells. Lemon, vanilla and apple juice are wonderful kitchen smells. Babies also enjoy smelling tree bark, dirt, grass and other natural things.
Expose older babies to a variety of tastes and temperatures in food. Offer cold sherbet, warm oatmeal, mashed peaches and chopped cooked carrots.
Help babies develop a sense of movement and balance by gently bouncing, swaying, swooping and swinging with them.
Talk to infants. Face infants when talking to them so they can see you and smile with you. Talk about what you are doing, familiar objects or people. You may even want to babble back or echo sounds your baby makes much as you would in a regular conversation. Even though an infant cannot understand everything you say, he will be learning many words that will form the basis for language later on.
Read to infants. Babies enjoy cuddling on a caregiver’s lap, looking at colorful picture books, and hearing the rhythm of their voice. With time they begin to understand that words have meaning and can be used to identify objects.
Encourage older infants to feed themselves by offering pieces of banana and soft bread sticks . Give babies a spoon with some mashed potatoes or other sticky food, and let them practice eating with a spoon. Yes, it will be messy! Be patient. Learning this skill takes lots of practice.
Play peek-a-boo. Hide your face behind a blanket and then peek out at the baby. Older babies will learn to do this themselves and will enjoy this game for a long time.
Gibe babies the freedom to move around. Young infants enjoy being on their backs so that they can kick, wiggle, and look around. Older infants need space and time to practice crawling, creeping, pulling up, and walking. Spending too much time in a walker, playpen, or infant swing may inhibit the development of these important skills.
Stay with infants when someone new is around. Encourage strangers to approach slowly. Introduce an infant by name, and let him explore someone new in the safety of your presence.
Thanks,
Health, February-2013
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