HOW TO HELP BABY REACH MILESTONES?

14April 2023

When babies are born, everything seems new to them. They grow with time depending on various external and internal factors. Hence, development of babies differs from each baby to baby.

The initial year of a baby’s life is very crucial since the baby grows and develops with speed during this time. Each month a baby develops a new physical or mental attribute or abilities and they are called the baby milestones.

What are the categories of milestones of a baby?

Motor developments- these developments are influenced by the outside environment in which a baby grows. Some babies walk early, some take a little time. Every baby takes its own time before showing fine movements
Language developments- most of the common abilities like to understand, to process, to speak their language etc. come under language development. The babies start to adapt to the languages within a year by just pronouncing a few easy words, which are used in daily life and their respective spoken languages.
Social/emotional developments- during the initial few months, a baby undergoes numerous social and emotional developments. In this early stage, the brain undergoes dramatic changes like language development, forming basic motor abilities, complexity in thinking, and they begin to understand their own emotions and feelings.

A chart showing the baby’s first year of milestones –

Age	Gross motor	Fine motor	Speech-language	Cognitive	Social-emotional
New-born	Moro, positive support primitive reflexes, Flexed posture	Hand grasp primitive reflex	Root, suck primitive reflexes Orients to sound Smiles to voice Variable cries	Visual focal length ∼10” Turns to visual stimuli Prefers human face (eyes), contrast, colours, high pitched voice	Cries when infant cries (empathy)
Two months	Head up 45° in prone	Holds placed rattle	Gurgles	Follows horizontal arc	Awake more during day
Four months	Asymmetrical tonic neck primitive reflex Lifts chest in prone	Brings hands together in midline Extends straight arms toward rattle, supine Reaches and grasps rattle	Coos	Watches hands Explores the environment by looking around Anticipates routines Looks to find a caregiver	Calms when spoken to, picked up, sucking or looking Enjoys eye contact Facial expressions of joy, anger, sadness, distress, surprise Self-soothes to sleep
Six months	Primitive reflexes went Pulls to sit Sits tripod	Shakes rattle Holds cube between two hands, holds one cube in each hand, ulnar-palmar grasp (4^th and 5^th fingers), radial-palmar grasp (1^st and 2^nd fingers)	Looks toward the person talking to him Vocalizes to answer Laughs	Bangs objects together Trial and error problem solving Looks for dropped object	Predictable schedule Smiles to initiate engagement and respond Back-and-forth engagement through facial expressions and eye contact; shares enjoyment (joyful looks) Prefers familiar people Shows interest in other infants (empathy)
Nine months	Postural reflexes present Rolls both ways Sits well	Transfers, radial-digital grasp (thumb with 1^st and 2^nd fingers, no palm), touches cheerio with finger, raking pincer grasp	Looks to familiar named object, inhibits to ‘no’ Vocalizes to initiate	Object permanence Explores caregiver’s face Searches for hidden toy	Attachment development established
12 months	Gets to sit Crawls Pulls to stand Walks with one handheld Catches rolling ball	Pincer grasp Voluntary cube release, into cup Holds bottle	Turns to name, understands routine commands Babbles or gestures intentionally for behaviour regulation (request: reach, point, up; refusal: push, arch away) and social interaction (attention-seeking: move arms and legs; social game: imitate clapping; representational: bye-bye)	Looks for object not seen hidden Trial and error exploration ‘Cause and effect’ toys (pushes button to see popup or pulls the string to hear sounds)	Plays pat-a-cake Peekaboo (initiates by putting a blanket overhead) Gives to infants (empathy) Joint attention: gives or shows by extending object to comment

According to the above chart, it's clear, what are the milestones or important achievements a baby is supposed to accomplish. These months are very crucial in a growing baby. But parents don’t need to observe their baby’s growth and development obsessively. Sometimes a baby grasps or learns gradually as compared to the other babies. Parents shouldn’t worry or take stress in such cases.

Just how a firm puts up a plan to achieve its objectives this chart showcases the milestones of an infant's journey of growth that must be achieved. This particular chart may help the parents to observe their kid’s accomplishments and if crucial can consult a paediatrician.

How to help a baby grow systematically?

First Month -

Babies are very delicate and their senses are still in their developing stage. Almost all the babies just eat, sleep, drink and poop during the first month. But after a few days, they reach new levels. These new levels can be obtained easily by –

Making a baby drink ample amount of milk and water
After eating, tapping is a must on the back so that the baby can learn that after a meal he or she is supposed to burp
Baby’s vision can be improved by showing him/her appealing objects, vibrant colours and contrasting patterns.

Second Month-

In this month baby's movements are supposed to be observed very closely. If there are any problems faced by babies, in other words, if a baby has not achieved any developmental stage yet, then parents must consult a paediatrician so that they can track their kid’s developments in the second month. New levels can be attained by doing the following-

By pulling and massaging the neck of the baby helps in making the baby’s head stay firm
Babies can recognise familiar faces since they see the people at home regularly and especially their home members. All the family members must interact with the baby so that it recognises every person

Third Month-

Emotional skills will start developing in a baby during this month, so do the following to enhance the level

Some exercises so that the baby learns certain movements of hands and legs
Both the hands and legs movements are necessary, if not consult a child physician

Fourth Month -

Babies start developing affection towards toys and identifying with certain objects. During this time a baby usually starts teething that is developing teeth which can be a little painful process.

Keep a check on them while they are playing with their toys and ensure that they play safe. Also, try and understand their tendency of liking certain toys as that will determine their nature and cognitive abilities
It's painful for a baby when it’s teething For soothing baby’s growth of teeth, the mother should massage their gums regularly

Fifth Month –

This stage is the foundation stage for other growths and developments occurring in a baby. Now their vision is a bit strong and they like very strong and vibrant colours. Also, they start responding to different types of noises.

To improve their hearing capabilities keep checking if the baby responds to sound
It’s important to make your baby observe and respond to different types of sound
Click with fingers near the baby’s ears to ensure sound hearing capacity

Sixth Month-

Achievement of mobility is the greatest milestone of all a baby needs to achieve and that happens during the sixth month. Babies also start to babble by learning to observe what people speak.

Keep talking to the babies because they will slowly try to grasp and imitate the same.
Stretch the baby’s body so that there is an active movement of the body every day. Slowly babies start rolling over their stomach and back. In this 5-6 months period, it is essential to look after the body movements of the baby.

Seventh - Eighth Month-

Gross motor skills are to be observed closely like sitting without anybody’s assistance. They can stand on their legs by exerting weight on their bottom part of the body. This process can be made easy for them by -

Making the baby practice to sit with support and after a few days without support.
Parents must keep supporting them to stand by holding them for a short while with other supporting objects too.

Ninth - Tenth Month –

In this stage of baby, develops understanding and speaking habits. They try to speak a few easy words which are heard by them daily.

Spontaneous talking with the baby helps the baby in understanding a few concepts and they can also promote them to utter a few common words such as mummy and daddy.
By watching how others lift and hold a few objects, babies tend to acquire that attribute and try to replicate them by lifting things using their thumb or little finger.

Eleventh - Twelfth Month–

These are the final months, but certainly not the end. In these months, the baby reaches the utmost capabilities and developments.

They need to cultivate the habit of listening to great stories. Stories might be short and not complicated. This is very important because the brain functioning of babies will be tender and very conscious of what they are listening and understanding.
By daily standing or walking by taking support from walls, pillars or furniture, they can learn to walk swiftly
If any disability is seen during walking or standing, parents must consult a paediatrician

Why is it so important for a baby to reach milestones?

There’s a saying that when it is a plant, it should be looked after with utmost care before it grows to become a tree. Therefore these initial stages of a baby must be monitored regularly so that before reaching the maturity level, they are capable of doing or understanding essential cues.

Upbringing or improving the physical and mental attributes of the baby in these 12 months is a milestone. Good developments lead to a healthy, fit and strong baby who can climb the remaining steps in life all by himself or herself.

References:-

By -
Dr. Ruchika Singh

14-April-2023

HOW TO HELP BABY REACH MILESTONES?

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