Developmental steps in the baby
introduction
In the following, the developmental steps of a newborn in the first year of life will be outlined as an example. The development of a newborn is very individual and often differs in many aspects from babies of the same age. Some children speak very early, but learn to walk relatively late. With others it is the other way round. Some children crawl long before they can walk. Other children go straight from "sealing" to running.
Don't let the development steps described below unsettle you. There is no single "norm" for how a newborn will develop. If you have any questions or are uncertain, your pediatrician is the right contact.
You can also find more information on this topic at Phases of early childhood development, when does a baby crawl? - you should know that!
Baby Development - First 9 Weeks
Social contact
The baby takes a closer look at faces after birth. Furthermore, he can usually return a smile and in the course of the first two months starts to smile spontaneously by himself.
language
For the first two months, the baby should respond to and hear sounds. In addition, he makes unspecific sounds. However, this does not mean screaming. As it progresses, the infant then begins to laugh and squeak.
Fine motor skills
Shortly after birth, the baby already has the ability to follow moving objects with its eyes. At first this works better when moving the objects towards the nose (eyes move towards the nose). This works better and better over time, so that one observes that the movement of the eyes in the other directions (up, down, out) also improves.
After the first month, you can also observe that the baby folds his hands together (a kind of "clapping").
Gross motor skills
After birth, the infant can lift its head slightly in the prone position. This lifting is initially short-lived, but the amount of lifting increases over the course of the first two months. In addition, some children can hold their heads while sitting between the first and second months of life.
Baby Development - First 3 Months
Social contact
Up to the third month of life, social contact or interaction with the environment without language includes observing and looking at faces, responding to a smile presented to him and the infant's spontaneous smile.
language
The development of language up to the end of the third month of life differs only slightly from the first 9 weeks of life. The infant should laugh from time to time, utter "squeaking" and other noises, and react to noises made towards him.
Fine motor skills
By the end of the third month of life, the baby's eyes should be mobile in all directions (when following an object). He should clap his hands from time to time and try to touch or grab an object brought towards him.
Gross motor skills
In addition to the learned lifting of the head in the prone position, which should get better and better by strengthening the muscles, the infant begins between the second and third months of life to support itself on the forearms in the prone position from time to time.
Baby development - 3-6 month
Social contact
In addition to the skills acquired so far (up to the third month), between the third and fourth month the infant begins to show in various ways that he does not like it when a toy given to him is removed. In addition, infants of this age often display the behavior of trying to reach for objects that are out of their reach.
language
The previous laughing, squeaking and making unspecific sounds are now supplemented by the fact that the infant now also turns to certain voices. This can be seen, for example, when the infant is spoken to when one stands next to the changing table and is not in the infant's direct field of vision.
Fine motor skills
What is learned up to the third month of life is supplemented by a closer look at objects and people. The infant begins to reach for toys and watches other people or objects move. While sitting, he can now grab things in parallel thanks to the improved coordination (more rounded movements) and then possibly transfer these objects from one hand to the other.
Gross motor skills
By the sixth month, most infants manage to turn around their own body axis and pull themselves into the sitting position by holding on to fixed objects. In addition, the leg muscles have already been strengthened so that the baby's legs can carry at least part of the body weight by themselves. (Standing or running are rather atypical at this point and not recommended due to the not yet fully developed bones and joint structures).
Baby development - 6-7 month
Social contact
As early as at the beginning of the sixth month of life, the baby begins to be more reserved and "shy" or to be afraid of strangers. This is a natural development process. In addition, the baby manages to continue to carry out the skills it has learned or acquired up to the age of six months.
Fine motor skills
Between the sixth and seventh months of life, the baby's fine motor skills, i.e. the ability to perform more precise movements, continue to develop. The so-called thumb-finger grip is a typical sign of this. The baby stretches out the index finger and thumb while gripping and grabs with the other three fingers.
Gross motor skills
The skills acquired so far can now be supplemented by sitting without help and standing while holding on.
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Baby development - 7th-8th grade month
Social contacts
The social development up to the eighth month of life differs little from the previous development. Only at the beginning of the eighth month of life do the babies make further noteworthy progress in development.
language
Linguistic development hardly changes compared to what was learned up to the age of seven months.
Fine motor skills
In addition to the thumb-finger grip, the child is now able to hit objects such as building blocks together.
Gross motor skills
So far, the baby could stand alone if it held on. Just getting up has been untypical so far. Now the baby begins to pull itself up on objects in order to come to a stand. In addition, the baby can now manage to sit up on its own.
Baby development - 8.-9. month
Social contact
At this age, you can observe that babies, in addition to what they have already done, are increasingly clapping their hands and waving from time to time.
language
At this age, there are no significant changes to the previous development progress.
Fine motor skills
The child's gripping now changes slightly. The previous thumb-finger grip is now often replaced by the so-called tweezer grip. This means more grasping with the index finger and thumb.
Gross motor skills
Now that the baby can stand up on its own, the babies are increasingly walking along furniture. The piece of furniture (or similar) serves as a support, as free standing is often not yet possible.
Baby development - 9-10 month
Social contact
At the age of nine to ten months one can observe that the children already begin to play with a ball or interact differently with another person. In addition, the child can express wishes and needs without screaming.
language
Until now it was mostly only possible for babies to say “mom” or “dad” without direction. From now on, it is also observed more frequently that the babies begin to specifically say “Mama” to the mother and “Papa” to the father.
Fine motor skills
As for the baby's fine motor skills at this point, no further major milestones are expected until the first year of life. Some babies are now able to drink from a cup.
Gross motor skills
By running, during which the babies have supported themselves on furniture or other objects, the muscles and bones have strengthened so much that many babies can now stand freely for a short moment.
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Baby development - 10-11 month
Social contact
In essence, further new social development progress can only be observed after the first birthday. However, this always depends on the baby's individual development to date.
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language
Addressing parents with “mom” or “dad” works better and now and then babies of this age can form “two-word sentences” that do not contain the words “mom” or “dad”.
Fine motor skills
Here, too, new development progress can often only be determined after the first birthday. Nevertheless, it also applies here - it always depends on the previous development when and to what extent new changes appear in the development.
Gross motor skills
Most children cannot stand on their own by the age of 11 months. In some children, however, significant progress can be observed in supporting and holding the trunk.
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