The First Six Months: Big Changes – Month One
More changes occur in the first six months than during any other growth period. Baby doubles his birth weight: posture progresses from barely a one-inch head lift to a full sit-up; hand skills progress from tight-fisted, aimless swiping to precise reaches. Baby’s though process matures, too; primarily reflexive responses give way to the beginning of though-out actions and the initially uninterpretable cries develop into understandable cues. Parents also grow at an amazing rate at this stage, progressing from “I have no idea what he want” to “I finally understand his signals.” Let’s now take a journey through one of the most exciting stages of a child’s life: the first six months.
More changes occur in the first six months than during any other growth period. Baby doubles his birth weight: posture progresses from barely a one-inch head lift to a full sit-up; hand skills progress from tight-fisted, aimless swiping to precise reaches. Baby’s though process matures, too; primarily reflexive responses give way to the beginning of though-out actions and the initially uninterpretable cries develop into understandable cues. Parents also grow at an amazing rate at this stage, progressing from “I have no idea what he want” to “I finally understand his signals.” Let’s now take a journey through one of the most exciting stages of a child’s life: the first six months.
The First Month: Big Needs
“What should we be doing with our new baby?” is a question that concerns new parents. Hold him a lot and love him a lot is the answer. The first month is a stage of adjustment for parents and organization for baby. Hold the toys for later. Babies do not show great strides in motor development during this stage, or do they need a lot of things–except the arms of loving parents.
Opening Moves
Watch your tiny bundle curled up in the bassinet. So peaceful, so quiet. It’s hard to imagine this is the same baby who turned roly-poly’s in your uterus. When he awakens, gaze at him face to face. His arms and legs dart out as if stretching after a deep sleep. Those were the punches and kicks you felt during the final months inside. Now you can watch what you felt.
When playing with your newborn, notice the spring like feel to the muscles. If you pull his arms or legs away from his body or try to open his hands, they quickly spring back to their original flexed position, Enjoy this tight, spring like appearance and feel while they last, as baby’s whole body will loosen up over the next few months. When unflexing baby’s leg or arm, you will often hear and feel crackling sounds around the knee and elbow joints. These are normal joint noises coming from the rubberlike ligaments and loose bones. These sounds, to, will disappear.
The behavioral state your newborn is in often determines how he moves. While most of the time baby’s wiggles seem random and jerky, recent studies have shown that when newborns are relaxed and in the quiet alert state their movements take on a more organized pattern of periodic bursts and pauses. The more time baby spends in the quiet alert state, the more these jerky muscle movements organize into more rhythmic patterns. This is one reason we emphasize parenting styles that promote the state of quiet alertness.
If your baby startles easily, his chin quivers a lot, and his arms and legs seem trembly, wear your baby in a sling or wrap your newborn in a blanket, which contains and helps to organize these jerky muscle movements. These normal newborn shakes usually subside by the end of the first month.
What Newborns Can See
Dim the lights; a newborn is coming. As though emerging from a dark to a light room, a newly born baby squints. Add to this light-sensitive squinting the puffy eyelids from the birth squeeze, and the world may not look so clear for the first few hours. As a further light shield, newborn pupils are often somewhat smaller than normal for the first week or two. Within minutes to an hour after birth most newborns show a wide-open, interested-in-the-world look. child care