Development is the qualitative progress of a child, usually divided into 4 categories:
1. Gross motor: It refers to the gross motor activities like sitting, standing etc. As mentioned earlier, it is the least important and least reliable criteria to judge the overall development of a child, though the parents lay the most emphasis on it.
The development of language involves two distinct processes: receptive i.e. what the child hears and understands and expressive i.e. what the child speaks to express himself.
The first indication that the child will be able to speak in future comes at the age of 2 months, when the baby coos. Cooing is some gurgling “throaty” sounds made by the baby in response to a person “talking” to the baby.
The first milestone and a very important milestone that shows that your baby is a social being, is the “social smile” which comes at 1-2 months. The baby smiles “back” when the parents talk to him, smile at him or caress him. Actually this smile is more of a reflex smile, because the baby doesn’t understand what the parents are saying. For all one knows the parents may be saying (out of pleasure) that he is the biggest idiot that they have ever come across! Their “truly idiotic” child acknowledges this and smiles back!
Continue reading Child Care: Personal, Social and Cognitive Milestone Developments
These are more important than the gross motor milestones in assessing the development of a child because these milestones require fine co-ordination and use of the small muscles (e.g. of hand) to perform intricate and delicate tasks like eating, holding small objects etc. In gross motor milestones, big muscles like those of trunk, hips etc. are used.
Continue reading Child Care: Fine Motor Milestone Development
KEY POINTS
❖ Breast-feeding: In the initial 4 months, the baby requires only milk (not even water). There is a fine balance by nature between the production of milk and its demand by the baby. More is the milk required by the baby, more it sucks, which is the most potent stimulus for more milk production. So more is the demand, more is the supply.
A common source of parental concern is regarding the teething of their child. They are worried as to when the child will cut his first tooth. As is true with all types of development, there is no fixed time when the first tooth should erupt. In some children, it may erupt as early as 5 months, while in others; it may not erupt up to the age of 1 year and even beyond. There is nothing wrong with your child if his tooth doesn’t come out by 1 year. Most of the parents think that their child is deficient in calcium and/or vitamin-D, which is true only in a few cases. In majority of cases, it is just a normal variant and hence no intervention is required.
There are three types of milk feeds for a newborn:
i) Breast-feeds.
ii) Bottle-feeds with powdered infant formulas (marketed in 2 forms; one for 0-6 months and the other for infants more than 6 months. A third type is also available meant only for preterm babies).
Milk is the only food for babies
1. Breast-Feeding
• Breast-feeding has nothing but benefits:
– It provides the newborn baby with all the foods essential for its growth in a readily assimilable form*. It contains rich proteins, sugars, fats, mineral salts and antibodies which protet the baby against infection.
– This is the easiest and safest method of feeding a baby in all climates.
– The majority of women are able to feed their baby.
Continue reading Child Care: In What Forms Should Food Be Given to the Child?
The baby’s growth and good health depends on the quality of the food it is given:
• Most mothers have little knowledge of this subject, as you well know, and they would rather follow recipes handed down to them than simple, easy rules. This is why weaning is so important. The vast majority of breast-fed children actually grow without problems up to about 6 or 8 months.
Continue reading Child Care: An Introduction to Various Foods that Can Be Given to Babies
The preparation for breast-feeding starts much before delivery i.e. during pregnancy. The mother should read about breastfeeding and any anticipated problems or doubts should be clarified with her obstetrician during her regular antenatal visits. For e.g., if there are retracted nipples, daily manual traction (i.e. catching the areola and the nipple area between the thumb and fingers and gently pulling it outwards) can correct it. Such measures will not lead to feeding problems when the baby is born.
Continue reading Child Care: Breast Feeding – Preparation and Technique