Expectations and Activities For Your Baby at 9-11 Months Old.

From about 9 to 11 months your baby will go from sitting to crawling to pulling up on furniture. Your baby will begin to demonstrate improved control of the use of her hands as observed in her toy manipulation skill.  She will be observed banging blocks together and taking things in and out of containers. Your baby will begin to self feed finger foods. Your baby’s attention span will increase. She’ll enjoy babbling and try to engage with you socially with games such as "peek-a-boo".  Your baby will begin actively exploring and experimenting with items in her environment. She will learn to understand words such as "no" and "by, by". Your baby will be able to remove her socks and should become cooperative with dressing.

During this stage provide many opportunities for floor time play.  Your babies main interest will be movement. Give your baby containers with objects he can spill and then refill. Offer your baby cause and effect toys. Toys that he can activate with a switch or a hand movement. Hide toys for your baby to find such as under a blanket or cup. Encourage hand clapping and waving "by, by". Your baby will enjoy songs with associated hand movements such as "eensy-beensy-spider".  Keep talking to your baby.  Respond to his sounds with conversation. Read to your baby. Provide varied kinds of music for your baby to listen to at times.  Encourage finger feeding and provide utensils for your baby to get used to holding. Provide movement opportunities for your baby such as the swing in the park.

Expectations and Activities for Baby: 5-8 Months Old

At 5-8 months your baby can sit, roll over, and comfortably play while on her stomach. When on her stomach you might notice your baby reach for her toes and bring them toward her mouth.  Your baby is able to hold objects in both hands and transfer objects from one hand to another. Your baby will start holding her own bottle.  She is beginning to manipulate smaller objects with her hands and fingers. Your baby is able to see things at a distance and has become more aware of her environment and people. She is actively enjoying visual and auditory play. Your baby should be responding to her name. She’ll develop the skill of object permanence. This means knowing that something exists even when they don't see it. Along with this new discovery will come the development of stranger anxiety.

During this stage offer many opportunities for playing on the floor with varied toys and objects. Keep using the boppy c shaped pillow until you feel your baby is sitting by herself safely. Offer her socks with rattles on the bottom to further encourage toe grabbing and movement. Provide toys with strings to pull on and manipulative's such as blocks. Offer teething toys and objects your baby can safely mouth.  Toys with suction bases can be place on high chairs and carriages for your baby’s entertainment. Your baby will enjoy games like peek-a-boo and listening to you sing. Keep up those animated conversations with your baby.

Expectations and Activities for Babies 3-4 Months Old

 Let's continue with our series about expectations and activities as your baby grows.

At 3-4 months your baby has improved his head control so that he can sit with support. He has also begun to experiment with the initial stages of rolling. Your baby has begun looking at and reaching for objects. Your baby manipulates a rattle purposefully and has begun to explore objects with his mouth. He will be reaching with both hands and can bring his hands together. Your baby will be tracking moving objects from a supported sitting position. He will start to recognize objects visually and explore them through mouthing. Your baby is now able to return your smiles and make cooing noises.

During this stage your baby should begin to tolerate tummy time for longer periods. You can offer him tummy time mats, toys, and a tummy time spinner. You can help your baby practice sitting with a boppy, a c shaped, pillow.  Provide a gymini or similar overhanging toys for your baby to look at and reach for when on his back. Offer your baby rings and small rattles.  Attach portable toys and portable mobiles to car seats and carriages. Continue encouraging eye contact and conversation with your baby. Your baby will be responding well to touch and massage.

Expectations and Activities for Your Newborn

The next few blog post will be a series that will review each stage of baby development, what to expect at each stage and what games and activities to engage in at every stage. Lets begin at the first couple of months of life.

At 1-2 months you can expect your infant to begin to develop some head control and the ability to lift her head  when on her stomach. Your infant should be actively kicking her feet, stretching, and moving her arms. Your infant should be able to bring her hands to her mouth and grasp a rattle involuntarily. Your infant will start to make eye contact and track slow moving objects. Your infant will be interested in contrast patterns.  Your infant should be enjoying physical contact with you and listening to your familiar voice.

During this stage your infant should be getting adequate tummy time.  You should be offering your infant small rings to grasp. Be sure to have a mobile and pictures with strong contrasts for your infant to look at. Items should be 8 to 12 inches from your babies face. Try to get your infant to track objects or your face. Seek out and maintain eye contact. Talk to your infant. Take care to ensure that your baby is being held on the left and right side during feedings. Massage and swaddle your infant.

This early stage is short lived, your newborn will only be this tiny and dependent on you for a very short time.  Don't miss the interactive opportunities you have at this fleeting stage of development.

Brain Development and Your Baby

The brain is the most immature of all organs at birth.  How it grows was thought to be determined by genetics. Scientists now believe that it’s highly dependent on the child's experiences.  The belief is that the "plasticity" of the brain , its ability to grow and develop in different and changing ways, will cause the brain to adapt to its environmental experiences and needs.

The brain consists of many areas.  Each area has millions of neurons or nerve cells that speak to each other by sending messages through synapses.  These synapses are your brain’s wiring system.  Multiple areas of the brain communicate to each other in this manner.  Neurons  have branches on them called dendrites and axons.  Dendrites bring information to the nerve cells and axons take information away from the nerve cell.  Information is passed from one nerve cell to another through a synapse. 

 The number of connections will influence how the brain functions. For the most part we do not develop new nerve cells but rather we develop new synapses.  In early childhood, the brain is programmed to create new synapses.  New experiences create new synapses.  This is our window of opportunity.  By facilitating varied and new experiences for our children, particularly before three years old, we facilitate the creation of new synapses. We now understand that what a child experiences in the first years of life will effect how his brain develops and how he’ll interact with the world throughout his life.

Sooooo, helping your baby have many different kind of experiences will actually set a strong foundation in the brain that will help his future development.  Therefore it would be beneficial to think of diverse and interesting ways for your baby explore, interact, and learn from  his environment.

Sensory Experiences Learning and Summertime Fun

It is important to take advantage of all the senses when playing and teaching our toddler's about the world around them. Playing a variety of music for our children, helping them with art projects, allowing them to handle varied textured items such as sand, rice and water in play are important sensory experiences. When the brain is able to understand information that is coming through multi sensory avenues simultaneously, it will learn with greater ease. When you learn something new it gets stored in the brain.  When the senses are used to assist with that learning the brain stores the new information in more then one area.  For example if you learn a new concept in a song you are more likely to remember it because another place for storing that information was added to the learning process. So whenever possible, allow for hands on and multisensory experiences for facilitating learning.

Summer time creates many opportunities for children to learn through their senses. The petting zoo, feeding the ducks at the lake, going to the beach and backyard water play activities are just some examples of fun and sensory learning opportunities for your baby.