Parenting Blog

Are you getting used to having a baby?
2-month-old, your baby and you have been around each other long enough to get to know one another. Maybe you are starting to find it easier to interpret his cries for example.
Now many babies are becoming more social and also use their bodies more and more.
Don’t ever leave him alone on the changing table!

Baby milestones
Being a 2-month-old, your baby “should” be able to:
- lift his head if placed on his stomach
- open his hands
- smile back at you
- talk a little bit (grunting, cooing etc)
Your baby’s vision has improved so much that your baby starts to find more detailed patterns and colors interesting.

His hearing is good and he will turn his head towards different sounds to see where they come from.
As your baby has found his hands and started to get dome control of them, he will start putting his hands and everything in them in his mouth. At this point in time, he may also start drooling a lot. If he gets really wet, uses a bib to protect his clothes.

The Baby Care Book – Absolutely everything you need to Know about your baby’s first year!
Click here to download! (975 KB)

Table of Contents

• Introduction
• How To Choose A Paediatrician For your Baby
• What To Expect
• First Days at Home
• Breast Feeding
• What To Eat During Breastfeeding
• Bathing
• Diaper Changing
• Why is My Baby Crying?
• How To Give Your Baby A Nice Nights Sleep
• Using Music to Calm Your Baby
• Some Dietary Factors – Going From Milk to Solids
• Weight and Height Expectations
• Baby Noises – Language Development
• Understanding Your Baby’s Motor Skills
• Your Baby’s Interaction With Others
• The Teething Process
• Immunization For Your Baby
• The Best Toys For your baby
• Summary

Originally posted 2009-05-23 03:55:00. Republished by Blog Post Promoter

1-year-old and the baby year is over…
Well, a 12-month-old baby/toddler is still quite small I think!
Our daughter celebrated her first birthday by sleeping through the night for the first time ever. She must have felt that she was no longer a baby…
Five days later she walked a few steps for the first time. So happy!

1-year-old babies are fantastic! So able yet so young.

Baby milestones
Many babies take their first steps at around 1-year-old and actually start walking more and more. Some others need more time. In any case many 1-year-old babies crawl when they need to get somewhere fast.
Our oldest boy didn’t walk until he was well over 18 months and there is absolutely nothing wrong with him!
The same goes with using the language. Many children seem to be either “early” with their motorical skills or with the language. Some sit and talk other run around and say more or less nothing. But they do understand a lot!

12-month-old, it is a good idea to let your baby start feeding himself with a spoon if he is interested. It is very messy in the beginning, but so convenient after a while to not have to feed your baby.
Your baby has now a well enough developed hand-eye coordination and understanding to open cupboard doors and drawers that open easily.

Caring for your baby is certainly one of the most important things you need to consider once you became a new father. There are many things you need to consider to ensure your baby gets all the attention.

1. Make sure you feed the baby your right. Deciding on whether you should breastfeed or bottle raise her baby depends heavily on her personal decision and what your doctor recommends. However, it has been shown that breastfeeding remains the best way to feed newborn babies. Lots of benefits can be obtained with breastfeeding. Some medical studies have found that breastfed children have less hypersensitivity later in life compared with those who were raised with bottle aging. This is mainly because the mother’s milk is known to contain natural antibodies and enzymes that can help fortify the baby’s immunity against disease. Apart from this, some doctors also believed that breast milk is responsible for superior intellect as he grows and makes fully developed.

The speech and language skills are converted into different rates for children. However, be sure that the milestones that most children reach the age specific. Interaction common, everyday among children and those around them is the best way to lift and enhance speech and language skills. From birth, the hearing is critical for children to learn and react to the world around them. An unidentified hearing loss can cause a delay in speech and language development. Therefore, it is best to identify and treat hearing loss early.

Parents and other caregivers can do many things to encourage the development of speech and language and to provide learning opportunities. Some examples:

• Listen and respond to your child. Recognize, encourage and praise the attempts to communicate.

• Talk with your child about what you are doing, what you see, what your child is doing, and what he sees his child. Use language that is appropriate for your child’s abilities ’speech and language s.

• Accept mistakes as your child the ’s speech becomes. Amplíese or simply repeat what was said, using words or sounds correct.

Your baby also gains a better understanding of the physical and social world around her
as she grows. This comes about through active exploration of her environment by means
of her actions and her senses. For example, no infant is born knowing the difference
between red and green, soft and hard, sweet and sour, loud and quiet, rough and
smooth. All of these distinctions have to be learned through time-consuming and effortful
exploration and trial and error.

“Simple toys such as a mobile hung over the crib, a rattle or a
plush toy give infants the opportunity to explore objects and
start to learn their different properties.”

The good news is that it’s very easy for you to help your baby understand the physical
and social world around her. And you don’t need the latest toys and games. Simple toys
such as a mobile hung over the crib, a rattle, or a plush toy give her the opportunity to
explore objects and to learn their different properties. This helps her to attain a sense of
control over her world by being able to impose an order upon it. As your baby matures
and her motor coordination improves, she will begin to coordinate what she sees with
what she touches and hears.

At birth, your infant has a few basic feelings such as pleasure, pain and fear. With age
and experience, these become more elaborate and combine to form more complex
emotions. Even a young infant can tell you what she feels through her body language
and cries. For example, a baby who is relaxed and comfortable presents a very different
picture from one who is tense and irritable.

By watching your infant’s emotional reactions you can tell what pleases her and what
makes her unhappy. In this respect, as in many others, babies are quite different from
one another. An otherwise easy going baby, for example, may really hate being changed
even though she is not uncomfortable. It is just the act of changing that she dislikes.

Other infants may not like hats and may take them off as soon as they can. If we are alert
to the kinds of actions or objects that make the baby uncomfortable, we can anticipate
the reaction and try to lessen it through calming words and gentle touches.

“When your baby is upset and cranky, it really helps if you
remain calm, keep your voice low and soothing and make your
actions slow and comforting.”

“As the twig is bent so is the tree inclined” is an old parenting proverb to the effect
that, when applied to parenting, means that what your child experiences in the first
years of life sets the course for the whole life cycle. This e-book takes you inside
your child’s world to help you better understand how children develop and what they
experience — allowing you to adapt your parenting to their unique abilities, needs
and interests.

The single most important fact about infants and children is they are constantly growing and
changing. As parents this means that we have to grow and change along with them. When
your baby starts to crawl and walk, for example, you have to “babyproof” his or her living
space. The challenge is to set limits and allow freedoms in keeping with the child’s maturing
abilities, needs and interests. We do this best if we start from where the child is in his or her
development, not from some abstract rule or principle. Adapting flexibly to the needs of the
growing child is what nourishes our development as loving and effective parents.