Photo credit: Chien Pham
Here are some characteristics you could see in a typical newborn baby, ranging from 0-9 months old.
- Dependent on mother
- Sleep most of the time
- Highly sensitive to emotional and physical environment
- By 3 months, they show some smiles
- Developing outer senses, always want to reach for and grab objects
- Brain developing quickly - absorbing all information
- Preparing for mobility, begin to roll over at 4 months
- By 6 months they should be able to sit with support
- At 6 months, laugh out loud often, start to babble and resemble sounds to make conversation
- Around 6 months, begin to show interest on solid food
- Between 7-9 months, they can sit without support
- Mobility improved quickly, able to pulls themselves up to stand, crawl and scoot
- Cognitively by 9 months, they respond to their own name and able to understand simple order like “No” or “come here”
What can we do to aid their growth during this time?
- Lots of love and positive affirmations
- Signing with babies, gently rock them when you sing if you like
- Visualize a positive future of your child, send this image to them
- Visual stimulation for your new born with contrast images and bright patches of vivid primary colours (red, yellow, blue)
- Can start flashcards as early as you are ready. Mom can do flashcards when babies are as young as 2 months old!
- Talk to babies normally and cheerfully, do not twist any pronounciation or make silly sounds ( for example: say “This is a dog. vs. “This is a bowh-bowh.”)
- Turn on classical music for you babies
- Movement: encourage tummy time, yoga ball balancing, parents-kid dancing
- Infant massage or skin to skin touch with your babies
- Only introduce solid food if your baby can sit straight to avoid choking
NOTE: every child is unique and has their own pace of growth, please be at peace if some of the signs don’t show in your babies. A lot of famous people are found with delayed development because they are still in the “right brain development” zone as long as they want (Einstein is an example of a delayed growth child.) On the other hand, if you think your child is more advanced than this, they are ready for new stimulation. Contact us now to decide which programs can fit your infants!
