In the first year of a child’s life, he or she is known as a baby. This is the time when the child is most vulnerable in the sense that he or she will need to be fed and nursed round the clock. The newborn baby cries to convey a certain situation or need. A crying baby may be feeling hungry, uncomfortable, afraid, bored, lonely, or sick. As the newborn baby grows, he or she will learn to laugh or make baby noises but it may not be due to amusement or joy. Learning to care for a baby is a trying process which requires a great deal of patience, understanding and wisdom.

Breast Feeding

Generally, most health organizations in the world recognize that breastfeeding is the best form of feeding for babies. Other than the fact that a mother’s milk provides all the necessary minerals and supplements for a baby’s early growth, the action of suckling gives the baby a great deal of comfort. In the case that the mother is unable to breast feed the baby, feeding can also be done with a baby bottle. If the mother does not have enough milk, there’s the option of infant formula. In some Asian societies, sometimes, a wet nurse is employed to breast feed the baby, though it’s not a very common practice now. As the baby grows, other food supplement must be added to the diet because breast milk or infant formula will not be sufficient to meet the child’s physical requirements for growth.

Sleeping Patterns and Diapers

In comparison, babies need to sleep longer hours than adults. It’s a well known fact that many newborn babies sleep for 18 hours or more a day. As the baby becomes older, he or she will sleep less and become more active. Another thing associated with babies is diapers. In most first world countries, the use of disposable diapers is most common while in many third countries, the use of cotton diapers is more prevalent. It has been estimated that a baby uses about 10,000 diapers on the average.

The cycle of Babies: Carrying, Crawling, Walking

Since babies cannot walk, they need to be carried in the arms of their guardians or put in prams or baby carriers. In most of the first world countries, the use of child safety seats in cars is advocated by law makers. Thus, it’s considered a crime if child safety seats are not used in cars. As the baby gets stronger, he or she will start to crawl. Generally, a baby starts to crawl anytime from five months to eight months of age. During the period of crawling, the baby will learn to stand on his or her own two feet, leading to the first few steps, and eventually walking.

Speech

From as early as two months old, your baby will begin to jabber, making “cooing” sounds. This is the infant’s attempt to communicate with the immediate world around him or her. Normally, the first intelligible word that a baby utters will be “momma” or “mama”. This will happen around the time the baby is eight months old. For some reason, boys usually develop slower than girls in speech. Simple fine motor skills such as grabbing and holding are developed within the baby’s first year.

Beyond the first year, the child will be known as a toddler, until the age of three. Still learning to walk, the toddler will be preoccupied with mastering this gross motor skill for the large part of the next two years, culminating in the ability to run. During the toddler years, the child is known to go through a time of discovery, exploring the boundaries of the world around him or her. Parents have to be more tolerant of the toddler’s antics because he or she will be inclined to throw temper tantrums. At this time, the toddler finds out that he or she is an individual, separate from the father and mother. Thus, toddlers set out to test the patience of their guardians to the fullest as they experiment with what’s permissible and what’s not. The toddler may also break things and cry for seemingly no reason at times.


The other major thing about toddlers is in the area of speech development. After about eighteen months, the toddler will be able to learn roughly 7 to 9 new words in a day. This will happen up to about the twentieth month when he or she will be able to put two words together to form some words such as “sweet, mama” or “I want”. Generally, most toddlers will be able to communicate most of their needs verbally and specifically at this point of their development. The toddler is also able to grip a crayon or pencil well enough to draw or scribble. This is also a good time to toilet train the child. To see if the toddler is prepared for toilet training, the parents will have to study the behavior of the child when he or she needs to use the toilet. Toilet training is a trying process which can take a few weeks or a few months. Parents can play a big role in exhibiting patience and support in the toilet training process.

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