Understanding infant behavior and development by month

To understand your infant more, we should be able to identify their behavior and development through time as they grow.

Coming to Earth is a vast and scary adventure for babies. At first, they do not know that you are there to feed and give care. They only know when they feel safe and comfortable, or otherwise.

However, even from birth, they start to communicate and may give you mini signals when they feel tired or hungry, or awake and alert. They keep learning all the time, and as parents, your job is to make your baby trust the world, and this is a welcoming place to live in.

New mommies and daddies often ask about what to expect next and how to know if their baby’s development is on target. Instead of giving the spotlight to development milestones, however, your baby might have different behavior from others as an infant.

Also, babies develop differently, at their own pace. There is a fairly wide “window” for when it is common for a baby to reach a particular development stage.

To furtherly discuss the infant character, we should also understand the concept of development and behavior.

What is development in a baby?

Development accounts for the learning processes your baby goes through as they grow and become an adult. Your baby may learn and combine skills to develop more complicated tasks such as walking, talking, and playing.

Most babies reach the particular milestones at around similar ages, and this is what we meant by “normal development”.

What are the main areas of development?

There are 5 main areas of development in infants:

• Gross motor skills. For example crawling, walking, or running
• Fine motor skills. For example writing and doodling
• Speech and language
• Cognitive and intellectual, such as counting or identifying shapes
• Social and emotional skills, such as interacting with people around them

Why are the early years so important for infant and child development?

There are many pieces of evidence to support such importance of your baby’s early development to their health and welfare throughout their later life.

Children experience a rapid rate of development during their early years and the first 5 years of life are a significantly important periods in brain development.

While the brain makes connections throughout life, the quick pace at which our brain develops in these 5-year period will never repeat once more.

What is developmental delay?

The term describes when a child is delayed with skills and abilities in one or more areas, as generally compared with other children at the same age.

Developmental delays may reduce a child’s ability to communicate, learn, be mobile, live independently, make decisions, and care for themselves.

READ MORE:

Development milestones in speech and other skills before the age of 2

Baby milestones: When do babies sit up and crawl?

24 incredible milestones and changes during baby’s first year

Understanding baby behavior

Many new parents may not know what is considered “normal” newborn behavior. Sometimes, an infant has development at various rates, but they still display most of the same behavior.

Also, don’t be alarmed if your baby seems a little bit behind. It is important to know what kind of different behaviors to expect from your newborn baby to tell if there is a problem.

If your baby is born prematurely, don’t ever compare their development to that of full-term babies. Premature babies are usually developmentally behind full-term infants.

If your baby is born two months earlier, then they might be two months behind a full-term baby. Your doctor or pediatrician will follow the development and behavior progress of your infant. You might need immediate medical attention if you notice an uncommon delayed rate of your baby’s development and behavior.

Sleeping

Newborn babies commonly sleep 20 minutes to 4 hours at a time, up to 20 hours a day. Their stomachs are too small to keep them full for a long time, so they need to feed every few hours.

Naturally, babies have different sleeping habits. However, at three months old, most babies sleep 6 to 8 hours a day.

Crying

Newborn babies may cry for several hours a day. It is their way of telling you that they need something or there is something wrong. Newborns usually cry when they:

• are hungry
• feel tired
• are too hot or too cold
• need a diaper change
• are in need of comfort
• have gas
• are over-stimulated
• are sick

It is also common for babies to hiccup, sneeze, yawn, spit up, burp, and gurgle. At times, your newborn baby might cry without a reason. If this happens, you may try comforting your baby by rocking, singing, talking softly, or wrapping them in a blanket.

Sooner, you may be able to determine the cause of what your baby needs by how they cry.

You would also not be able to comfort your baby always. This is not your fault, and you should try to be patient and remain calm when they won’t stop crying.

Reflexes

During the first week of their life, a newborn infants maintains the position they had inside the womb. This fetal position includes clenched fists, bent elbows, hips, and knees, and arms and legs close to the front of the body. This will change when your baby develops more control over their movements.

Naturally, a newborn infant has several reflexes. Understanding the development of reflexes will help the mothers to know the cause of some of their infant’s behavior.

Newborn reflexes include the following:

• The rooting reflex
• sucking reflex
• startle response
• tonic neck reflex
• grasp reflex
• stepping reflex

Development and Behavior of an infant month by month

Your infant’s first year is very critical because they may reach certain development and behavior milestones at this period of time. They are very busy learning new skills every time they have learned one.

Some babies would say their first word at eight months. Meanwhile, other babies don’t talk until a little period after the first year mark.

With these variations of development in mind, here are the following behavior and development your infant might be presenting month by month.

Behavior and development in month one to three

During this first quarter of the developmental stage, your baby’s body and brain are learning to live in the world outside the womb. Between birth and three months, your baby may start to:

• Smile
• Raise their head and chest when on their tummy.
•  Track objects with their eyes and gradually decrease the risk of eye crossing.
• Open and close their hands and brings their hand to their mouth.
• Grip objects in their hands.

Behavior and development in months four to six

During these period, your baby might be learning to reach out and manipulate the world around them. They are mastering the use of their hands. Moreover, they are starting to discover their own voice. From 4 to 6 months, your baby will probably:

• Roll over from front to back and vice versa.
• Babbling, is like making sounds parallel to a real language.
• Laugh.
• Reach out for and grab objects.
• Sit up with support and great head control.

Behavior and development in months seven to nine

During this time period, your baby may:

• Start crawling. This may also include scooting or army crawling. Some babies never crawl, moving directly to from scooting to walking.
• Sit without any support.
• Respond to familiar words, like their name.
• Clap and play games such as peekaboo.
• Learn to stand up.

Behavior and development in months 10 to 12

The last quarter of an infant behavior and development stage in the first year is a transition. They are not babies anymore. Also, they may act and might look like a toddler. However, they are still babies in many ways. In this period, your baby is learning to:

• Begin feeding themselves.
• Cruise, or move around the room on their feet while touching or holding the furniture.
• Say one word or two. “Mama” and “dada” are specific names for their parents.
• Points at the object they want to get your attention.
• Take their first steps gradually on a stair.

Learning the kinds of behavior and development of your infant will arguably help you to understand them much better. But remember to seek advice from a doctor if ever there are noticeable odd behaviors and unusual delays in your baby’s development.

Here at theAsianparent Philippines, it’s important for us to give information that is correct, significant, and timely. But this doesn’t serve as an alternative for medical advise or medical treatment. theAsianparent Philippines is not responsible to those that would choose to drink medicines based on information from our website. If you have any doubts, we recommend to consult your doctor for clearer information.