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 them 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. As your baby gets accustomed to life outside the womb, it is your job as the parent to show them that it’s a welcoming place to live in.
New parents often ask about what to expect next and how to know if their baby’s development is on target. One of the ways to track that is through developmental milestones. However, your baby might have different behaviour 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.
Parents of newborns and infants as a whole are constantly perplexed about their child’s actions and temperament – is it normal or is it something to be worried about? For it to be easier, we need to understand their development and their behaviour.
What Is Development in a Baby?
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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 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, sitting or standing
- Fine motor skills. For example, picking up food with their fingers
- Speech and language
- Cognitive and intellectual, such as counting or identifying shapes later on
- 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 is a significantly important period in brain development.
While the brain makes connections throughout life, the quick pace at which our brain develops in these 5-year period will not occur again.
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.
Understanding Baby’s Behaviour
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Many new parents may not know what is considered “normal” newborn behaviour. Infants may develop at various rates, but they still display the same behaviour most of the time.
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 paediatrician will follow the development and behaviour progress of your infant. You might need immediate medical attention if you notice an uncommon delayed rate of your baby’s development and behaviour.
So what constitutes “normal” baby behaviour? Here are some things might observe:
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 overstimulated
- 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 swaddling 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, newborns maintain 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 parents know the cause of some of their infant’s behaviour.
Newborn reflexes include the following:
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Development and Behavior of an Infant Month by Month
Your infant’s first year is very critical because they may reach certain development and behavioural milestones at this period of time. They are very busy learning new skills one after another.
Some babies would say their first word at eight months. Meanwhile, other babies don’t talk until a little after the first year mark.
With these variations of development in mind, here are some notable behavioural developments your infant might be presenting month by month.
Behaviour and development in months 1 to 3
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.
Behaviour and development in months 4 to 6
During this 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.
Behaviour and development in months 7 to 9
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.
Behaviour and development in months 10 to 12
The last quarter of an infant’s behaviour 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 about your baby’s behaviour and development can help you to understand them much better. But remember to seek advice from a doctor if ever there are noticeable odd behaviours and unusual delays in your baby’s development.
What’s Not Normal in Baby Behaviour
Babies cry, eat and sleep for most of their first year in the outside world. That’s part of their normal credo. However, too much of anything and going against what is normal can indicate a warning
sign for babies.
Don’t hesitate to contact your child’s doctor if you notice that he or she is:
- lethargic, always sleepy and not moving around so much
- fussy for hours on end
- does not want to eat or breastfeed
- extreme body temperature (too high or too low)
- is having difficulty breathing
- looks dehydrated (dry mouth, few wet diapers, sunken fontanelle)
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This article was written by Nathanielle Torre and republished with permission from theAsianparent Philippines.
Here at theAsianparent Singapore, it’s important for us to give information that is correct, significant, and timely. But this doesn’t serve as an alternative for medical advice or medical treatment. theAsianparent Singapore is not responsible for those that would choose to drink medicines based on information from our website. If you have any doubts, we recommend consulting your doctor for clearer information.
