Baby Care: Glimpses from my book

One to Two: Growth and Development

I hope the previous entry must have been useful to you all. In this entry, we will talk about the baby's second year of life!



Age 12-18 months:

The growth rate declines further to 8 grams/day of weight and 1.0 cm / month of length. Her appetite declines. She burns up her baby fat, while her mobility increases. By 12 months, she would be walking independently in most cases, although a few will achieve this milestone by only 15 months of life. At first, she will walk with a wide-based gait, almost “toddle” (hence toddler!). Frequently, she will stumble, or lose balance and fall. Her stomach will be out in front, the knees, slightly bent and feet will strike the ground held flat. As she develops the walking skill further, her gait becomes more stable and the protruding stomach gets tucked in. The child will then walk straight, with arms swinging by the side of the trunk, and she will be able to stop, turn or stoop without falling.

Toddlers advance their thinking processes further. Your baby will be often discovered playing “appropriately” with things: she will use a comb for the hair, the keys for the cupboard, and so on. She will enjoy arranging and re-arranging stacks of things such as blocks, books, video-cassettes, spoons, etc.

With this ability to “control” objects comes the need to exercise the “power” to explore the home, and to “go away” from the parents. She may inscribe circular arcs of exploration around you or even “orbit” out of your field of vision. They may imitate parents or older siblings in an attempt to master new skills.

As far as language goes, the child’s understanding precedes his expressive abilities. She will respond appropriately to no, yes, bye-bye before she is one, and point out body parts, pictures of animals etc, by 18 months of age. She will use 4-6 words and use proper nouns too.

Age 18-24 months:

The growth values that applied for the first half of the second year of life apply here as well. What increases most in these months is the ambit of motor development. The child has learnt to run, to climb stairs, and may even begin to jump.

An important cognitive change is the understanding that she may get separated from her parents. This causes her to be increasingly clinging to them. The child will not permit her parents to go anywhere outside without taking her in tow. In their absence, she may cling to a transitional object that represents the parents such as a blanket or a toy. This attachment to objects will remain for at least this period, and will go as she grows older, and her feeling of parental permanence is fully internalized.

Self conscious awareness and concept of self/image difference will appear in this period. If your baby sees a blemish on her face in the mirror, she will reach out for her face rather than for the image in her reflection, and try to remove the blemish.

Perhaps the most dramatic change will be her rapid strides in language development. From a vocabulary of 10-15 words at 18 months, she will be able to vocalize and understand almost a hundred words by the age of 2. She will begin to join words and form sentences. She will understand a two step command, such as “Remove your shoes and come to me”. She will use her index finger to point at objects and indicate with her gestures that she doesn’t want the object, but merely wants to know what it is. She may even ask, “What is that?” Picture books continue to provide new input to her knowledge.

The next entry discusses feeding of the baby.