Little Baby Steps:

Development, Education And Health In The First Year Of Life

(Parents Guide)

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Baby upbringing and developmentin the first year of life

Important milestones in baby development in the first year of life

Key points of early childhood development

Crawl and run - the main thing is to move forward with well thought-out safety!

Seeing the world with children's eyes

Protect against accidents with fitness and motor skills

Why babies don't want to sleep

Does your baby have fixed sleeping times and fall asleep rituals?

Do you ignore signs of fatigue?

Is your child flooded with stimuli?

Did you get carried away with the wrong conditioning?

Does your baby often sleep in your bed?

Are there disagreements between you and your partner about falling asleep?

Do you let your baby sleep everywhere?

Does your baby stay up as long as you do, so you can sleep through it?

Surrender is not an option!

Changing the bed

Learn to sleep properly and sleep well

Screaming baby - the horror of all parents

Difficulties to process environmental stimuli

Tips to calm writing babies

Baby vaccinations pros and cons

From milk to porridge - food has to be learned!

Feed supplementary food and overcome the first hurdle

What does learning to eat actually mean?

Baby equipment - what the little ones really need!

Clothing for the baby

Baby clothes vs. cool clothes

Dress sizes for baby

Equipment for babies during transport

Mastering the big challenge well from the start

Baby upbringing and developmentin the first year of life

During the nine months of pregnancy, preparations are made for the arrival of the new roommate. The children's room will be equipped for infants with a cot, baby changing unit, music box, a mobile over the bed and many other things that you as parents will enjoy, so that the little person will feel completely at home in the new environment.

Who expects the first child, does not know at all, which large changes occur. Even if you inform yourself with books, videos and with other parents, you still do not have the knowledge, which you need for your small earth citizen. Because every infant is different.

They may have learned to wrap the infant and satisfy needs such as sleep and hunger. But there is much more in this little person that keeps you on your toes, doesn't let you sleep at night and completely turns your normal daily routine upside down.

There is also a certain anxiety about doing something wrong or not interpreting the child's signals correctly, especially when young people move into their new home for the first time after birth. The first weeks are very turbulent. But your baby develops a little further every day and learns new things.

This little miracle will amaze you when you experience the growth and development in the first months up close.

Enjoy this time, because you can't bring them back, even if you sometimes reach the limit of your strength.

Throw your fears and concerns overboard and look forward to the wonderful challenge that awaits you after the birth of your child. Trust your intuition in many things, which will present you with the right decision in dealing with your little human child on a silver platter. Enjoy the development that you experience every day at first hand.

Important milestones in baby development in the first year of life

There will never again be a time in your child's life when development progresses as rapidly as in the first three months of life. After the birth your baby will lose weight first of all. You do not need to worry about this, because this decrease is quite normal. It is part of the process of adaptation to the new life that takes place outside the womb. Even if the little ones know how to suck, they still have to learn how to drink first. About ten percent of the birth weight is lost in the first few days.

If your baby is around 10 days old, it will usually regain weight and grow between two and four centimetres in the first month.

A quarter of the body weight is the head of a newborn. To hold this, however, the strong muscles are still missing. In an adult, the head accounts for only ten percent of the body weight. At the beginning, the bladder of newborns is still very small, so that it can only absorb 60 to 100 ml of urine. In the same way the feeling for the bladder is not yet developed, why the newborns so often in the diapers make.

A baby's stomach is just the size of a hen's egg. Once they are full after feeding, a feeling of hunger quickly returns.

Therefore, it is not surprising that your newborn baby is regularly fed at night in order to satisfy the apparently insatiable hunger.

Newborns cannot yet consciously grasp and move. Even if the little ones hold on to one of your fingers by gently touching the palms of their hands, this movement is based on the gripping reflex.

After the first month, the newborn transforms and becomes a baby. You will notice that the facial features change, the waking phases become longer and the legs stretch. The musculature begins to develop. First the neck muscles are strengthened, then the shoulder and back muscles and finally the muscles in the legs. Already after four weeks your baby moves his mouth to talk to you.

Meanwhile, the time has also come when the head can be turned to the side.

In the sixth week you notice that your baby has grown.

At the same time, this growth spurt also ushers in a new phase of development. The hunger is getting much bigger. You will also notice that the little ones are satisfied or complacent.

In the second month of life the development into a social being takes place. Your baby smiles a lot and likes to and is therefore irresistible. The eyes become more alert and attentive. Eye contact is sought and the direct surroundings are observed with interested glances. The small humans grow up to 2,5 cm in the month and the head-circumference becomes bigger around 1,2 cm. It is not an old wives' tale that babies grow overnight and grow between three and four centimetres in size in the second month. Towards the end of the second month, the little ones begin to grasp with their hands and can fix objects with their eyes that are not more than 25 cm away.

The third month is an exciting transition period. Skills are practiced that are very important for further development. Your baby sleeps less and wants you to play with him and entertain him. In this time the baby bacon develops. Whereas the proportion of fat at birth was just 10 percent, it is now around 30 percent. This higher fat content is a good protection against small diseases that strain the body. The muscles develop further and become stronger so that the little ones can briefly lift their heads when lying on the floor. If they lie on their stomach, they perform dwarf lying support by raising their head and shoulders.

If you pull the little ones up by their hands and bring them into a sitting position, you will notice that the neck muscles already hold the head well.

Now begins the time when you have to take good care on the changing table. Because the little ones start to turn from their back to their stomach.

Even if the little ones at this age still smile at everyone, there is now a firm relationship with mum and dad. The third month is also the time when the babies discover themselves. They are particularly fascinated by their little hands and the ten little fingers that move them, stick them in their mouths and reach for objects.

In the following time the development slows down, which has progressed with a rapid speed so far.

After six months your baby has grown about 15 centimetres and has approximately doubled his body weight.

The brain triples its weight by the first birthday because many connections between the neurons have formed.

Key points of early childhood development

There are tables that give a good overview of early childhood development. They are not considered a yardstick, but rather an orientation. You will find that your healthy baby has completed the respective development steps up to the age of one year. Do not worry unnecessarily if your baby deviates from the following table. Each child is individual and has its own developmental focus. Some may be quicker to run, but start talking much later.

However, if you believe that development is not progressing well, you should write down your observations over several weeks and then discuss them with your pediatrician.

If there is little progress in different areas of development, he can examine the baby more closely and provide you with targeted early intervention. This one works wonders.

Crawl and run - the main thing is to move forward with well thought-out safety!

It is both amazing and fascinating to see the energy and imagination with which babies go on a journey of discovery to explore their surroundings. Because it's a really big challenge to move around. As a rule, small children start crawling when they are around 10 months old. This is an important developmental step that trains the motor skills, strengthens the muscles and trains the joints, so that later you can explore the world on your own little legs.

However, there are also children who do not crawl, but more or less skip this phase and immediately start getting up and running.

Not so long ago, experts held the basic opinion that crawling is an important part of healthy development. Today, however, it is known that crawling does not have the original value of learning to walk as long as the babies are active in other ways. Maybe your baby doesn't like crawling, but pulls himself up on a piece of furniture and suddenly takes his first steps without warning. They watched closely as Mom and Dad walk and move. They have internalized this sequence of movements through mental training and thus prepared themselves for the first steps. When everything fits, the little ones just get up and start running. With the many different excursions in your own home, there are so many things to discover.

There are exciting drawers in the kitchen, cupboards in which interesting, great things are stored that glow in colour. Crawling children reach for anything they can get their hands on. What seems harmless to adults has a great attraction for babies.

There are pots, plants, sockets, cupboards, drawers, the slot on the CD player and stairs just waiting to be explored. It's great fun to clear out drawers and cupboards. However, the greatest sources of danger are hidden here. There are dangerous objects in kitchen drawers. But the stove and oven also pose great dangers, leading to serious injuries. Carelessly stored cleaning agents in the bathroom cupboard or kitchen are also dangerous for the little ones and should not get into the hands of children.

If injuries occur, the head is often affected because it is disproportionately larger than the body.

That is why it is extremely important that you make your home crawl and run safe. Crawling is particularly pleasant when there is a soft surface. Lay out a soft carpet for your child to crawl on. This protects the delicate skin from abrasions and wounds. Your kitchen will be safe for a discovery tour if you close sockets with a socket cover and stow cutlery, crockery and pots out of reach. There are also drawer and door locks that are easy to install and cannot be opened by children's hands. Store plastic dishes, plastic boxes and wooden boards in the lowest drawers with which your child can play quietly.

The little ones watch activities from you and imitate them. Indoor plants bring life into the room, but are sometimes life-threatening for the little ones, who put everything in their mouths. Because many potted plants are poisonous. Place indoor plants so that your child cannot reach them and dispose of fallen leaves to prevent the worst.

The wardrobe with cleaning products is also an area where your child has no business. Detergents and cleaning agents often contain corrosive substances that are harmful to health. Once the curiosity of the little ones has been aroused, shelves, cupboards, chairs and other furniture are used as climbing frames to reach the desired object.

In order to secure cabinets and shelves against tipping over, they should be fixed to the wall.

Clear the bottom of the way to the most popular toys today. With a step stool suitable for children, your child can also reach slightly higher objects. Heavy toys, such as a car garage or the dollhouse, should not be placed on a shelf. If you are not currently playing with it, you can place this toy on the wardrobe that your child cannot climb.

Furniture corners and edges also pose great risks. Special protective accessories are available to make them crawl-proof. Foam that defuses the edges also helps to make the crawling path from the children's room to the living room or kitchen safer.

Even if it's only a few steps, stairs pose a great danger. On all fours, the little ones are so agile with a little practice that they cannot react so quickly. Just going outside the door to the letterbox or quickly fetching food from the freezer in the basement can have serious consequences, because your child cannot assess the danger and continues to crawl cheerfully. To prevent accidents on stairs, it is best to install a special stair grille. These are also available for doors if you want to restrict the crawling area. Protect your child as much as possible from the dangers and use the various aids provided for this purpose.

Seeing the world with children's eyes

To get an idea of where dangerous areas for your crawling and walking child are, try to see the apartment with children's eyes. Squat down and look at the immediate environment from this perspective.

You should think about the following things:

●      What can I do first?

●      What are aids or help needed for?

●      What particularly arouses my interest?

If you look at all the rooms from a child's point of