Childhood Development: 1½ to 3 Months ( TIPS AND GUIDANCE FOR PARENTS)

You and your baby are slowly settling into a routine of nap times and awake times. By three months, your baby is awake for a good part of the day, and sleeping most of the night. Your baby is ready to learn about the world when he is awake. It's a good time to slowly introduce new experiences to your baby. New experiences will help your baby's brain develop.

What your baby can see:

• Your baby's vision is improving!
• She is able to follow moving objects better.
• She can see close objects more clearly.
• She can recognize and understand where the sound is coming from.
• She sees your smile, and learns to smile back.
• Your baby is discovering her hands, and may spend time just looking at them.

What your baby can feel:

• Your baby's hands are opening up.
• Your baby may close her hands around objects placed in the palm of her hand.
• If you rub different materials or toys against her fingers, she will move her fingers against the material or toy.
• Your baby may even enjoy the feeling of her hand in her mouth.

How your baby eats:

• How much and how often your baby eats will vary.
• Your baby can only tolerate liquids right now, so feed him only breast milk or iron-fortified formula.
  

How to care for your baby's mouth:

• Your baby's gums need to be cleaned with an infant toothbrush or wet washcloth/gauze after feedings and at bedtime.
  

How your baby moves (your baby's gross motor skill development):

• Your baby is strengthening the muscles in his neck so that he may be able to hold his head up on his own, but he still needs your careful support.
• When you place your baby on his stomach for a little while, your baby will learn to hold up his head.
• She begin playing with toys slowly.
  

How your baby communicates (your baby's speech and language development):

• Your baby likes to make cooing sounds. When you hear your baby cooing, it's a good idea to coo, sing, or talk in return.
• Your baby will learn that making sounds is a good way to get your attention, and will coo even more when you respond to her "talk".
• Your baby's cries are becoming easier to identify. She will be able to use her sounds to tell you if she is hungry, wet, tired, or wants a change of position.
• Your baby still uses body language to tell you how she feels about what is going on.
• She may bring her hand to her head to signal that she wants a break, suck her fingers or hand, or turn her head away from you.
  

Loving and playing with your baby:

• Take your baby to different parts of the house so he/she can experience different things. In this way a baby can observe different things and will start recognizing different things, she/he will start thinking.
• Change your baby's position every so often.
• He/she may like to sit in a swing for a while. Take your baby to different environment to make them fresh.
• Respond quickly to your baby's needs. His/Her cry will tell you what he needs.
• Your baby will eat about every 3-4 hours. Some babies learn to sleep through the night; others still need to eat during the night. Remember to rest when your baby rests, if you can!
• Songs and nursery rhymes help your child to be ready for stories and picture books later on. Buy some rhyming, educational , poems CD or buy puzzle, ABC games so that a baby may enjoy.

Social and Emotional Preparation

These all points are also related to positive parenting.
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Children start school with different degrees of social and emotional
maturity. These qualities take time and practice to learn. Give your child
opportunities at home to begin to develop the following positive qualities.
★ Confidence: Children must feel good about themselves and believe
they can succeed.
★ Independence: Children must learn to do things for themselves.
★ Motivation: Children must want to learn.
★ Curiosity: Children are naturally
curious to get the most out of learning opportunities.
★ Persistence: Children must learn tofinish what they start.
★ Cooperation: Children must be able to get along with others and learn to share and take turns.
★ Self-control: Children must learn that there are good and bad ways
to express anger.
★ Empathy: Children must have an interest in others and understand
how others feel.
Here are some things that you can do to help your child develop these qualities.
★ Show your child that you care about him and that you are dependable.
Children who feel loved are more likely to be confident. Your child must believe that, no matter what, someone
will look out for him. Give your baby or toddler plenty of attention, encouragement, hugs and lap time.
★ Set a good example. Children imitate what they see others do and what they hear
others say.

Medical Care

Preschoolers require regular medical checkups, immunizations and dental care. It’s important for you to find a doctor where your child can receive routine health care as well as special treatment if
she becomes sick.
Early immunizations can help prevent a number of diseases including measles, mumps, German measles (rubella), diphtheria, tetanus, whooping cough, hib (Haemophilus influenzae type b), polio and tuberculosis. These diseases can have serious effects on your child’s physical and mental development.
Beginning by the age of 3 at the latest, your child also should have regular
dental checkups.

DEVELOPING LANGUAGE SKILLS IN A CHILD

★ Give your child opportunities to play. Play is how children learn. It is the natural way for them to explore, to become creative, to learn to make up and tell stories and to develop social skills. Play also helps children learn to solve problems—for example, if her wagon tips over, a child must figure out how to get it upright again. When they stack up blocks, children learn about colors, numbers, geometry, shapes and balance. Playing with others helps children learn how to negotiate.
★ Support and guide your child as she learns a new activity. Give puzzles or cross words to your child as activity.
★ Talk to your child, beginning at birth. Your baby needs to hear your voice. The more you talk to your baby, the more he will learn and the more he will have to talk about as he gets older. Everyday activities provide opportunities to talk, sometimes in detail, about what’s happening around him.
★ Listen to your child. Children have their own special thoughts and feelings, joys and sorrows, hopes and fears. As your child’s language skills develop, encourage her to talk about her thoughts and feelings. Listening is the best way to learn what’s on her mind and to discover what she knows and doesn’t know and how she thinks and learns. It also shows your child that her feelings and thoughts are valuable.