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.