First year milestones: Optimising baby's development

• Try to see the world through their eyes, hear it through their ears, feel it through their skins, taste it through their taste buds and smell it through their noses. All colours are new after the nuances of light and dark in the womb, movement isn’t only felt but seen, sound is seldom as muted or as undifferentiated as in the 40 weeks of pre-birth development.
• The feeling of clothes, the sensations of bath time, a parent’s direct hug and kiss, the smells of a household, the taste of Mom’s milk or formula! Every sense perceives an array of new stimuli and this sensation of continual discovery is at work throughout the first year and way beyond.
• Be cautious not to overstimulate your baby. Everyone needs some quiet time, and this includes Baby! You may find your baby becoming irritable if you think that you should always be actively entertaining, stimulating or actively playing with her. Soothing activities and familiar rituals are also important for a balanced, and consequently contented, frame of mind.
• Playing without interruption, within the bounds of safety, is one of the prime ways in which babies develop. Play will not only inevitably strengthen muscles, but it will teach coordination and a myriad other skills. In addition, social skills will mature and Baby will develop from copying what she sees others do – the very best way of learning.
• Nursery rhymes, whether read or sung, help develop speech and inter-personal skills. From the earliest of times, while changing or bathing Baby, use nursery rhymes as a form of playful communication. As babies grow, they’ll delight in recognising them and imitating the words and sounds.
• Touch is an amazing developmental aid. All you have to do is give loving touch or massage your baby to access this soothing yet stimulating parenting tool! It’s good for all babies, especially those who are very restless, experience colic, have had a Caesarean birth or, interestingly, don’t like being touched. Babies who spend many hours away from their parents or who aren’t developing as well as they should, profit enormously from touch. It also strengthens and tones Baby’s muscles and joints and improves her coordination and circulation. Touch has been shown to stimulate and improve non-verbal skills, thus improving self-esteem and social awareness. It even helps to treat tactile defensiveness in little ones, which could impact negatively on their development.
• In order to assist with optimal development in the first year, parents should interact frequently, kindly and meaningfully with their baby. Learning will be the automatic result!
• Cuddle Baby to give confidence, touch Baby to stimulate tactile learning (through the skin), talk to Baby to help develop early speech, dance with Baby to activate the vestibular system for better coordination, spatial awareness and balance, and play physical games like “assisted baby sit ups”, “roly-poly” and bouncing on a physio ball.
• Make sure that a small baby’s environment is rich with a variety of sounds, sights and smells, but don’t neglect quieter times either.
• Repetition helps Baby to master skills, recognition and discriminatory ability.
• Mobiles and other moving objects will challenge her intellect, perception and visual and auditory development, helping her brain and nervous system to develop.
• As Baby grows, walk around the house, garden and neighbourhood, describing and naming many things. This will help Baby to experience and learn about them, recognise them and not fear them.
• A sensible routine gives Baby security and confidence that will enable her to concentrate on absorbing new information. Baby especially learns from trying things herself, so encourage exploration and willingly introduce new experiences and sensations.
• Encouraging the use of both sides of Baby’s body with activities that cross the body “midline” will help with the development of both spheres of the brain, coordination and integrated activity.

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