Things to Track in 1 Year Old Baby's Growth Milestone

you are a new mother and are anxious to ensure that your child turns out to be a smart child. But before that did you as a mother know that how your child shapes up will entirely depend on you and the immediate family? Did you know that every day she will learn something new and stock up in her brain to reveal it when her language starts developing?

As a first-time mom, you are anxious about each and every milestone your child achieves. But these are just the aspects of physical growth. Yes, just physical growth, as our Our pro-parent Jyoti Pandey shares some interesting insight on how a newborn develops into a smart child who is envied, praised and quoted as an example by all the near and dear ones. She says that as our baby is growing into a toddler there are numerous experiences that are shaping her life. Experiences that will shape her life as an adult and more than anything else, your relationship with your child shapes the way your child learns and grows. [Know - What Are The Milestones Of A 2-Year-old Child?]

How to Track Your Baby's Growth - Infant to Toddler

Development is the term used to describe the changes in your child’s physical growth, as well as her ability to learn the social, emotional, behaviour, thinking and communication skills she needs for life. All of these areas are linked, and each depends on and influences the others.

As your baby is growing so is her brain. It is believed that a child’s brain develops faster in the few years of a child’s life as compared to other times. The early experiences your child have – the things she sees, hears, and touches, smells and tastes – stimulate her brain, creating millions of connections. This is when foundations for learning, health and behaviour throughout life are laid down. Both genes and the environment influence your child’s development.

#1. Actions and Reactions

While how your child will act in a certain situation is determined by his genes (mother and father influence) and how she will react is all about the external influences called environment that includes family, school and the wider community.

The environment also influences things like your child’s language, as well as how independent she is, how well she bounces back from tough times and how good she is at forming relationships. As your child develops, genes and the environment influence each other. The way your child’s genes and environment work together affects her development. For example, how your toddler responds to a stressful situation depends on her temperament (mostly determined by her genes) and the relationships she has with others in her environment (usually her family or close carers).

#2. Stimulate Your Baby’s Brain

Babies are born ready to learn, and their brains develop through use. So your child needs a stimulating environment with lots of different brain development activities that give her plenty of ways to play and learn, and lots of chances to practise what she’s learning.

#3. Relationships

A newborn only understands the relationship between her and the mother who feeds and bathes her. But as she grows up into a toddler she starts realising other relationships and that knowledge has an effect on all areas and stages of her development. This is because relationships are experiences. In fact, relationships are the most important experiences in your child’s environment because they shape the way she sees the world. Your child learns about the world both by being in a relationship – for example, when she communicates with you – and also by seeing relationships between other people – for example, how you behave towards your partner, and how your partner behaves towards you.

Through relationships, your child learns whether the world is safe and secure, whether she is loved, who loves her, what happens when she cries, laughs or makes a face – and much more. And this learning is the basis for your child’s communication, behaviour, social and other skills. Your child’s most important relationships are with you, other family members and carers – for example, early childhood educators. These early relationships are the foundation for her healthy development.

#4. Play with me Momma

In the early years, your child’s main way of learning and developing is through play. Play is fun for your child and gives her an opportunity to explore, observe, experiment, solve problems and learn from her mistakes. She’ll need your support and encouragement to do this. But it’s important to try to find a balance between helping her and letting her make mistakes because finding out for herself about how the world works is a big part of learning. Lots of time spent playing, talking, listening and interacting with you helps your child learn the skills she needs for life, like communicating, thinking, solving problems, moving and being with other people and children. But more than this, play is a great relationship builder.