The Mother's Way

Your baby’s mental and physical development is an important part of your daily life. From milestone to milestone your baby is growing and developing every day. Marking the various baby development stages can be exciting and interesting for every member of your family. There are many toys available that correspond with all of the baby development stages your child is experiencing. These toys make babyhood fun and can help both brain and motor skills in even the smallest baby.

There are several key baby development stages that both experts and parents recognize and are significant to the growth of a child. Within the first 4 to 6 weeks of birth, your baby should be able to smile. Most of those first weeks are spent sleeping and gazing at the world around them. At around week 8 of the baby development stages, your baby should begin vocalizing. This is more than crying for food or attention, but this begins the active communication portion of the baby development stages. Most of the days during the second month are spent vocalizing, playing with vocal patterns, kicking while laying on the back or stomach. Your baby is getting to know that they have a voice and limbs! Various toys such as play mats and rattles give babies something to focus on that can be even more exciting than their normal world.

At month 3, your baby can hold its head up for prolonged periods, can talk quite a bit more than before, follows sound, and recognizes when to smile and squeal with joy. At this age rattles are still interesting, toys with music and toys with various textures are the best. By age 6 months, your baby can recognize itself in the mirror, transfer toys from one hand to the other, pull itself up to sit, grasp toys using the Palmer grasp and can vocalize the beginning of words such as mom and dad. Blocks can be one of the best toys for this age. Other toys with different shapes are also enjoyed. Stacking toys aid in coordination development. At this point, your baby might show interest in rolling a ball on the floor. Talking toys that help your baby learn different words are also great. This is a key point in the baby development stages.

During the following months, babies begin to wiggle and crawl. A bouncing activity center might be the perfect toy for your child. At the 9 to 10 month mark, your baby can pick up objects using the Pincer grasp, can sit unsupported, can babble along with a tune and loves to hear the sound of the words they are learning to vocalize. At this age babies love interaction with others. By year 1, your baby should be able to stand while holding onto something like furniture, stand alone for a few seconds, speak at least 2 words repeatedly and wave goodbye. Your child is making the transition from baby to toddler. There are many toys that can assist in these baby development stages such as push toys, ride on toys, toy telephones and musical toys.

As your baby cycles through the various baby development stages there are always toys and resources to aid you along the way. With each mental and physical stage, your baby will interact more with your family. As you watch these baby development stages, keep in mind that the toys your purchase during these times can last longer than a couple months. Often babies enjoy playing with toys you purchased when they were 3 months old, when they are a year old. Allow your child to dictate when it is time to retire a toy. Through the baby development stages you will be enamored by the growth of your child. Enjoy this time!

This entry was posted on Wednesday, June 4th, 2008 at 12:11 pm and is filed under General Parenting Tips. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.