Baby’s First Year: 9, 10, 11, 12 Weeks Old
This month your baby will become all action. His muscles have developed and he has learned more control over his movements. He will wiggle, straighten his legs, and move his arms back and forth. With more control over his arms, he will experiment with moving them, letting each handhold the other and reaching toward you. He will stare at his hands and be fascinated with how he makes them move.
Your baby will weigh about 9 to 16 pounds and measure 22 to 25 inches. Babies do vary in size just like adults do. The average for your baby will depend on his hereditary.
Eyesight
Your baby’s eyesight has improved a lot. He will now be able to focus on smaller objects even the size of a raisin. His distance vision will improve also. You will seem him staring at things across the room. He will exam object several feet away. And he will recognize people’s faces from a greater distance. With improved eyesight, he will be more interested in circular or spiral patterns or toys. You will development in his eye and hand coordination. When he reaches for things now, he will be more on target on touching it.
Voice and Laughter
Your baby’s laughter will change. He will be able to really laugh out loud. He will squeal with delight when he is happy. His smiles will be more spontaneous to what is happening around him. His voice will form two syllable sounds like “ah goo” instead of just one syllable. The tone of his voice and his spontaneous smiles will be more sociable instead of little cries or half smiles. He will start to imitate sounds that he hears.
Crying
Most experts say that you cannot spoil a baby during his first few months with you. He cries because he needs something or because something is wrong. Pick him up and give him the snuggling that he wants. Coo with him, talk with him. As your baby grows, he will learn how to entertain and calm himself but right now he needs your help to do this. You might direct his attention to the mobile in his crib or he might be interested in the unbreakable mirror image of himself.
Muscular Development
Your baby will start to use his arms more. He will not be able to play patty-cakes on his own, but he will be able to bring his hands together by himself. You will see your baby open and shut his hands. He will reach for dangling toys in his crib. Hand toys like rattles will give him more pleasure now. He will be able to grasp them and shake them.
When your baby is on his back, he will kick and straighten his legs. Often this is done in a jerky movement but his legs will be quite energetic. He will be able to roll over in his bed. This will be rolling just one way - from his stomach to his back or the other way. He will reach for more objects. With some effort and support from his arms, he will be able to raise his entire chest off the mattress. He will be able to lift his head up to about a 45 degree angle. He will have more control in keeping his head up instead of letting it wobble from side to side.
When you hold him up under his arms, your baby will put some weight on his legs. As he curls his legs to relieve the pressure of his on weight and then thrust his legs out straight again, he will seem to bounce up and down.
Sleeping and Eating Patterns
As you baby matures, his nervous system and his own internal clock will become more regulated. The length of his sleeping will increase at night to four hour sessions. Each night these sessions will typically be 15 to 18 hours of sleep. Eating and sleeping habits will fit more into a routine. And he will cry less to get you attention. Your baby will start to entertain himself by moving his hands, watching toys, or patterns painted on his crib.
Changing Clothes
This month your baby will be more sociable. He be awake more and will need to start wearing clothes instead of a tee shirt and diaper or nightgown. As you dress him, have your baby on a solid surface to give support to him. Do not try to dress your baby while he is in your lap. It is best to lay out all his clothes before you start to change him. You never want to leave your baby alone on a changing table or bed while you go to the dresser to get some of his clothes.
Buy clothes that are stretchy with large necks that will make it easier to put these on over your baby’s head. Reach into the sleeve, find your baby’s arms, and pull it through the hole rather than pushing your baby arm through. Even though his little fingers and toes may be out of sight for away, make sure you are pull them in the wrong direction against the fabric. If the garment has a zipper, pull it far away from your baby as you zip to insure that you never catch your baby’s skin or other clothes in it.
Do not forget that this can be a great time to play with your baby. It is a nurturing time. Sing songs, keep talking to him, smile at him, and maintain eye contact with him.
Hair Loss
Many infants start to lose a large percentage of their newborn hair this month. While it isn’t as evident or as dramatic, they will shed a lot of their newborn skin too. Often there is a ring of baldness on the back of head. This used to be called the monk’s ring and many thought it was from letting the baby lie on his back for too long a period of time. Even a baby who is seldom on his back will develop this same bald pattern. This seems to be a normal dermal change that leads to new and more strongly rooted hair instead of the finer first hairs your infant had at birth.
Nail Care
As your baby grows, you will notice that his little fingernails do too. As baby’s throw their arms around, they will often have scratches on their face and neck from their own nails. Using baby nail clippers or blunt-nosed scissors, follow the natural curve of the fingernail but cut toenails straight across. if using clippers or scissors makes you uneasy, you can also file baby's nails with a soft emery board. But it generally less stressful for your baby and you to use clippers or blunt-nosed scissors and finish the job quickly.
To avoid pinching or cutting her skin with the clippers, push the pad of the finger or toe down and away from the nail while you trim. If you do accidentally nick your baby's skin, apply a bit of pressure to the cut with a piece of sterile gauze. The bleeding will soon stop. Dab the area with antibiotic ointment.
Startle Reflex
One of the first reflexes you will see in your baby will be throwing his arms and legs out to his sides and then pulling them back close to his body again. This is a demonstration of a startle. Move your baby suddenly and he will show you this same reflex each time. You can see this startle reflex in other ways too. If there is a sudden change in his body’s temperature when you undress him, he will throw his arms and legs out and pull them back in. His reaction to a sudden, loud noise will be the same. With in a few months he will be more adjusted to his surroundings and this reflex will disappear.
Babysitter
For the last few weeks, you may have left your baby with relatives for very short periods. With this month, you can let your baby get comfortable with a babysitter. He will become accustomed to a new face and voice. It does not mean he will be less reliant on you. This will give you a break and help both of you become more independent.
Whether your babysitter is a member of the family or not, be sure and give them a number where you can be reached. Tell them the baby’s schedule for feeding and sleeping. Provide them with authorization forms in case your baby should need emergency medical care.
|
