Baby’s Development
NUTRITION
As your baby enters his/her 3-6 month development stage, he/she will start obtaining vitamins from a variety of solid foods and his/her milk requirement will lessen. Do not give your baby cow’s milk until he/she turns 1. You can start bottle feeding your baby after the first 3 months. The baby could hold and lift up his/her own bottle as he/she turns 1. As your baby could now consciously get hold of the bottle using his/her fingers and hand, he/she would be happy to hold his/her own bottle.
SLEEP
In his/her 6th month, your baby starts sleeping in total of 14 hours with 12 hours of this at night. Sleepless nights would now correspond to the times when your baby is teething. You can now establish a sleep pattern. If you rock your baby to sleep, he/she cannot learn to fall asleep by himself or herself. You have to be patient in this process and leave your baby alone even if he/she cries after you put him or her to bed. The baby’s seeking of your presence as he/she falls asleep may turn into a habit that may cause problems with his/her sleep patterns. Therefore, even if he/she cries you must wait until your baby falls asleep.
PHYSICAL DEVELOPMENT
The babies try to crawl by moving their legs when they lie face down. They can move their heads freely and turn their bodies in the direction they wish. They can sit up from a supine position. As your baby’s hands and fingers gain strength he would be happy to grab onto things. He/she will be able to grab things firmly and switch hands. However, their attention spans could be short and they could easily drop and forget about an object. For this reason you should refrain from handing your baby breakable objects. In this period, dress your baby in flexible and loose clothing as he will be like an acrobat driving great pleasure from his/her deliberate movements.
SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT
Your baby can examine an object for a long period of time. He/she may start uttering consonants like “F”, “V”, “S”, “Z”. He/she can compare two different objects. He/she can put solid and cold objects in his/her mouth to chew on. Your baby’s teething process plays an important role in this. In this period, your baby will no longer be friendly to everyone who approaches him/her. He/she can now differentiate between the strangers and the ones he/she is familiar with. He/she can recognize himself or herself in the mirror. You may also hear your baby utter monosyllabic words as he/she displays his/her first attempts at speech. Your baby will attempt to imitate you. Therefore, it may prove useful to refer to your spouse as mother/father instead of by his/her name.
