Development of children at 1 month. What a month-old baby should be able to do: reflexes, skills and reactions. Motor and physical activity

The development of the baby, especially in the first month of life, is very important. The periods of wakefulness during this period are short, so it is important to build the baby’s schedule in such a way as to accommodate the necessary activities. It is important to correctly prioritize and select activities that will be aimed at psychomotor development, physiological development, and the development of sensory organs.

What can a 1 month old baby do?

For a child at this age, first of all, it is important that the mother is always nearby and breastfeeding. However, we must not forget about other elements of development, including swimming, walking, etc. Parents are interested in what a child should be able to do at 1 month. By one month the baby can:

Make micromovements, actively move your arms and legs;
Cry and smile;
Recognize mother's voice, smell and touch;
Distinguish between bright colors, checkered and striped patterns;
Focus your gaze on the face of an adult or on a bright stationary object;
Follow a moving object;
Pronounce sounds in time with the speaker’s speech and distinguish the features of sounds;
Raise and hold the head for several seconds while lying on your stomach.

It is important for parents to provide proper care for their baby, because this is the key to the successful development and good health of the child.

Proper care for a 1 month old baby

Feeding. It is important in the first month, because only breast milk 100% satisfies the baby’s needs for food and drink. It contains the necessary vitamins and beneficial elements that ensure the full physical development of the baby. Put your baby to your breast more often and feed on demand.

In the first month, the number of feedings can reach up to 20 times a day, 3-4 of which occur at night. Do not limit the duration of feeding and do not wean the breast until the baby is full. To protect the baby from health problems and maintain lactation at a good level, a nursing mother needs to follow.

Sleep and wakefulness. In the first month, the baby sleeps most of the day; sleep is 20 hours. During waking hours, the child needs not only to be fed, but also to be developed. Play and walk with your baby, read books and tell stories. Spend this time next to your baby while he is awake. For a baby in the first month, physical and emotional contact with the mother is very important, because it has a positive effect on the child’s psychomotor development.

Bathing has a beneficial effect on the physical development of the child, because it strengthens the immune system and muscles. Light exercises in water will help develop the sense of balance and vestibular apparatus, straighten your fingers, arms and legs. Regular bathing improves the functioning of internal organs, stimulates blood circulation and stabilizes blood pressure. To prevent your baby from being afraid of water, start lowering him from his heels for the first time and do it carefully. Start bathing with 10-15 minutes and gradually increase the time to 40 minutes.

It is important to maintain a comfortable temperature of the water and the bathroom so that the child does not overheat or become hypothermic. You need to start swimming at 37 degrees above zero, then reduce the water temperature by 1 degree every four days. Pediatricians recommend starting hardening no earlier than 3-4 months from the date of birth. Useful exercises for infants in water can be found at the link /.

Walks with a newborn they begin 7-10 days after birth, if the weather is warm outside. At temperatures below 10 degrees, it is better to postpone going outside. The first walks should be no more than 20-30 minutes. Gradually increase the time to 2-2.5 hours. This is a good time for walking in warm and calm weather. In cold and hot weather, walking time is up to 40 minutes. In hot weather above 25 degrees Celsius, do not walk with your baby between 11 and 17 hours, as the sun is most active and dangerous at this time.

Walking in the fresh air stimulates blood circulation, improves sleep and increases appetite, and temperature changes promote hardening. The baby grows healthy and kind, the baby cries less, eats well and sleeps peacefully. However, it is important to choose the right clothes. Read what to take with you for a walk and how to dress your newborn for the weather.

Hygiene– the most important element in baby care. Maintaining hygiene standards and keeping the environment clean will help avoid health problems for the newborn. Bathe your baby every day and wash your face twice with water, wipe your eyes with damp cotton pads, trim your nails, and change them every two to three hours. It is important that the baby is clean and dry.

Use wet and dry wipes, arrange air baths. Regularly ventilate the room in the absence of the baby and carry out wet cleaning. Don't forget about your hygiene. Before each feeding, be sure to wash your hands with soap.

Massage has a beneficial effect on the mental and physical development of a small child, calms and relaxes, relieves stress and improves sleep. You can start massage already 4-5 days after the baby is born. However, keep in mind that tummy massage cannot be done until the umbilical wound has healed! As a rule, this happens by two months.

Physical development

From the first minutes after birth, the body begins to gradually adapt to new environmental conditions. Today, doctors recommend putting the baby to the breast immediately, as this has a positive effect on both the physical development of the baby and the formation of lactation in the mother. In the first 12 hours, the baby is vaccinated against hepatitis B, and within a week - against tuberculosis. A month later, a second vaccination against hepatitis is carried out.

It is not uncommon for a baby to lose about 10% of its body weight in the first week after birth. This is a normal phenomenon that occurs due to the adaptation period and restructuring of the internal organs of the baby. Only by the second week does the baby’s condition stabilize, he becomes calmer and begins to gradually gain weight. Let's take a closer look at the indicators that a baby should have by one month.

Note that in the first month of life, the rate of weight gain is 90-150 grams per week. Thus, by the first month, the weight of the newborn increases by an average of 400-600 grams compared to the weight at birth. How to correctly calculate the rate of weight gain in children under one year old, read.

Psychomotor development

Children have several innate reflexes, including sucking, grasping and searching. So, when holding a finger or pacifier around the mouth, the baby makes sucking movements with its lips. In addition, the child grabs what touches the palm and turns his head when stroking any part of the body.

When a newborn hears a sudden or loud sound, he spreads his arms and legs out to the sides and back. Lying on his tummy, he makes swimming movements. And if you take the baby in your arms so that the legs lightly touch the surface, he will begin to make movements that imitate walking.

By the third week, the baby begins to copy the active movements of the mother's facial expressions. Don't forget that babies intuitively feel the emotions of adults. If mom or dad feel comfortable, then the child behaves calmly. If they are irritated or angry, the newborn becomes anxious, cries and acts up. And by the fourth week, “speech” begins to develop, when the baby makes snorting and squeaking sounds.

To develop motor skills and speech, you need to regularly talk to your baby using your voice, facial expressions, and gestures. It is also important to support the development of the senses. You can develop vision with the help of bright and colorful toys that are handed to the child, hung over the crib or in the stroller. To develop the auditory organs, you can not only talk to your baby, but also let him listen to music. The more varied it is, the better.

Play with your child, tell stories and sing songs. This develops vision and hearing, motor skills and listening concentration, and has a beneficial effect on the baby’s mental state and well-being.

Development of a premature baby

A baby born before the 260th day of pregnancy is considered premature. There are many reasons for premature birth. These include health problems with the mother, poor lifestyle, previous abortions, stress, etc.

A premature baby may have thin skin and reddish, wrinkled skin. External differences from children born at term disappear by one year. The differences are more noticeable not in external signs. Early children master skills and abilities a little later. So, with a premature birth earlier than a week of pregnancy, the child may lag behind in development by 1.5-4 months.

In the first month, a premature baby exhibits poorly developed congenital reflexes and inactivity, lethargy and decreased muscle tone. These children gain weight slowly. Until the baby learns to feed on his own, he receives food through a special tube.

To ensure the correct psychomotor and physical development of a premature baby, it is important to pay special attention to him and carefully monitor the functioning of each organ. With proper care, the baby's condition approaches normal already by 12 months after birth.

Try to establish breastfeeding, because mother's milk is the best way to boost immunity in a premature baby. Breast milk gives strength, promotes weight gain and accelerates the development of an early child. No formula can replace milk! Therefore, if lactation has already begun, express the milk and feed the baby through a bottle or tube. Offer your breast regularly to your baby to develop the suck-swallow reflex;
Pay attention to the climate in the room, monitor humidity and avoid drafts. The temperature in the room for a premature baby should be slightly higher. In ordinary infants it is 18-24 degrees above zero, in premature babies the indicators vary between 22-25 degrees;
Dress your baby warmly if he weighs less than 2 kg. Otherwise, the child should be dressed in the same way as a regular newborn;
Bathing for children weighing less than 1.5 kg can begin after two to three weeks. In other cases, you can bathe your baby at 7-10 days. The water temperature should be 38 degrees, and in the bathroom - at least 25;
Walking begins only in warm weather, 12-14 days after birth. The first walk should be short and last 10 minutes, then increase the time to 1.5 hours. During cold or hot weather, it is better to postpone going outside;
The doctor must draw up an individual vaccination schedule, since in the first month of life a premature baby’s risk of developing infectious diseases seriously increases;
Massage will bring invaluable benefits to a premature baby, because almost 50% of such babies begin to gain weight faster. Light simple touches and stroking have a positive effect on the well-being and physical condition of the baby. Massage can be started as early as the second week of life. And after 1-1.5 months they begin to do special gymnastics.

During the first month of life, the child gains on average about 600 g of weight and 3 cm of height; in the second month, you can expect a greater increase - about 800 g or more, the child will again grow by about 3 cm. The average height of a child at the age of 1 month is 54- 55 cm.

What can a 1 month old baby do?

The first month of your baby’s life has flown by - the most painful and scary. Now the baby is already 1 month old, and he enters the second month with a smile. There was a smile before, but that smile was involuntary - the child reacted to comfortable sensations. At 4-5 weeks, the baby begins to smile “for real” - reacting to your kind words.

By this time, the baby can usually hold his head upright for a short time. It can hold your face or a bright toy in the field of vision for a long time, and turns towards the sound source. The first buzz appears, facial expressions become more expressive.

How much does a 1 month old baby eat?

The baby is now actively growing, so the body needs more and more nutrition. By the end of the month, the need for milk can be estimated at 750-800 grams per day (110-150 grams per feeding).

How much does a 1 month old baby sleep?

At the age of 1-2 months, the child sleeps 17-19 hours a day, of which night sleep is about 8 hours 30 minutes, and daytime sleep can be divided into 3-4 times

Regime, daily routine of a 1 month old baby

This is what the daily routine of a baby aged 1 to 2 months might look like:

This regime is far from being a guide to the life of mother and baby by the hour, but only an example by which you can imagine what the duration of the sleep and wakefulness phases and breaks between meals can be.

Baby's health at 1 month

If a child was born in autumn, winter or early spring, in the second month of life the doctor usually prescribes a drug containing vitamin D to prevent rickets. Both the drug and its dose are selected individually, taking into account the nature of the child’s feeding (since most adapted mixtures contain vitamin D). Sometimes the prevention of rickets can be started earlier or, on the contrary, postponed for certain indicators (for gastrointestinal disorders or if the doctor finds the size of the fontanel too small, the increase in head circumference insufficient).

Development of a one-month-old baby

Now the most pleasant and dear thing for the baby is the voice of the people around him, and especially his mother. After all, it was exactly what he heard in his tummy. Therefore, talk to him more often - this both calms him down and allows him to learn more about the world around him.

Call him by his name or just an affectionate nickname when you enter the room. Talk about how you feel when you change clothes. By changing the volume of your voice, you can calm him down or attract attention. It is very interesting for the baby to watch the change in timbre - from low to high and vice versa - this can attract his attention for a long time.

Another great activity is massaging your fingers and toes. Massage each finger separately, this will allow the baby to feel his body.

The total daily sleep time for an infant in the first week of life is normally 20 hours, with every 2-3 hours of sleep followed by short periods of wakefulness. The baby wakes up only for feeding. The breathing of a newborn during sleep can be even and calm if his sleep is deep, but if the baby is asleep with his arms and legs and breathes irregularly, then his sleep is shallow.

By the end of the first week of life, a child can already distinguish the aroma of milk from all the smells surrounding him and turn his head in the direction from which it comes. This can be either the mother's breast or a bottle with formula.

The baby understands whether the milk or formula offered to him tastes sweet or bitter.

A newborn can fix his gaze on objects surrounding him close, but only for a short time.

During sleep, the child may smile and involuntarily move his legs or arms.

In order not to be alarmed, parents should keep in mind that a newborn's breathing is three times faster than that of an adult, and it is also irregular and shallow.

Child development: second week of life

When the baby enters the second week, he should fully regain the weight with which he was born. Weekly weight gain should be 150–200 g.

How to develop a child per month? You can teach your baby to hold his head by placing him on his tummy to do this, but this can only be done if the umbilical wound has healed.

Within a few seconds, the baby can observe a bright rattle or a moving object.

A sharp sound will make the child flinch and blink, he will listen and stop crying.

Physiological jaundice may persist until the end of the child’s second week of life.

Child development: third week of life

What should a child be able to do at this time? In the third week of life, the baby can already pick up a small object or the parent’s finger. He is also able to examine an adult's face by looking into the eyes.

Lying on his stomach, the child tries to lift his head and lift his chin off the surface.

Now, quite consciously, he turns his head in different directions while he lies on his back and looks at the world around him.

The process of a child’s development in the third week is obvious: he perks up in response to gentle speech addressed to him, moves his legs and arms, and looks for the speaker.

A three-week-old baby sleeps for a total of 15–18 hours; during one feeding, he is able to suck up to 80–100 ml of mother’s milk or formula.

Child development: fourth week of life

The weight gain during the first month of life should be about 600–800 g, and the height gain should be 3 cm.

What can a child do at this age? He holds the head for a few seconds while he lies on his stomach. The baby already clearly knows his mother’s voice, recognizes the taste and smell of breast milk or formula.

It is at this time that a child, when addressed affectionately, is able to focus his gaze on the face of the person speaking, and also learns to distinguish the intonations of speech addressed to him. In response, he makes sounds.

A child can follow an object only if it moves horizontally.

During the first month of a child’s life, you must remember to obtain his birth certificate, which is issued at the registry office or at the MFC. To do this, you must have with you the passports of both parents, the child’s birth certificate, which was issued at the maternity hospital, as well as a marriage certificate.

Plantar reflex: if you run your finger along the foot, the child will withdraw the foot;
Sucking reflex: lightly run your finger over the baby’s lips, and he will immediately fold his lips into a tube;
Grasp reflex: Place the tip of your finger in your baby's hand and he will squeeze it tightly.

In addition to these, the newborn has other reflexes: the proboscis, the Bauer crawling reflex, the support and automatic walking reflex, and others.

Baby 1 month: sense organs

If you think that newborns are helpless and completely stupid, you are very mistaken, because already in the first few days of life, all their senses begin to work actively.

1. The baby holds a stationary object in his field of vision. Can focus his gaze on it. If you slowly move a bright object (for example, a rattle) in front of your baby's face, he will begin to smoothly move his gaze following the movement of your hands. The child focuses his gaze best at a distance of 25–30 cm. This is the distance at which the baby often sees his mother’s face.

2. The baby reacts to a loud sound (cotton, bell) - it shudders. When you lay your baby on his tummy, he tries to lift and hold his head.

3. The baby begins to recognize the mother's voice, and when the child is 1 month old, he perceives high-pitched voices faster. So talking to your baby at this time in a “lisping” tone is not at all stupid.

Baby 1 month: communication

The baby is 1 month old, and he is already trying to communicate with his mother, and not only by crying during hunger. The baby responds to his mother’s mood - if she tilts her frowning face towards him, he will cry, and if she smiles at him, he will smile too. And although this smile is still unconscious, many call it “angelic.” And the baby will begin to smile consciously only from the second month.

Baby 1 month: sleep

When a baby is 1 month old, he often wakes up because he wants to eat every 2-4 hours. His stomach is still very small, so at first the baby eats very little and sleeps between meals. In general, a newborn spends 13 to 20 hours a day sleeping. During these periods, mom can also rest and make up a little for the lack of sleep at night. For more information on this topic, see our article “Your Baby Learns to Sleep.”

Baby 1 month: breastfeeding

Breastfeeding immediately raises many questions: How to properly put a baby to the breast and wean it from it? how long to feed a baby? You can find information about this and much more in the corresponding section of our portal, for example, how often you should feed your baby, and what positions during breastfeeding are most popular among mothers.

Baby 1 month: baby care

After birth, the child looks fragile and weak. But believe me, the baby is stronger than you think, so don’t be afraid to pick him up, change him and bathe him. You can find tips on caring for your child in the appropriate section of our portal.

Hang toys such as rattles or bright rotating mobiles above the crib (at the level of the child’s chest) at least 50–70 cm.
When the baby is awake, it is useful to briefly turn on gentle music (just not loudly, babies have very sensitive hearing).
Sing funny and lullaby songs to your baby more often, make funny faces (wink, stick out your tongue or make big eyes). You will be surprised - the child will try to imitate you!
Talk to the baby. You can comment on what is happening around you and your actions, or you can even just... lisp. Don't worry, your lisps and coos are the most important preparation for correct speech perception.

Note! The tone of your speech is very important - try, even if you are tired, sleep-deprived or irritated, not to raise your voice or yell at your child. Now the baby still won’t understand you, but he will be very scared and cry even more. Therefore, it is better to resolve intra-family conflicts in another room: the baby is very sensitive to such irritants.

Rest after childbirth

The postpartum period is divided into two stages: the so-called early and late periods. During the first 14 days (early postpartum period), a woman needs rest to recuperate, and during the late postpartum period it is already possible to begin performing the first exercises of special postpartum gymnastics.

Rehabilitation gymnastics

During childbirth, the female body experiences very strong stress. With the help of restorative gymnastics, you can not only strengthen the pelvic floor muscles, but also speed up the recovery of the uterus. In addition, many exercises will improve posture, which is impaired due to feeding and frequent holding of the child. On our website you will find a description of special exercises that you can start doing at the end of the postpartum period.

Postpartum discharge

For several weeks after giving birth, a woman will produce a small amount of so-called postpartum discharge, consisting of blood, mucus and debris from the fetal membrane. They can last up to eight weeks, stopping and then restarting. At this time, proper hygiene is especially important to avoid inflammation of the genital organs or uterus.