What should a baby be able to do at 1 month old? Skills and features of development

2024 Author: Priscilla Miln | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 00:21

Modern mothers begin to engage in the development of the baby almost immediately after his discharge from the hospital. Of course, all parents want their child to at least meet the standards from the development calendar, and even better - to get ahead of them. The list of what a child should be able to do at 1 month is small. However, it is worth studying it and taking a closer look at the newborn in order to prevent possible pathologies.

Physiological features of the newborn

Having been born, the child begins to urgently adapt to life outside the mother's womb. This happens due to some innate reflexes and knowledge of the world around in the short periods of time between sleep and meals.

In physical terms, the circulatory system of the newborn is changing dramatically. At birth, placental blood supply stops, whileown blood begins to flow from the right ventricle of the heart to be enriched with oxygen. After that, she goes through a small circle of blood flow.

In addition, the newborn loses the main fetal communications - the arterial and venous ducts close, the large and small circles of blood circulation begin to fully function. In addition, the child's immunity begins to get acquainted with new bacteria and microorganisms, the digestive system adapts and the endocrine system improves.

Growth and development of a baby at 1 month

About what a child should be able to do at 1 month old, one can speak purely tentatively. Some children develop and grow faster, some more slowly. According to the norms, by the end of the first month of life, a newborn should gain at least 600 grams of weight and 2 cm of height. In addition, the coverage of the head and chest is increased. However, the movements of the newborn by the end of the first month remain chaotic. Coordination comes only in the third month of life, which is why it is recommended to swaddle children up to this age.

During wakefulness, the child gradually explores the world around him. Under the influence of a huge amount of information that the newborn has yet to learn, the nervous system and brain functions develop. Since learning is not so fast, you should not expect special skills from the child.

What should a baby be able to do at 1 month?

When doctors talk about the skills of newborns, they mean the presence of innate reflexes that are common to allchildren in the first month of life. They are checked during a routine examination and do not require any mental or psychological stress from the child. All that a child should be able to do at 1 month is unconditioned reflexes given to him by nature.

The list of unconditioned reflexes of a newborn includes the following skills:

• sucking;
• grasping;
• search engine;
• protective;
• crawling;
• walking;
• Babinski reflex.

Sucking and seeking reflexes

The first reflex needed to survive outside the womb is sucking. It is needed so that the child can receive nutrients not through the umbilical cord, but through breast milk, which still needs to be obtained. This reflex develops during the period of bearing a child. Therefore, on ultrasound, you can clearly see how the child, while in the mother's abdomen, sucks her finger. To check for this reflex, you need to run your fingertip around the child's mouth.

Another reflex aimed at obtaining food is the search reflex. If you lightly touch the cheek or corner of the child's mouth, he should turn his head towards the stimulus. But only on condition that this touch is gentle and careful. To recognize rudeness and discomfort allows the development of a child in 1 month. What a newborn should be able to do is to reach out for the good and shun the dangerous. Therefore, if touched carelessly, the child may turn his head in the opposite direction.

Grasping and protective

Mosttime the palms of the newborn are in a compressed state. And if you put a finger or other object into the open handle, the child will grab it tightly. Moreover, the compression force will be amazing for such a fragile creature. A similar reaction can be seen when the foot is irritated - the child should unclench his fingers like a fan. This reflex is also a grasping reflex, but it bears the name of the French neurologist Joseph Babinski.

Many parents are afraid to put their baby to sleep on their stomach. But in vain. Thanks to the protective reflex, the child, if lying on his stomach, always turns his head to one side. Therefore, a he althy baby is not at risk of suffocating while sleeping.

Spontaneous crawling and automatic walking reflex

During the examination, the pediatrician should check a few more reflexes, such as spontaneous crawling. Of course, crawling is not on the list of what a baby should be able to do at 1-2 months old. However, a reflex that resembles such attempts must be present. To check it, you need to lay the child on his stomach and substitute an open palm under the feet as a stop, from which he should push off a little.

The reflex of automatic support is noticeable if you try to put the child on the legs. When the baby is taken in an upright position and allowed to lean on a hard surface, the first attempts to walk the newborn can be observed.

Other reflexes

Babkin's reflex, or palmar-oral. It is he who refers to what a child should be able to do in 1 month of life. To checkthe presence of this reflex, you need to lightly press on the area of \u200b\u200bthe palm under the thumb. If the child opened his mouth and turned his head to the side, you can be sure that this reflex is present.

In fact, the list of natural skills that newborns have is quite wide. Some reflexes that a child should be able to do already fade away at 1-3 months, others can last up to six months. However, for a verdict on the baby's he alth, the standard checks listed above are sufficient.

What else should babies be able to do at 1 month old?

If you carefully monitor your baby during the first 4 weeks of life, you can see how quickly he develops. Yes, the difference with what a child should be able to do at 1-5 months is colossal, but still you should not take his achievements for granted.

By the end of the 1st month of life, the baby may:

• Focus on a specific subject. As a rule, on a large and bright one (rattle, picture, toy).
• Raise your head up from the “lying on your stomach” position.
• Actively respond to familiar voices (moms and dads).
• Start at a sharp loud sound.
• Make noises or hum.
• Follow moving objects with your eyes.
• Repeat after facial expressions of adults (smile, frown, show tongue).

In some cases, children can safely hold the head upright. However, this skill is one of those that shouldbe able to a child in 1-4 months. So if it's missing, don't panic.

Advice to parents

Despite the fact that today there is literature that is designed for the development of children aged 0+, you should not get carried away with it. It is possible to acquaint a newborn with a new world without teaching materials. Yes, and with the desire for speedy mental development, it is worthwhile to wait. At this age, the main thing for parents is to create the most comfortable atmosphere in the house for the baby.

Tips:

• If possible, you need to provide the child with their own space, into which extraneous sounds will not penetrate. It can be either a parent's bedroom or a separate children's room, isolated from sharp loud noises. They cause the strongest stress in the newborn. But quiet monotonous sounds (white noise), on the contrary, act as a sleeping pill for the baby.
• In order not to cause discomfort to the child, he should experience only gentle tactile sensations. Clothes, diapers, bed linen should be sewn from soft, pleasant to the touch fabric. It is also very important to touch the child correctly. An adult's hands should be warm and movements should be careful.
• For visual perception of information, you can show the newborn different pictures and objects. It has been noticed that if you hang a monochromatic color picture in the crib at eye level, the newborn will examine it for a long time and with interest. When the picture gets tired, it can be changed to a similar one, only of a different color. And then the child's interest in her will resume.
• You can develop hearing and speech withbirth itself. To do this, you can sing songs, tell rhymes and nursery rhymes, read fairy tales. If the child reacts to speech, you need to enter into a dialogue with him.

In the first months of life, the baby is very closely connected with the mother at the level of psycho-emotional state. A newborn intuitively feels when a mother is angry, annoyed or sad. Therefore, when interacting with him, the main thing is a good mood.