in colds and blocked noses
•How to strengthen Baby’s immune system
•Frustration and crying in Baby
•Is Baby stimulated enough if cared for at home?
•Resistance to car seat.
Blow air through flaccid lips directly onto her tummy. This ticklish sensation, and also the noise it makes, will produce squeals of delight!
•Play aeroplanes with your baby. Hold Baby securely and fly her around the room or garden, occasionally twirling around and going up and down. Stop if her enjoyment is tailing off, but this is one that Dad’s strong arms can cope with for quite a while, to the great delight of their babies, who will soon show that they want more.
•Place objects just out of Baby’s reach. This will amuse and challenge your growing baby, as he tries to reach the object of his desires. Do not let this game carry on to the point of frustration, but rather help him to achieve his goal. He will radiate satisfaction, which will give him courage to try harder next time.
Months Nine and Ten
MILESTONES
At nine months your little charmer might suddenly become quite clingy. See this as a compliment! You have helped him to considerable independence and he needs to touch base with you to reassure himself. This phase will soon pass if you do not force it. Baby may well be quite mobile, keeping you on the run and helping you get your daily exercise! Crawling might start any time now and Baby starts pulling himself up against furniture. Baby will sit securely and can turn without toppling. It is clear that she understands quite a lot of what you say and will also give you objects she has been holding. By the end of ten months most babies will hold out an arm or foot when you want to dress them. Read to her regularly, recite rhymes and show her pictures in books.
BABY GAMES
COMMON CONCERNS
Read more about these elsewhere:
•How much formula milk is normal?
•Nighttime feeds
•Babies who don’t like lumps in food
•Care of a baby’s teeth
•First visit to the dentist
•Attachment to bottles or dummies
•Renewed separation anxiety
•How long is Baby able to concentrate and amuse himself?
•Run a feather up and down his arms and legs and on his tummy. The exquisitely light touch of a feather can give a baby goosebumps of pleasure. Note that if he doesn’t like this sensation, it might be an indication that he will profit from firmer body massage.
•Rattles of various kinds still provide listening pleasure and will help with hand-eye co-ordination. Fill light but secure containers, such as small plastic bowls with a variety of things like seeds, beans or marbles. Let Baby rattle these around and be enraptured by the different sounds.
Months Eleven and Twelve
MILESTONES
You probably cannot believe that Baby’s first year is almost over! As you look back you will have realised that learning the art of relaxation is paramount to successful parenting and that you are the one with the best interests of your baby at heart. If you have learnt to trust your instincts you will have given Baby the best possible start in life, whether or not you have always done what is regarded as correct. You will love listening to the way your baby’s speech develops: by a year they make conscious, determined use of sounds, and about two to three words have repetitive significance. Babies love to wiggle through small spaces, throw objects on the floor to elicit a response and might start walking any time from now and fifteen to eighteen months.
BABY GAMES
COMMON CONCERNS
Read more about these elsewhere:
•When will Baby walk?
•How to wean a baby at a year
•When to introduce cow’s milk
•Baby’s small appetite
•Speech development
•Bilingualism
•Bumps and bruises
•Why does Baby still not sleep well?
•Baby’s strong will
•Crawling games provide loads of fun. Cut biggish cardboard boxes into tunnels and make a bit of an obstacle course for your crawler. Call to him from the one side so that he feels encouraged to make his way through to you. Also encourage in and out under tables and chairs and up and over objects not too high. This is fun learning at its best!
•Play telephone. Invest in a toy telephone and, while you talk into the receiver of your real phone, let Baby do the same with the play set. Have animated conversations and send kisses down the line too.
Two
Physical and Emotional Issues of the First Three Months
Welcome to the World
The almost ten months spent in the womb provides a buffer-period for our babies before they begin to experience the world in earnest. They gradually become aware of the good things awaiting them, while the not-so-good things are experienced through a protective filter. But let us put ourselves in our newborn’s bootees.
If we try to imagine this experience, we will be able to offer a warmer welcome to the world, while minimising the trauma that is involved in this rather frightening transition from the tranquillity of the womb to the real world. There is a theory which holds that babies must get used to the realities of the world, and that too gentle an approach will do nothing for the building of character and coping abilities. There is a golden mean between these two approaches. For instance, the use of a car seat is non-negotiable from the very first trip home from the clinic, whether or not the baby likes the restriction. On the other hand, early separation of mother and baby after birth for purposes of measuring and bathing are not only unnecessary, but also unkind, and will sow the first seeds of emotional distress. These can be overcome, but why should they be planted in the first place?
The good sensations
Imagine emerging from the birth canal into the big wide world, hearing your mother’s voice as it really is for the first time. It changes, after the groans and exhaustion of labour, into one of warmth and welcome. And you know it has been a labour of love and that her tears are tears of joy and incredulity.
After spending nine months
