Supporting Your Baby's Developments
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Baby Month 10 – What to Expect
During the tenth month of life, your baby is growing up fast. You can talk to baby and expect to have an appropriate reaction. Simple phrases should be used when you correct your baby’s mistakes, especially when baby is getting into a situation you don’t want.
“No, we don’t hit.” (shake head)
“A’ Aaa, don’t pull hair.” (shake head)
If baby isn’t able to roll/crawl/sit at this point, you might want to discuss this with your pediatrician.
Baby can now:
- Understand object permanence, meaning they uderstand that things don’t just vanish, because they can’t see them. You will notice this, by them searching for something that has gone missing. They will also call you when you leave the room, rather than cry. Showing that they understand you or something is hiding, rather than vanished for good.
- Move toys and other items from one hand to another
- Stand while holding your fingers or the edges of furniture (very few start to walk at this young age)
- Pulls self to a stand when holding on to furniture
- Gets upset if toys or other objects are taken away
- Starting to understand the word ‘no’.
What to do
Use the timetable below to support their developments and avoid developmental delays.
hOW TO SUPPORT Baby's DEVELOPMENTS
They may not be steady enough to walk yet, but many will be strong enough to grip furniture and pull themselves up to a standing position. They may even take a few steps walking along the side of a sofa as they hold onto it. This is the ideal time to give them a ‘walker’ to develop leg strength.
Discovery reaches new heights as baby may now be able to stand up and look around. It is a good time to ensure small furniture is removed which could be pulled to the floor. Your baby will be unstoppable now as they race around and clamber around to make new discoveries.
Babies can now pick things up with just her index finger and thumb or using the pincer grip. So the smallest things can be picked up and put in her mouth. Make sure your floors are clear of stray nails, tacks, staplers, earing backs or anything that may have dropped by accident.
All baby’s senses are fully active now and she will be taking in information and learning very quickly. She will not be having as many naps as before and want to stay awake, but will get cranky when tired. Help her by setting up regular nap times and reducing excitement before these times.
Baby babble is more prominent now. Baby will make sounds and gurgle readily as though she is talking. Talk to her in between her babbling like you are having a conversation and teach her turn taking.
Baby will continue to grow more attached to the people she is more familiar with and prefer to be in their company than others.
She will be louder than before and cry for people she misses or if strangers are seen.
Baby can now recognise herself and understands she is an individual. She will have preferences and will slowly start to become non-compliant from now on. At this age, she will experience the word, ‘no’ often and start to think about why she is being restricted and test boundaries.
Her knowledge and understanding is developing rapidly. The more she experiences and gets involved, the more she will learn. Outings and excursions are a source of delight as are new experiences, which she will fixate on more intently, rather than lose interest quickly like before.
10 – 12 Months
Continue to use the resources from 10-12 months too as well as the resources below.
Take a walk
Strengthen baby’s arms and legs by standing them between your legs, while you are sitting and bounce them gently on their feet.
Bubble Wrap Dance
Play some music with a beat, holding baby’s hands, let her bounce on her feet to the beat. Or let her bounce in a walker etc.
Post it Pleasure
Stick post it notes on the wall and get your baby to stretch for them to grab them. Give them lots of encouragement to reach them all.
Chunky chalks
Thick, chunky chalk are great for making marks on sidewalks and pavements outside. Show your baby how to use them, then let them create their materpieces.
Finger Foods
Baby is able to co-ordinate herself more now, so encourage her to feed herself finger foods that she can hold in her hand. Supervise her to avoid choking.
Insert boards
Like jigsaws, insert boards require baby to pick up pieces and insert them into a board to make the picture or fit into a gap. These can take a few months to get used to.
How interesting
Teach your child new words, like parts of their body, by pointing to them and saying the word. So point to their leg and say ‘leg’, and repeat over the weeks.
New Situations
Expose your child to new environments and new situations that they can learn about.
Treasure box
Give baby a box of goodies and tempt her to open the treasure box, by showing her what’s inside.
Heuristic play
Babies are fascinated by the natural world around them. Gather twigs, pinecones, pebbles etc. for baby to explore. Make sure they have been sterilised for safety.
Spaghetti Fun
Cooked spaghetti is fun to play with. It’s long, slippery and safe when cooked, for babies to play with. Boil up pasta pieces too, to add variety and different textures.
Baby Slide
Help your child experience different sensations like sliding down a slide.
Yes - nodding
Animated speech or sign language is great for teaching babies language at such a young age. Use actions they can copy too.
Saying Please
Manners make children more sociable and appear friendlier. Teach them words like please and thank you to get started.
No thank you
Shake your head when saying ‘no’. and start using sign language to develop simple communications.
Drink, Tired
The sooner your baby can express their feelings, the better for you both, to stop the guessing.
Hello Goodbye
Teach your child common greetings to make them more sociable. start with the obvious ‘hello and bye’.
Social Interactions
Encourage interactions with others to develop social skills. Take baby to play groups etc.
Board Books
Board books are a great way to get your baby engaged in books because many have squeakers and buttons to press.
Making Big Puzzles
Talk about the pieces of the big puzzles pieces as they magically make pictures as they are put together.
Flying Blanket
Don’t have a flying carpet? Then here we have the next best thing – a flying blanket. Take your baby for a ride and teach new words.
