Understanding Physical Development
From the moment he’s born, your baby starts to develop and is longing to learn. Your newborn uses all his senses – he can see, hear, feel, taste, and smell. At age 2 weeks, your baby follows movements, recognizes faces, and begins to smile. He recognizes the voices of you and your partner and reacts to loud noises.
Development’s rapid and continuous, but your baby will pick up some skills more quickly than others. The development of his body depends on the maturity of his muscles and nervous system: He won’t be able to walk or talk until these are functional. Your baby develops from head to toe, so he won’t be able to sit until he can control his head and he won’t be able to stand until he can sit down.
To gain complete control of his body, your child needs to master the following three types of skill:
- Gross motor skills: These control the larger muscles needed for balance and movement – for example, to walk. Your child develops body control from the top down, starting with his head and shoulders and moving down to the arms and then the legs.
- Fine motor skills: These control the smaller muscles, such as those in the hands and fingers. Your child learns how to use his arms, then his hands, and then his fingers. At age 3 months, your child plays with his hands and fingers. At 6 months, he grasps using his whole hand; by 9 months, he has an inferior pincer grasp (holding things with his first finger and thumb); and at 1 year, he has a primitive tripod grasp (using the thumb and first two fingers). By 15 months, your child uses his whole hand to pick things up. By age 2 years, your child is more dexterous and can hold a pencil and draw.
- Sensory skills: These control your child’s ability to perceive the world through his senses – taste, touch, vision, smell, and hearing. Your child engages all five senses to learn as much as possible about his new environment.
Encourage your child’s physical development by playing indoor games to help his fine motor skills. Outdoor play is also very important because it allows him to burn off excess energy.
From birth to 24 months
Children develop and grow at different rates. Progress is usually measured in ‘milestones’ indicating the skills most children have acquired by a certain age.
Movement begins with head control. Your baby won’t be able to sit, crawl, or stand until he can control the position of his head. At 2–3 months, his neck muscles strengthen and you notice less head lag, although you still need to support his head when you lift him. He can hold his head steady for a while when you hold him. He can hold his head up when he’s lying on his tummy. He is captivated by and plays with his fingers. Try propping up your child with a cushion so he sits upright, helping him to be more aware of what’s going on around him.
After he gains some control over his neck muscles and his head, your baby starts to support himself with his hands, wrists, and arms. He also begins to bend his knees. These are the first movements of crawling. Although he may not move anywhere, he’s developing strength and coordination.
At 4–5 months, your baby can control his head and move it from side to side. He supports himself on his arms and has good upper-body strength. He branches out into new and exciting endeavours, such as rolling over. His first rolling feat will probably be from his tummy on to his back, followed shortly by rolling from his back to his tummy.
Although you should never leave your baby unattended when not in his cot, at the half-year stage you need to double your attention. Even if you think your baby’s first rollover was a fluke, keep in mind that if this ‘fluke’ happened once, it’ll happen again.
At 6–7 months, your baby can lift his head and chest off the floor using his arms. He can sit up for a while if you support him with a cushion. He may roll from back to front and may try to crawl. He likes putting things into his mouth at this age, so don’t leave anything unsuitable lying around. He grabs his toys using his whole hand and moves things from one hand to the other.
At 8–9 months, your baby wants to stand. He tries to crawl by rocking back and forth, and he may pull himself to standing if he uses his knees first. He can now sit on his own for longer periods. He may try to crawl upstairs, so make sure you have a stair gate in place. He uses his thumb and first finger to pick up small things and search for his toys if he drops them.
Your baby loves to stand, even before he can do so unaided. Help him develop leg strength by letting him stand on your lap while you hold him around the tummy. You may consider buying a bouncy chair for your baby. You put your child in the chair and he can sit, stand, or bounce to his heart’s content. Some of these chairs swivel so that your baby can change direction. Some have an attached tray of toys.
At 8 months, your baby’s muscles have developed to the point where he can sit for 10 minutes without tiring and crawl – probably backwards. His brain hasn’t grasped the right muscle use for front and back movement. Different babies crawl in different ways: Your baby may shuffle on his bottom or move sideways like a crab – whatever he does, encourage him as he’s learning how to control his body. Try holding a toy above his head and encourage him to reach for it. Some babies don’t crawl at all but still develop normally.
At 9–10 months, your baby has good balance and good flexibility to swivel and twist his body to get what he wants.
At 10–11 months, your baby stands and tries to walk by holding on to furniture. Encourage him to walk by holding his hand as he moves along. By 12 months, he should be able to walk independently. At this point, your baby uses his thumb and first finger to pick things up precisely, such as raisins. He can also put small toys into a box – although he may prefer to throw them around!
From 2 to 3 years
From the age of 2 years, your child walks up and down stairs with two feet to a step. He loves climbing on the furniture and enjoys more challenging toys such as Lego and building blocks: these toys encourage his fine-motor skills. Your child can run by this age and kick a stationary ball.
He can turn the pages of a book individually, so read him plenty of stories to encourage him to do this. He may be able to hold a pencil to draw. At this age, your child has fairly good hand–eye coordination and should be able to recognize you and his family in photos: Encourage this by having plenty of photos and drawings around the house.
By 3 years, your child can run and walk, both normally and on his tiptoes. He will probably be able to kick, throw, and catch a big ball between his arms. He walks upstairs with one foot per step, eats with a spoon, washes and dries his hands on his own, and puts on and takes off his coat. Encourage your child’s independence by playing ball games, giving him safe cutlery to eat with, and getting him to wash his hands unaided before mealtimes.
From 4 to 5 years
By now, your child runs up and down the stairs and balances on one foot. Help him develop further by encouraging him to ride a bike – he should be able to pedal well. He’s now more skilled at ball games and activities such as climbing, skipping, and swinging. He can do jigsaws and color in pictures well. By this age, your child’s hearing and vision are pretty much developed to adult level.
Comments (1)
Its very amazing to know about how a child grows and how he ables to strengthen his body.With this we can know how a person develops from childhood to young age.