Child development at 1 year. What can a 1 year old child do?

Physiological changes at 12 months

As a rule, by the age of one year children have 8 teeth.
But if the baby has more or less chewing elements, then there is no need to panic. The only thing parents need to do is make sure that the baby receives a sufficient amount of phosphorus, calcium and vitamins C, E, B, A, group B. Many mothers stop breastfeeding their baby at the twelfth month.

The baby’s body is already strong enough and is able to obtain the substances it needs from adult food. From 4-6 months, complementary foods are introduced into the baby’s diet along with mother’s milk. By the year, most of the menu is represented by vegetables, cereals, fruits, meat and other products.

By the first year of life, the duration of daytime sleep is significantly reduced. During daylight hours, the child rests only once. At 12 months, the baby's body weight is three times that of which he was born. The rate of growth and weight gain slows down per year.

Norms of body parameters for children 12 months old in the table:

The feet of one-year-old children are still flat and do not have an arch. If the child begins to walk, then fat pads appear on the feet. As walking is mastered, such formations disappear and a bend forms.

Sleep time and dietary habits

By this time, one-year-old children are already refusing morning sleep. The main time of sleep occurs at night. Night rest lasts at least 10 hours. But little fidgets still need the so-called “quiet hour” during the day. Sleeping during the day will help the baby rest and gain strength to accomplish the next feat.

If the baby doesn’t listen and doesn’t want to sleep, the baby needs to be prepared for afternoon rest:

• take a relaxing bath;
• give a light massage;
• When going to bed, sing a song or read a fairy tale.

You can put your baby to bed at night in the same way. Calming procedures will have a beneficial effect on the baby’s mental state.

After a year, some children experience night terrors in their sleep. The child may scream, cry, push, or scratch the parents who woke him up. Experts do not advise waking the baby. A sudden awakening can provoke even greater fear. Be sure to record the time when the child had a nightmare, and a few days, 10-15 minutes before this time, try to wake up the baby. If the nightmares do not go away, you need to see a child psychologist or pediatrician.

A special feature of nutrition is the gradual abandonment of breastfeeding, the transition to a variety of healthy foods. Breast milk should be replaced with high-quality infant formulas with a high proportion of fat. It is not recommended to give low-fat foods to children of these years. For the growth of the baby, the formation of his mental and physical abilities, all groups of vitamins, proteins, fats and carbohydrates are necessary.

You should not offer your baby popcorn, chips, or snacks, which not only have a negative effect on the baby’s stomach, lead to nutritional problems for the baby, but can also get stuck in the baby’s throat. Grapes, pomegranate, and seeds are also contraindicated for small children due to their small seeds.

The diet of one-year-old babies should consist of more fruits and vegetables. This is the time when children listen to their parents and take their example. At one year old, you can already begin to form the habit of eating healthy foods: you should not buy carbonated drinks, and when feeding your baby, you should eat as little sweets as possible.

How to check whether a child is developing at a normal pace?

A pediatrician or child psychologist can determine whether a child is developing at a normal pace. Parents can independently assess the physical, psychoemotional and psychomotor state of the child. To do this, the mother needs to know the standards established by WHO.

You can understand whether your baby is developing physically correctly like this:

• weigh it. Body weight must be determined on an empty stomach;
• measure body length from head to heels;
• determine the circumference of the head and chest with a centimeter;
• count the number of teeth;
• correlate the obtained data with the normative ones.

You also need to make sure the following:

• whether the baby reacts and follows simple commands. To do this, you need to ask him to take and give the toy;
• whether the child uses at least one gesture (for example, waves his hand, turns his head negatively);
• whether the baby can stand, crawl, take a few steps with support;
• whether the child consciously pronounces the normative number of words.

A one-year-old baby should react to the appearance of his mother.
To assess the psycho-emotional development of a one-year-old baby, it is recommended to observe his behavior, you need to pay attention to the following:

• Does the baby smile when he sees his family?
• expresses emotions through facial expressions and gestures;
• whether the behavior of adults is copied;
• how he reacts to strangers;
• does he respond to his name?
• whether he recognizes his relatives in the photo.

To assess the psychomotor development of a one-year-old baby, you should use the following tests:

• give the child two cubes. Show him how to build a tower. Ask to repeat. The baby should not put cubes in his mouth or throw them around. If his psycho-emotional development is normal, then he will build a tower;
• offer to play a sorter, frame insert or other game where you have to lay out geometric shapes;
• Let the child assemble a pyramid of three rings. Children aged 1-1.5 years can string rings, but their size is not taken into account. They begin to fold the pyramid correctly only at the age of two;
• Take your baby's favorite toy and place it on a chair or sofa. The child must climb onto the sofa on his own, take the desired item and lower himself back to the floor;
• offer to crawl under a chair, climb into a large box. This should be done as a game;
• Place various items on the floor in the children's room. Take a walk with your baby, holding his hand. If a child steps over obstacles, this means that he is developing normally;
• play with the ball. During such an activity, you will be able to see whether the baby knows how to pick up, throw, and catch a ball.

It is recommended to assess the baby’s condition when he is healthy and in a good mood. If, as a result of the check, parents are alarmed by anything, they need to inform the pediatrician about it during a routine examination.

What a child has learned by the age of 1: physical abilities of a one-year-old baby

By 12 months, the baby has learned a lot, as all children approach the one-year mark:

• They stand confidently without support.
• They take their first independent steps, and many already stomp quite confidently without the help of adults.
• They know how to use a spoon and drink from a cup.
• They get on and off the sofa or bed.
• Stand up from a sitting position without support.
• They confidently manipulate objects - build a house out of blocks, roll a ball or a car, rock a doll.

In addition, kids try to show independence in everything, which sometimes horrifies their parents . For example, if a baby gets his hands on his mother’s cosmetics, he will paint not only his lips or cheeks, but also everything that gets in his way.

Educational toys for babies from 1 to 2 years old

For a one-year-old baby, you need to regularly conduct developmental activities. This is especially true for those children who have problems with motor skills and psycho-emotional skills.

Parents are recommended:

• stimulate the child to crawl and walk. To do this, you need to offer him to roll a stroller or a ball. It is useful to buy a rolling toy so that your baby can move around with it. You should not miss the opportunity to walk up the stairs with your child;
• pay attention to the development of fine motor skills. To do this, you should offer to pour the cereal with your hands or using a spoon from one cup to another. Drawing, modeling from plasticine, putting on bracelets and rings, and folding pyramids are useful. You can give your baby toys wrapped in foil or paper napkin. While bathing in a shared bath, the child should be encouraged to catch toys floating in the water;
• keep your baby busy with story-based games. For example, you can put a hat and dress on a doll together, and feed a bear;
• communicate with the child. Parents should comment on their own actions and name the toys they give to their baby. It is also useful to show Doman cards, read fairy tales, and recite poems. You should not miss the opportunity for your baby to communicate with other children. You should help him make new acquaintances;
• When going shopping with your child, you need to show and name different products, and give them the opportunity to put them in the basket themselves.

To stimulate physical development, pediatricians also advise regular exercise and massage. A child's desire for independence cannot be ignored. For example, if a baby is trying to climb a sand slide on his own, then there is no need to help him with this.

It is recommended to harden your child from an early age

Dr. Komarovsky recommends hardening by dousing with cold water, taking air and sun baths. In the evening you should ventilate the room. It is important to regularly walk outside with your child. Fresh air relieves psycho-emotional stress and makes sleep sounder and more peaceful.

During night rest, growth hormone - somatotropin - is produced. This substance is responsible for the development of all organs and systems. You need to know how to choose the right toys for your baby. The emphasis should be on the development of fine motor skills, visual memory, and speech.

The following types of toys are suitable for one-year-old children:

• multi-colored cubes;
• cones;
• arches;
• pyramids;
• sorters (they are toys with holes into which the corresponding geometric shapes must be placed);
• sensory boxes;
• Stuffed Toys;
• dolls;
• car with body;
• bucket with spatula;
• watering can;
• toy phone;
• plastic dishes;
• musical toys;
• fabric or cardboard books.

Fine motor skills are well developed by the following activities:

• winding thread onto a ball;
• gluing stickers onto a sheet of paper;
• screwing and unscrewing the lid;
• game with clothespins;
• playing with sand.

You can stimulate speech development with the help of the following games:

• performing articulatory gymnastics;
• looking at pictures in children's books and voicing what they see;
• telling the baby about everything that interests him;
• singing children's songs together.

Development of psychomotor skills

How a child develops at 1 year of age depends on the activities of the parents. We need to work more with children, strengthen and develop their abilities. There is a group of skills that a little person will master independently, without training, at about 2-3 years of age. With daily exercise, these skills will appear by the age of 1 year. So what can your child do:

• Ask to go to the potty.

If the baby is always in diapers, then the child will not have the desire to ask to go to the potty. From 10-11 months, the baby should not be left in diapers all day. 15-20 minutes after each meal, you need to put the baby on the potty. This is the time when your baby's bladder is filling. With the help of certain sounds “psss...”, which the baby can easily repeat, you can begin to form the habit of sitting on the potty. It's okay if it doesn't work out right away. But at the age of one, it will be easier for your baby to tell you about his physiological needs.

• The ability to take small objects not with the palm, but with two fingers appears, to open jars, close lids, remove lids from boxes, put toys in them, and take them out. Place small round balls, no larger than the palm of your hand, through the round holes in educational toys.
• The baby can pronounce not only the words “mom” and “dad”, but also comes up with his own words to denote certain objects. The kid knows how to generalize and find a logical connection. So, the word “Lala” will mean both a doll and another little toddler. Seeing a kitten in the picture, the baby will say “meow.” The baby will make the same sounds when he hears a kitten meowing from the bushes on the street.
  
• The ability to perform fairly complex game actions develops. The baby bathes the doll, feeds it with a spoon, takes off its clothes, and puts it to bed. He opens and closes the car doors and rolls the equipment into the garage. The skills of playing ball become more complicated: not only rolling on the floor, but tossing the ball, throwing it to another person, catching the thrown ball with your hands.
• The ability to draw with fingers and palm - the baby can knead and roll out plasticine. These skills have a positive effect on children's motor skills.
• Developing the ability to dance and sing along. Buy a special collection of children's songs. Light rhythmic music, easy to remember words - all this will more encourage the baby to dance and try to reproduce what he heard.

As you can see, a child’s skills at 1 year are more developed when parents take an active part in the child’s development. You need to understand: what a child can do at 1 year old will be the main basis for the further development of the baby.

Advice for parents of a one-year-old baby

• Having become active, the baby still does not know how to cope with the overwhelming desire to know everything, try everything, get to the bottom of everything. He is drawn to be next to a dangerous object. It happens that, intoxicated by his new possibilities, the baby rushes around the room literally to the point of exhaustion, falling and bumping into objects. What is happening is completely normal. However, an adult should always be with the baby, taking care of his safety. After all, the child does not yet understand how many hidden threats the world around him conceals. And besides, parents should determine (primarily for themselves) the line beyond which the child’s permissible degree of freedom ends and whims begin. It is no coincidence that at this age the baby understands the words well: you can’t and you can’t wait. Remember to use them when appropriate.
• At this age, various distraction techniques are very effective. So, for example, if a child does not want to go to the potty, but continues to play with the rattles, the mother may cry out emotionally: “Oh! Wow! Let's go, I'll show you! Look look!" And with these words, take the child to the potty, where the toy bunny is crying without him.
• Another secret - do not interrupt your child in an unfinished action. Such techniques do not at all mean that you are following your baby’s lead. You just need time for your baby to learn to cope with the overwhelming emotions that he draws from interaction with the world around him. Until this happens, do not be too strict with your child, maintain the warmth and closeness of your relationship.

For parents of six-month-old babies, I recommend reading my article here.