Did You Know at 1 Month I Can ...

Language Development

I am learning how to talk and listen, and I will cry to communicate my needs and feelings. How can you help my language development? I can recognize your voice and will smile at you when you talk to me! To help me develop language skills:

• Look at me when you are bathing, feeding, or diapering me
• Respond to me when I coo, gurgle, and babble
• Read cloth books or board books with simple words and pictures
• Sing short, repetitive songs to me

Cognitive Development

• Tell the difference between light and dark
• Watch a colored object if it is moved slowly
• Focus my eyes on objects 8–12 inches away
• Use all my senses of smelling, hearing, touching, tasting, and seeing to learn
• Watch and follow moving objects with my eyes

Put a plastic mirror about 7 inches from my eyes. I can watch myself, and you can talk to me about what I see. “Where’s the baby? There’s the baby!” You can cut out colorful pictures from magazines and tape them where I can see them.

Physical Development

I like to watch objects move, so buy a mobile to hang from the side of my crib. After a few weeks, I can move my head side to side. This also helps my eyes grow. Here are some more ways to encourage my physical development:

• Walk around the house and outside with me. Stop often to look around and talk to me about the surroundings.
• Put me on my back on the floor or crib and call me from the right side. Try to attract my attention by moving your head and arms. When I find you, smile and talk to me. Do it again on the left side.
• I should be breastfed or using formula. Keep me up-to-date on my shots and check-ups.

Social/Emotional Development

• Show feelings by crying: tired, wet, hungry, sick, or lonely. I will usually quiet down and feel better when I am picked up and cuddled.
• Respond to you if you smile, talk, and sing
  to me.

Hold, cuddle, and rock me when I cry. Remember that crying is the only way I am able to communicate right now.

Even though I cannot talk yet, I love to be sung to. Sing “Rock-a-Bye Baby” to me.

Rock-a-bye baby,

On the treetop.

When the wind blows,

The cradle will rock.

When the bough breaks,

The cradle will fall.

And down will come baby,

Cradle and all.

You can also begin to help me learn my body parts with this “Baby’s Toes” fingerplay:

Here are baby’s hands (point to baby’s hands)

Here is baby’s nose (point to baby’s nose)

Here is baby’s belly (point to baby’s belly)

And here are baby’s toes! (point to baby’s toes)

Here are some books that I may enjoy:

Black & White by Tana Hoban

Look, Look! by Peter Linenthal

Goodnight Moon by Margaret Wise Brown

Pat the Bunny by Dorothy Kunhardt

Touch and Feel: Farm by DK Publishing

Each day, I should have supervised tummy time. Tummy time is important to help improve my motor skills and strengthen my muscles that are necessary to help me learn to crawl and walk. It also helps prevent flat spots from developing on the back of my head. Start out tummy time for about 5 minutes two or three times a day. During tummy time, you can place me on a soft blanket on the floor with one of my favorite toys. Take the blanket outdoors for another fun tummy time option.

You can also make a homemade play mat for me during tummy time. You can use a piece of poster board or cardboard, markers, crayons, or pictures. Decorate the poster board or cardboard with designs using markers or crayons, or tape pictures to the poster board. Introduce and talk to me about these designs and pictures during tummy time.

Sleep helps me grow and develop. I should get 14–17 hours of sleep a day. To reduce the risk of sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS), place me on my back in an empty crib. An empty crib is important to prevent me from suffocating, so do not put bumper pads or stuffed animals in my crib.

Safety note: Any toys or materials that can fit inside a paper towel roll can be choking hazards for infants and toddlers. According to the American Academy of Pediatrics, any object handled by young children should be at least 1.25 inches in diameter and 2.25 inches long.

Remember that each child develops at his or her own rate, and this handout is meant only as a guide of what to expect of your child’s development at this age.

For more information about parenting and developmental milestones, contact your county Extension office or visit extension.msstate.edu.

References

American Academy of Pediatrics. 2010. Policy statement—prevention of choking among children.

American Speech-Language-Hearing Association. Birth to one year: What should my child be able to do?

National Sleep Foundation. 2015. How much sleep do we really need?

Safe to Sleep. 2018. Babies need tummy time!

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Publication 3899 (POD-08-24)

By Louise E. Davis, PhD, former Extension Professor; Elizabeth Thorne, PhD, Project Manager; and Mary Hannah Mills, MS, Project Manager, Human Sciences.