Archive for ‘Three to Six Months’
Bath time can be an enjoyable time for you and your baby. At this age, you can continue to use a small baby tub or graduate into the big bathtub. Be extremely careful, though. Place a rubber mat in the bottom of the tub, and keep the water level no deeper than four inches. Test the water temperature by placing a few drops on your forearm; it should feel lukewarm. When the tub is ready, place the baby in the water on her back. Keep one arm behind the baby's head and neck, holding on to her shoulder, and use the other hand for washing. Baths should last no more than three or four minutes. Be sure to have a towel waiting and be extremely careful lifting your wet, slippery infant out of the tub. Some three-to six-month-olds do not like bathing in a tub. For these babies, a modified washup can often take the place of a full bath. With a washcloth, you can clean the baby's hands, neck, underarms, trunk, arms, and diaper area....
The end of the day, when parents return from work and siblings come home from school, can be a high-stress time for everyone, including a baby. The key to a smooth transition at this time of day is to follow a routine and keep things simple. Frequently, one parent takes over baby care while the other prepares the evening meal. If the parents haven't seen the baby all day, the reunion can be pretty exciting and, sometimes, overstimulating for the baby. General fussiness, long bouts of crying, and difficulty getting down for the night are frequent results. To avoid this unpleasantness, look for signals that your baby may be getting frazzled and try to adjust your approach accordingly. Watch for yawning, fidgeting, flushing or mottling of the skin, and reluctance to look you in the eye and smile. If the baby shows any of these signs, tone down the environment, cutting out excess noise and activity. Some babies, of course, are more adaptable than others and actually seem to thrive on e...
Playing With Your Baby
Three-month-olds commonly have calm, wakeful periods of up to 45 minutes, and by six months of age, many babies stay awake for stretches of two or three hours. As babies spend more time awake, the opportunities for interaction with parents, siblings, and caregivers increase dramatically. These periods of playful give-and-take can be a source of endless fun for everyone involved. They are also vital to the baby's physical, mental, social, and emotional development. Babies are fascinated with objects that move and make noises, and they love to touch, grasp, shake, and pull whatever they can. They are also fascinated with people and enjoy watching their gestures and facial expressions. Here are a few examples of games that will delight your baby and stimulate her development: • Hold a toy so that the baby can reach for and grasp it. Start by holding the toy close to the baby's chest and directly in front of her eyes. As early as three months of age, the baby will bat at the toy...
When your baby was a newborn, she probably fell asleep for an hour or more soon after the first feeding of the day. Not so the three- to six-month-old, especially if she is healthy and well-rested. The baby's increased alertness and sociability will make her more of a companion as you go about your daily routines. As long as she is awake, she will be looking for more stimulation and engagement with you. No longer can you park her in a playpen or crib and expect to be undisturbed for more than a few minutes at a stretch. Unless there is something interesting to look at and handle and, preferably, someone to look at and handle things with the baby will get bored and issue some protest. This doesn't mean you have to entertain your baby and neglect everything else. Just keep the baby close to you, in an infant carrier, strapped into an infant seat or propped up in a stroller, while you do the normal things, stopping every now and then to visit and, when the baby seems restless, providi...
Baby Babble
During the third month, babies start making cooing and gurgling noises that will eventually lead to development of speech. Babies often coo and babble on their own, they practice using their voices the same way they practice grasping objects or lifting their heads. Early in the three- to six-month-old period, babies begin responding vocally to adult voices, especially those of their mothers and fathers. When an adult imitates the gurgle of a baby this age, the baby will gurgle back. This is the start of an early conversation. At around four months of age, babies begin to make actual speech sounds. They intone long sequences of vowels, such as aaah and eee in a singsong fashion. This type of infant babbling is the same the world over, regardless of the language spoken at home. Only at around nine months do babies start limiting themselves to sounds they will use to speak the language about to become their mother tongue. Babbling Of Deaf Babies Babies with little or no hearing also...