Are You Correctly Using The Stages of Infant Development?
|
How to correctly use the stages of infant development for tracking an infant’s growth and progress still escapes most parents. I frequently see parents make the mistake of overlooking the basic principles of correctly tracking and measuring their child’s real development.
What this simply means is that parents and grandparents look at the things their child can do and has mastered at any point in time, yet most often come to the wrong conclusion regarding how well their child is really progressing.
Let’s look at a short quiz to find out how this works…
Suppose your baby is five months old. Now, according to your baby books, he should be rolling over by now. But you know your baby is not the active type. He much rather seems to enjoy watching the world around him, but obviously doesn’t try to move his body very much. Then one day, you notice your baby pushing up into a sitting position.
What do you do?
(Pick only one answer)
-
Brag to your baby’s grandparents, your closest friends and anyone who will listen that your baby is very smart since he skipped rolling over and is already sitting up.
-
You do nothing. You know that each baby is different and develops in his or her own unique way. And yours does his own thing.
-
Schedule a visit to a professional. Your baby is trying to sit up without rolling over first and therefore, something might be wrong.
If you’re like most parents, you’ll probably answer (a) - you would brag and feel proud because you take it as a sign that your baby is progressing “faster than average.” You probably reason that by skipping baby milestones, your baby must be ahead of his peers. This is a common myth, as you'll find out below.
Maybe your answer was (b). And yes, it’s true that each baby has his or her own development speed. However, the development track is the same for every baby. Some babies are slightly faster or slower than others, but it is not normal or acceptable for a baby to have her own track or to go around the track at any pace. There is a minimum speed limit.
All children go through the same developmental stages and in the exact same order and at more or less the same page - your baby included.
But if you answered (c), you’re right. Here’s why.
What You Need To Know About The Stages of Infant Development
Stages of infant development are often also referred to as baby milestones. And in most everyday language parents are only looking at physical development milestones… probably since they’re so easy to notice.
You see, your baby’s physical milestones are crucial signs that show whether your baby is developing normally - or whether your baby is having delays, delays which carry forward and can potentially affect her entire life.
Not many so-called child experts will tell you this, but your baby must go through six key physical milestones in his first year of life.
These six milestones are like SCAFFOLDING, each building on the previous one. They give your child the foundation he needs for optimal learning and growth - for the rest of his life.
And the foundation is not merely about mastering the obvious physical achievement like rolling over. More important are the many perceptual, attentive and learning skills your child masters while discovering how to overcome the more noticeable physical milestones.
These subtle knowledge skills are the undeniable ones your baby builds on and takes forward the rest of his life.
What To Do About The Stages of Infant Development
Two things I suggest you do to realistically track your baby’s real progress and ensure that the ‘learning foundation’ is properly laid, are:
-
to know when your baby should be mastering a particular skill. You can get more information by using this free chart.
and...
-
encourage your baby to master these skills at the right time. For more information on how to do this, click here.
Shortcuts to more stages of infant development questions
There are many relevant pages on this site... and all of them you could be looking at next. But there is a shortcut.
So, to save yourself a lot of time and effort, type what you're looking for in the search box below and click Search.