Babies 1st month
Jennifer Ann Steinort studied health economics and is a state-approved nanny. She mainly writes on real-life topics, and experiences from working in health facilities and her own family life with three children flow into her work.
More about the experts All content is checked by medical journalists.The baby is finally here! Baby's first month is especially exciting. Even if the new earthling spends most of the time eating and sleeping, nature has a great program in store for newborn development in the first month. Your child will communicate with you, show the first reflexes and develop an emotional bond with you. Read here what surprises babies' first month has in store for you.
Babies 1st month
Finally outside of mom's belly! It is an enormous achievement for newborns to adjust to the world "outside". One of the most important developments in babies' first month is building social bonds - with parents and with other important people around them. This sometimes takes place before the birth. And with a little luck, you can watch your child smile for the first time in their first month of life.
Babies 1st month - physical development
Newborn babies grow very quickly. Even so, they initially lose weight after giving birth. Don't worry! This mainly concerns the amniotic fluid stored in the skin. The bowel also empties the first stool.
When the greatest weight loss is overcome between the fourth and sixth day of life, newborn development proceeds steadily in the first month. In order to develop sufficient fat deposits, babies gain up to 200 grams per week for the first month. But body length and head circumference are also increasing rapidly. In the first month, babies grow an average of two inches. The head circumference increases by around three centimeters.
Motor skills and reflexes
Newborns are reflex beings. The reflexes serve to protect the little newcomer. Some can be seen on ultrasound even before birth. For example, when the offspring lively sucks their thumbs in their stomach and thus demonstrates the sucking reflex.
In the first month, the baby has the following reflexes:
- Sucking reflex: the baby embraces the mother's nipple with its lips and creates a negative pressure by pulling back the tongue.
- Search reflex: if you touch the newborn's cheek, it will immediately turn in the appropriate direction. With its mouth wide open, it searches for the source of food.
- Moro reflex: Most new parents know this reflex because it likes to keep little babies awake. If your baby is startled and wakes up or tries to put him in the cot, he jerks his arms out to the side and then brings them together from the chest. In the animal kingdom, this "clinging reflex" ensures that the offspring can hold onto the mother animal.
- Grasping reflex: Everything that touches the palms of the hands causes the toddler to automatically close his hands. Even a one-month-old baby can hold objects or fingers tightly in this way.
- Screaming reflex: The baby is hardly born when it wants to march off. Behind this is the screaming reflex. If the newborn is held under the shoulders and feels a solid surface under the feet, it begins to "walk".
From a gross motor point of view, babies' first month is quite unspectacular. Newborns lie as they are bedded. You barely move from the spot. The beginning of fine motor actions is the grasping reflex, which develops into targeted grasping.
The development of the senses
Babies are born with a developed sense of smell, taste, touch and hearing. But they can't see very well yet. The best visual acuity for your newborn is at a distance of 20 to 25 cm - about the distance that parents often take intuitively when they talk to the child. In the next few months, the view will then be much clearer.
A baby in the first month already reacts to external stimuli and can turn to them. A rattle or a bell on his ear attracts his attention.
The sense of balance is also fully functional thanks to the part responsible for it in the inner ear. The sense of temperature is already well developed in babies' first month. If it is too cold, babies react with an increased urge to move around and fidget. In addition, babies react to touch. However, experts have not yet agreed on how differentiated they perceive this.
Babies 1st month - mental development
A baby in the first month can already remember things and even assume expectations. Even if newborn development is still in its infancy in the first month, the offspring has an emotional memory. Simple thought processes are not - as previously believed - tied to language skills. Your baby will notice more in the first month than you might think.
Emotional development
Your baby will benefit significantly from a loving, safe environment in the first month. You create the first social structure for your child in which it can mature into an emotionally stable person.
Even newborns show basic emotions like:
- curiosity
- Well-being and discomfort
- Frighten
- disgust
Your child automatically turns to the reference person with whom it feels most comfortable. If it is supposed to be elsewhere, it protests with crying and screaming. Whether mum, dad or grandma: The most important caregiver plays an outstanding role in the development of the newborn in the first month. It is the constant in the child's completely new world.
Close physical contact is important in babies' first month. Experts have found that cuddling has a stress-reducing effect on the offspring. This can be seen particularly well in premature babies. With close physical contact, the heart rate drops and important areas of the brain are activated.
Social development and communication
"Bonding" is the magic word in babies' first month. This means that the parent-child relationship can be built up right from the start. The focus is on cuddling. In fact, the first hour after giving birth is important. The newborn then appears particularly alert and receptive. Hospitals, midwives and doctors encourage "bonding" in babies' first month by encouraging the mother to breastfeed her child as soon as possible.
It is irrelevant whether the mother has already had milk spilled or not - close physical contact counts. Fathers are not left out. They, too, can tie their ties with the offspring right from the start. To do this, the baby should have as much skin contact with the dad as possible in the first month.
As parents, you create the first social structures for the offspring and take your child into the pack, so to speak. Even when your baby is barely a month old, you are already interacting with him. This behavior is not always done consciously.
Parents display exaggerated gestures and facial expressions towards their offspring. They emphasize sounds particularly strongly or change the pitch of the voice. "Duzi, duzi" - a program instinctively starts that lets us "talk" to babies like that. A baby benefits from this in the first month.
The development in babies in the first month hardly provides for active contact. However, there is a reward for the parents' efforts - the first smile. In babies' first month it smiles the so-called reflex smile or, to put it lovingly, angel smile. Even if this happens involuntarily, especially often during sleep, it enchants the parents.
Babies 1st month - this is how you support your child in a playful way
A baby in their first month spends most of their time eating and sleeping. However, it does have short periods of wakefulness during which you can interact with it. Since your baby is surrounded by many new sensory impressions in the first month, the following applies: less is more.
Train attention: Maintain eye contact and speak in a soft voice to encourage your baby's focus and attention. It also learns to distinguish your voice from ambient noise. But note that in the first month of life the attention span is still very short. When your baby looks away, it signals that he or she has had enough and needs a break.
Train mobility: You can have a quiet rattle or bell sound from different directions. Your baby will turn its head and thus train its mobility.
Awaken body awareness: Gently stroking the various areas of the body improves your baby's body awareness in the first month.
Visit to the pediatrician in the 1st month
Your offspring will be accompanied by a pediatrician for many years. In this way, the doctor can record development progress and identify possible abnormalities or health complaints at an early stage. Two important preventive examinations take place in babies' first month. These are usually done in the hospital. You can read more about this in the article U1 examination.
Flatulence and abdominal pain are typical complaints in babies in their first month because newborns often swallow too much air while drinking. The air swallowing can be reduced through the correct posture as well as specially developed suction cups. Also make sure that your child makes a "burrow" after eating so that the oppressive air can escape from the stomach.
Tips for the 1st month
Proximity has priority: Babies in the first month seek closeness to their parents. The first time is crucial for the later social bond. Make everyday life easier for yourself through organization and suitable helpers such as an extra bed.
Gentle Pharmacy: A gentle pharmacy can make babies' first month easier. This should definitely contain a warming pad for the stomach. Your pharmacist will be happy to advise you on gentle products that can help with stomach pain and discomfort.
Find a pediatrician: Choose a pediatrician you trust at an early stage. In this way, you will also get an appointment for the U3 preventive medical check-up in good time.
If the baby cries: If your baby cries excessively, does not calm down in spite of physical contact and suffers from constant fatigue, ask the pediatrician for advice first. If necessary, you can also go to a scream consultation hour.
Sleep safely: Provide a safe sleeping environment to help prevent sudden infant death syndrome.
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