One Month Old Baby Development: Key Milestones

Sometimes I wish my memory was sharp enough to recall how I first managed to sit by myself, how I first started to crawl slowly, how I first held the stand of the table and managed to stand up on my own. But, unfortunately, I can’t do that, or even we as human beings can generally do that since our memory fails to recall such fine details of our earlier life.

On the other hand, nature compensates us when we become parents by offering a second chance to experience and watch this journey live in our children’s footsteps.

How thrilling is this!?

Witnessing your child while achieving certain developmental milestones is a remarkable experience for any parent. And a baby’s development in the first 12 months of life is full of impressive achievements. Babies learn to interact verbally, imagine and think, crawl and walk, and many more.

Generally speaking, a baby’s development always tends to happen in a chronological sequence. Like babies learn to sit down and then walk unsupported. But the exact time to reach each milestone might vary. “Babies are different; no two babies are the same”

During well visits, a baby’s growth and development are one of the parameters your pediatrician actively looks for to guarantee your baby’s health. And these developmental milestones are grouped under different categories according to their epicenter of focus.

Large body movements (Gross Motor) – primarily concerned with controlling large muscular skills like sitting, walking, and running.

Small body movements (Fine Motor) – primarily concerned with controlling small muscular skills like grasping daddy’s fingers and picking up toys.

Vision – the ability to see and form visual images and finally understand what they have seen.

Hearing – the ability to listen to and understand sounds.

Speech and language – ability to interact and communicate verbally.

Social behavior -how a child learns to interact with community members.

One-Month-Old Baby Development: Key Milestones

What is Developmental Delay?

Some children’s growth and development could fall far below the milestones their comparable age group has achieved. And if you see some “MAJOR RED FlAGS” (which we will mention in the subsequent series posts), don’t hesitate to visit your pediatrician soon.

Message from Enathood’s Team

Enathood’s team believes that if mama is equipped with what she needs to know about her child, her motherhood journey will be smoother. That is why, if she knows the expected milestone steps from her baby as per their age, she will be the early one to pick any possible development-related health concerns and delays. Besides developmental milestones, we also have tried to provide some well-gauged activities for your baby’s age; to foster healthy growth. Finally, we highly encourage you to read through our subsequent posts about child growth and development.

Most importantly, “Enjoy the journey, Mama.”

One-Month-Old Baby’s Growth and Development

It has been a month since you gave birth to your little darling. And your body should have to be through the process of getting over pregnancy-related body changes and adapting well to the postpartum world. And even above all, you are having a new baby at home with you.

At this point, you might be freaking out and saying, “Ohhhhh, God, this is huge. Am I able enough to make out through all this?”. But trust us, mama, “Definitely, you can!”

As the Enathood team, we are with you by providing some invaluable scientific facts, tips, and engaging activities to pave the way forward.

Soon after birth, your baby might lose up to 10% for the first seven days of life. It’s completely physiological and normal. They will regain their original birth weight upon their 10th day of life.

By the end of the first month, babies on average gain about 1 to 1.5 inches in length and 1.5 to 2 pounds in weight.

And some parents might get worried thinking that their baby’s head is disproportionately larger than the rest of their body. And again, this is normal too. The reason is that a baby’s head always tends to grow a little faster than the rest of the body.

Gross Motor

Most of your baby’s movements are reflexive at this very first month of life. And later on, these will gradually disappear and then be replaced by more controlled movements.

Suckling Reflex – a one-month-old baby can latch to a nipple to feed.
Grasp Reflex – if you put your finger inside your baby’s palm, you will find your baby while attempting to close their fist around and grasp.
Moro Reflex – also known as the startle reflex. It is a normal, automatic response in newborns that occurs in response to a sudden change in the baby’s environment, such as a loud noise or feeling as if they are falling. In a one-month-old baby, the Moro reflex is typically still present and can be seen as the baby flings their arms out and then brings them back in towards their chest, and crying.

Vision

A newborn’s eyesight is very fuzzy and nearsighted too. Their vision will be relatively good if the target falls in a diameter of 8-12 inches.

Hearing

Your newborn can recognize your voice! (if your baby doesn’t seem to respond to sounds, remember to mention this to your pediatrician.)

Taste – Even though their tastebuds didn’t mature fully yet. Newborns still prefer sweet tastes.

Smell – They can pick the scent of their mom’s nipple and breast milk.

Communication

Crying for a one-month-old baby is usually to say :

“Mama, I am bored!”

“Mama, I am hungry!”

“Mama, I am irritated!”

And again, it is at this month that you might be able to see your baby’s first true smile, which is sometimes referred to as the “social smile” and this smile of your baby will melt your heart forever.

Activities for Supporting Your One-month-old baby

Cuddling time – devote yourself to cuddling your baby as often as possible. Its benefits are not only for the immediate childhood period but for your child’s lifetime behavior. As various studies have confirm, those babies who are cuddled enough have been found to be less demanding when they grow older.
Visual stimulation – even though a newborn’s eyesight is blurry, they will be interested in bold objects, toys, and so on. So try to visually stimulate them by keeping them around such things.
Talking with your baby – at this point, you may stop and ask, “how could I talk to my newborn while he/she is only 1 month old?”. Yes, it might seem weird, but engaging with your baby will help them respond to you using their coos, smiles, gurgles and facial expressions. Later on, they will learn to imitate you subsequently.
Getting physical – try to physically stimulate your baby like by gently stretching your baby’s arm to form a clap. They will definitely enjoy it.
Game time – a one-month-old newborn can have so much fun if you play a game with them. “What type of game? ” might be your next question. Don’t worry! ….. There is this game “Peek a boo” or “I see you” (which are basically as follows: you will hide your face and then pop back into the view of your newborn saying “I see you!”
Securing a bond with your baby – neonates always want to secure a social trust bond with their immediate caregivers. As they are new to this strange world, they need someone to rely on fully. And try to find out ways to bond with your newborns in every day to day engagements.