Developmental milestones provide a loose guideline for infants’ development.

For Infants watching babies develop into little humans we evaluate areas such as:

• Cognition: Thinking, reasoning, problem-solving, understanding

• Motor coordination: Gross/fine motor skills, jumping, hopping, throwing/catching, drawing, stacking

• Social interaction: Initiating peer contact, group play

• Adaptive: Dressing, eating, washing

 

Children develop at their own pace, so don't be alarmed if a child takes a slightly different course. Some children may skip over milestones, while others take more time. Any developmental concerns at any point, should be addressed with a provider but may be related to recent illnesses, teething, other areas of development accelerating as some take longer, changes in routine, stress in the home or other perceived changes by these little developing beings.

 

In general babies by 6 months are making sounds and words, by 9 months are crawling or walking and by 1 year can interact with others, be selective in who they like and don’t like, are mobile and can non-verbally state what they want (or don’t want).

During this time concerns brought to the office can be for repeated colds or coughs, skin issues and sleeping difficulties. 

My favorite remedies for cold and coughs are homeopathy, ad my famous “wet socks” (link here from my missing blog)

For skin issues a good look at diet can be helpful. Sadly today many people advance an infant’s diet too quickly causing constipation, sleep problems and skin problems. Baby’s system takes time to develop. A good rule of thumb is to introduce food when baby is sitting, has teeth and is interested in food, this gives us the signal that the GI system is ready to accept food. In general I recommend meat/ animal products are not introduced until 1st year molars are present and dairy, sugar, wheat, and processed foods are not introduced at all or after the age of 2 at the very least.

For sleeping difficulties there are many home cures that can help. A solid evening routine, co-sleeping can be safe and healthy if done properly, perhaps some chamomile tea before bed. In may cases sleep difficulties are the result of an overstimulating day, so changing the daily routine can most definitely help the night!