The first few weeks with your baby will seem nothing
more than chaotic and emotionally volatile. It will take about a month
for both the mother and the baby to find and fit into a comfortable
routine. By this time you would have learnt how many naps he has during
the day and their approximate duration. You will know how often the baby
needs a feed and at what intervals. You will have an idea of how many
times they wake up at night. The baby will learn that you are the chief
caregiver, and that you will feed him, clean him and comfort him when he
cries. Depending on the way you interact and react to the baby, they
will expect you to be talkative, quite, upset, clam or irritated.
Babies will also be developing their own personalities and will be
learning things from you. If your behavior is not what the baby expected
in a particular situation he will get upset and cry because there is a
sudden unexpected change in behavior. Babies measure their worth by the
response of their caregivers. So make sure you explicitly demonstrate to
your baby that he is very special. As you feed, change, bath, clean and
talk to your baby, they will look attentively at your face, observing
all the changes in your expression as you speak. During our
socialization process we have learnt that, we should speak to babies in
an exaggerated manner so that, they can understand what we are saying
and learn from it.
As a result, they will concentrate on your face as it is mobile,
expressive and changes as you speak. It is from this interaction with
you that the baby will learn to emote, speak and smile. This will form
the basis for this interaction with the rest of society. Interact
honestly with your baby. If you are getting angry, upset or irritated
with your baby, it is better to express it than sending them confusing
signals of being happy one minute and upset the next. If you think this
is becoming a serious problem and you cannot seem to handle it alone,
then seek help from your family or your doctor. Physical contact is
essential for the baby to feel safe and secure. Physical contact
encourages trust, which is basis to form other social relationships.
As the baby learns that if he smiles, you will pay more attention to
him, he will do so more often. During the first month they only have a
sense of time, they know that is they smile you will respond. When they
are about six weeks old they will smile because they recognize you as an
individual. At about the same time they learn that they can make noises
and the sound that they hear from outside can be looked at. Once they
discover this they will begin to turn towards external sound regularly.
At the end of the second month, your baby will begin 'cooing' in
response to your interaction with them. When you talk, they will 'coo'.
Once they realize that they can coo, they will coo about everything that
is happening around them, irrespective of your presence.
Babies will slowly but surely learn to control their movements from the
time they are a month old. Even at this age they will try to support
their head for a very short time, if held upright. When awake they keep
moving their tiny hands and legs continuously trying to reach for things
they can see. This is a good form of exercise as well. At this stage you
can provide them with bright colored toys or toys that make pleasant
noises or move. They try to look at these toys and reach for them and
doing this will improve their eye-hand coordination. While doing this
they realize that they can see and play with their hands as they lie on
their back. So they will consciously bring their hand in their line of
vision and move them about. The control over movement will increase as
muscular development progresses. Your baby's development will normally
follow this path in the initial months of your life together.
Day Plan
As you have a new baby, whose care will take up most of your time, it is
better you make a plan and have a daily routine in place. Since you will
have to take care of the baby, the rest of your family, your house and
yourself, you may not be able to work as efficiently as you did earlier.
