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Happy Birthday Baby! You’re now one. Time has gone so quickly!

So what has he been up to?

In the week or so before his first birthday he’s

• Spoken his first word, taken his first steps (although the steps have not been repeated since then, grrr)

• Appears to understand more words and basic instruction, e.g. can you put this in the box (or maybe it’s just fluke each time). Can say “up”, kind of say “moo”, knows the cow says moo, knows the chicken says “bukkarr” and can say his version of a chicken sound, might have said “book” but i’m not 100% sure, say dada, has said “hi” a few times.

• We have two new teeth coming through – he has 8 already so this will make 10.

• He can nod his head, wave hello and bye bye and wave this if you ask him to say bye/hello

• He can play ball by rolling it to me (though not completely accurately)

• His concentration during reading has improved and he can sit most of the way through a baby book.

• He eats a lot of finger food and cut up “regular” food, such as pasta, sandwhiches, cheese, basically meals and food that I feel to the toddler (nearly 2.75 years old) but with extra attention to salt content. However, saying that, now that he is one he could have a little more salt in his diet. The NHS write:

The maximum recommended amount of salt for babies and children is:

• up to 12 months – less than 1g of salt a day (less than 0.4g sodium)
• 1 to 3 years – 2g of salt a day (0.8g sodium)

What are general developments and milestones at 12 months?

You can find a useful birth to five development timeline here, from the NHS. According to this timeline:

• 10-18 months, baby usually walks alone

• by 12 months, responds to their own name

• 12-18 months, takes an interest in words

There is also useful information on development across a range of areas here from the CDC, including social/emotional, language/communication, cognitive and physical developments:

• Plays games such as peek a boo, can hand you a book if they want a story, repeats sounds to get attention

• responds to simple verbal requests and follow simple directions e.g. pick up the (item)

• can bang two things together

• moves into a sitting position without assistance, cruises/pulls to stand, may take a few steps, may stand alone

For further reading on development in young children, have a look at this article “Children under three years: the time of their lives” (M. Dowling), a free resource from the British Association for Early Childhood Education (more resources found here). It discusses areas of progress, important social and attachment related elements, cognitive and emotional development and more.