Best Way to Help a 1-Month-Old Newborn Learn and Develop Skills

It may seem to you that all your newborn does is eat, sleep, and cry – but from the moment she is born, she is developing new skills with incredible speed. By the end of her first month, she will have become more alert and responsive, started to gain some bodily control and coordination, learned to recognize you when she sees or hears you, and has even begun to respond to you.

Physical development

During the early weeks, your baby will still be curled up, with her legs drawn in and her hands clenched, but it will not be long before her body begins to stretch out as her joints become less flexed, Make sure that you always support her head, and never shake her.

Movement

Even before she was born, your baby was exercising her muscles – and now she has a lot more space to do it in. When she is alert, she will punch the air and kick her legs vigorously, especially in response to stimulation or when she is agitated or crying. These movements are jerky, random, and uncontrolled at the moment, but they strengthen her muscles and stimulate her nervous system, paving the way for more controlled attempts later on.

If you lay your baby on her tummy or hold her in the air face down, she will probably try to lift her head. Letting her do this now and again will help strengthen her neck, chest, and spine muscles.

Activities to develop skills

At this age your baby has all the toys she needs rolled into one – you! You are the most fascinating thing to her and will be for some time yet. Your face is the most captivating thing of all. Let her enjoy you as you make different expressions, talk, and sing to her. Encourage your partner and other members of the family to interact with her, too, by making different facial expressions and sounds.

Copy cat!

Try sticking your tongue out at your baby every 20 seconds when she is looking into your eyes, and you may soon see a tiny tongue sticking back at you. Be patient – it may take a minute or two before she responds

Tracking games

Sound and motion attract your baby’s attention and will help stimulate her brain. To help sharpen her visual skills, get her to follow your face with her eyes. Move your head slowly from side to side as you hold her facing you, and see if she “tracks” you with her eyes.

Light and shade

Your baby’s attention will be caught by objects with bold patterns of light and shade: your face, a Venetian blind, or a black-and-white picture, for example. This is because strong contrasts are easily picked out even with poor vision.

•    Draw some black-and-white patterns and faces and slick them on to the wall by her cot.
•    Lie her by a window where there is a play of light and shade, perhaps caused by foliage outside.

• Place her pram under a tree with low brandies and let her enjoy the changes in light and shade

Sense of touch

Splash water in the bath with her feet while you hold her carefully supported in your arm. This will stimulate her sense of touch without making her feel insecure.