Best Way to Understand Your Baby’s Development in the Second Year

You have spent the first year learning to understand and meet your baby’s physical and emotional needs, and it’s been a very hands-on process. Now the focus changes. This second year is much more about helping your toddler become a self-sufficient individual, branching out into the wider world, with you as a guide.

Your toddler will constantly attempt to move ahead of her immediate capabilities, which may lead to enormous frustration for her. Learning about limits, her own and those set by you, is new for both of you. With patient teaching and encouragement, she can learn to follow basic safely rules and cooperate with your expectations.

Establishing a safe environment

As a baby, your toddler explored things with her hands and this continues, except now the exploration isn’t limited to those toys given to her. She can move around her home, and everything is worth investigating, whether it’s the dog’s bowl, the kitchen cupboards, or the CD player. How can she tell the difference between those buttons she can press and those she can’t? It’s not possible without your help, so remove items that can be damaged and direct her attention to activities that take advantage other natural curiosity and pleasure of exploration.

Setting the pace for your toddler

Toddlers cannot self-limit their activity. They tend to move straight from one activity to another without pause and to put every ounce of their energy into each. Your toddler will rely on you to help set the pace, so that she can manage to enjoy activities without overdoing them to the point of exhaustion, which is sometimes where the Hash point of frustration ignites into a tantrum.

Toddlers still need lots of rest, and most will probably continue to need at least one daytime nap for this year. Well-slept and rested toddlers will manage life better than those who are tired. And if your toddler is a poor sleeper at night, don’t be tempted to keep her going all day in the hope that she will sleep continuously through the night. The more tired she is, the less easy she will find it to relax into a good sleep pattern.

Ultimately this is a wonderfully exciting time for you and your toddler, full of new experiences. Understanding what makes your toddler lick, and what her needs are, will help you create those opportunities that bring out the best in her.