Parent’s role
A cuddle is the world’s best reward for your child. Cuddle your child often and speak as much as possible to her/him in a gentle voice.
Parent’s role
You should cuddle and talk to your child to learn how the child signals when s/he is sleepy or hungry.
Give your child plenty of tummy time to strengthen her/his muscles from the start.
Encourage your child to look at and reach out for toys.
Take your child for walks to park or playground where s/he will get a chance to enjoy outdoor and be around other children.
Get close and make eye contact with your child when you talk, sing, and read to her/him.
Parent’s role
Playing with your child will reassure her/him that s/he is loved and secure. It will help with overall development.
Try talking and reading to your child, sing songs like ‘Twinkle Twinkle Little Star’ and hide your face behind your hands and then move your hands away while you say ‘Aha’. Playing helps her/him to develop and learn.
Seeing you smile releases natural chemicals in the child’s body that makes her/him feel good, safe and secure. It also helps in the child’s brain development and strengthens bonds with your child.
Help your child spend 1-5 minutes playing on her/his tummy each day. This will help your child to build her/his head, neck and upper body strength. Always watch your child during tummy time and put your child on her/his back to sleep thereafter.
A massage is a great way for you to connect with your child. It can also be very relaxing and soothing if you’re newborn is cranky. Try it in a warm room after giving your child a bath.
Parent’s role
Responding to your child promptly helps her/him feel secure and loved.
Continue to make your child’s tummy time a part of her/his daily routine to help them practice the new skills and strengthen the muscles. When your child is on her/his tummy, provide toys and safe objects to hold and explore.
Give your child lots of attention and talk to her/him throughout the day, describing what you are doing and naming familiar objects.
Read books to her/him, share cuddles, play games, and encourages her/his efforts to roll over and grab toys.
Parent’s role
Continue to make floor time a part of your child’s routine and provide toys that have different texture and sizes.
You could also introduce your child to swimming now.
Talk to your child and listen to her/his reply. It will help your child learn about language and communication.
Sing songs, read books, play with toys, do tummy time and make funny sounds together. Playing together helps bonding and makes her/him feel loved and secure.
Make a routine for your child. This will help them do things in a similar order each day.
Parent’s role
Help your child sit in the upright position and move her/his legs to form a V-shape which will help to balance the body. Place a toy in front of her/him to play with and make sure you and plenty of cushions are nearby to provide support and rescue whenever needed.
Swing your child gently up and down and rock her/him from side to side to help improve the child’s balance and perception of movement in preparation for crawling.
Help your child to stand up and kick by holding her/him under the armpits.
Move a toy out of the reach of your child during daily tummy time and watch her/him trying to reach it. If your child is unable to do so, move the toy a bit closer for an easy win so s/he does not give up.
Parent’s role
Your job is to stimulate the child to achieve the developmental milestones.
Motivate the child to crawl by putting yourself or a favourite toy just out of baby’s reach.
Read to the child as much as possible, talking about the story and the pictures in the book. This lays a foundation for language development, builds appreciation for books, and gives you an opportunity to spend quality time with the child.
Introduce toys that promote hand-eye coordination, such as blocks or stacking cups. It takes time for babies to develop these skills; so the sooner you introduce them, the better.
Parent’s role
Recite nursery rhymes and play rhyming games like ‘Twinkle Twinkle Little Star’ and ‘Machli Jal Ki Rani Hai to help promote memory and listening skills.
Roll a ball backward and forward to your child to help in developing her/his motor skills, as well as understand cause and effect.
Buy toys that help your child to distinguish between different shapes. Use shape sorters and a jack-in-the-box to help develop both motor and cognitive skills.
Encourage your child to move by playing with toys with sounds.
Parent’s role
Learn to see things from your child’s perspective to understand her/him.
Buy a toy phone for your child to help her/him develop her/his imagination and hand coordination. This will also help in keeping your phone safe from little hands and drooling mouths.
Play peek-a-boo with your child, but let her/him be the one hiding. Show your child how to cover her/his face with hands or a blanket and let her/him pull it off themselves.
Let your child feed herself/himself even if s/he makes a mess and gets more on the floor than in mouth; this is an excellent hand-eye coordination practice.
Parent’s role
You should now begin talking to your child using day to day vocabulary rather than baby talk to develop her/his language and communication skills.
Add hand motions to your nursery rhymes and songs. Sing songs like ‘Johnny Johnny Yes Papa’ while playing with your child. This will improve your child’s coordination and counting skills.
Parent’s role
Encourage and praise your child efforts rather than point out mistakes. If your child is trying to say a word but has not quite got it, nod and repeat the correct word back – “yes, that’s right, it’s your car”.
Your child may now understand the concept of role-play, so choose something from your cupboard or get toys to encourage your child’s imagination.
Give your child a blow-by-blow description of what you are doing to encourage her/his language skills. Your child will like action songs that link words and gestures.
Your child’s pincer movement is good now, so toys with moving parts such as wheels, levers, or doors that open and close are a big hit.
Parent’s role
Promote creative and imaginative play for your child by playing with finger or hand puppets. Take turns to make silly faces at each other to make your child giggle; it will also allow her/him to learn about turn-taking.
Let your child explore many different types of textures.
Read together with your child every day and involve her/him in the experience by pointing to people and things in the picture and asking your child who s/he is. You could also involve your child by letting her/him turn the pages.
Correct inappropriate behaviours of your child with a firm “no”.
Encourage your child to become more independent while dressing, eating and getting ready for bed.
Parent’s role
Your child is beginning to show signs of growing independence.
Let your child press the doorbell or turn on the light switch to make your child understand the cause-and-effect theory. Try to follow the child’s lead.
Notice what the child is interested in and let the child (safely) explore an object on his own way. Encourage the child to use all her/his senses to learn.
Make the home child-safe, so that you can spend more time playing and less time saying ‘no’ or worrying.