Child Growth: Infant 1-3 Months (Child Development Information) - Child Development

1 to 3 Months

Even as your baby begins to interact more with the world around him, his primary tasks will still include eating, sleeping, growing, and playing.

EATING
Babies have different feeding styles, from sleepy and slow to active and voracious. By now, you will hopefully have begun to tune in to your baby's personal style. It is quite common for babies to drink more at a feeding, and thus be able to go longer between breast or bottle feedings. Generally, bottle-fed babies still eat every few hours, but many can go longer stretches at times, which works out to be particularly convenient if they decide to do so at night! Bottle-fed babies typically drink between 3 and 6 ounces at a time, and many who were very spitty as newborns spit up far less now that they are older.

It is not generally recommended to start solid foods until somewhere between 4 and 6 months of age — both for nutritional reasons, and because babies typically don't have the motor skills required to control their tongues and swallowing properly until that age. That said, on occasion a baby might be started on rice cereal before 4 months of age to help control more significant reflux.

SLEEPING
Even for babies who are good sleepers, most will still require a nighttime feeding (or two) for the first 3 to 5 months. That said, this is a good time to start teaching your baby the difference between nighttime and daytime feedings. You can do so by simply leaving the lights out at night and sticking more to the business at hand, whereas daytime can include having the lights on, rocking, singing, and playing in addition to offering breast or bottle.

Within 6 to 8 weeks, almost all babies begin to sleep more at night and less during the daytime. Still, they differ greatly in the ages at which they begin to sleep all the way through the night. Part of this variation has to do with temperament, but household patterns also have an effect. At first your baby's sleep patterns will be closely linked to feeding times, and he will tend to fall asleep readily after feeding and burping. Later, as the baby spends longer periods alert and awake, fatigue, rather than a feeling of being well fed, will lead to sleep. Be aware that he may also cry and fuss, fighting sleep.

By three months of age, babies sleep an average of 15 hours during any 24-hour day (down from 15 1/2 at one month), and start to fall into the more familiar napping pattern of three naps a day and a longer stretch at night.

As you help your baby to develop good sleep habits, remember that healthy babies should be put to sleep on their backs, not on their bellies, to help reduce the risk of SIDS (Sudden Infant Death Syndrome)

PLAYING
Babies thrive on love and attention. While parents of newborns sometimes find it somewhat difficult to think of ways to "play" with their brand-new babies, many find that interacting with one to 3-month-olds to be much more natural and rewarding. Simple actions we all take for granted as adults, such as making eye contact, smiling at, singing or talking to, and even just holding a baby are as beneficial for young infants as they are for a newborn. But now you can look for other ways to help your baby discover new sights, sounds, and abilities. As your baby develops the ability to push her chest off the floor, for example, you can help her to roll over to her back. Just as in the newborn period, remember that it doesn't take much to entertain a young baby as she begins to appreciate and interact with the world around her, and that while your love and attention is wonderful, it is still quite common for babies at this age to become overstimulated and irritable from a simple trip to the mall or grocery store.

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