Infant Development

1. Infant Development –
The First Year
BY: Shawntel Tornquist

2. One – Three Months
Physical Development
o Raise their heads and chests off ground when on their tummy.
o Grip objects in their hands (Palmer grasp)
o Reaches for dangling objects. (gross motor)
o Can watch and follow a moving object
o Will enthusiastically kick her legs (gross motor)
o Can extend fingers, arms and, legs
o Moves head towards a sound (especially mothers voice)
To Encourage Physical development in infants this
age:
o Plenty of tummy time
o Lots of stimuli
o Encourage lots of movement (move their legs and
arms)

3. One – Three Months
Intellectual Development
o Distinguishes speech from sound
o Focuses on bright colours and patterns
o Begins to recognize objects (bottle, soother)
o Notices feet and hands and realizes that they belong to their body
o Begins to associate people with an activity or behaviour (mother and
feeding)
To encourage intellectual development in infants this age:
o Talk to them
o Show visual stimuli such as toys or common household items
o Show them hands and feet and tell them what they are

4. One – Three Months
Social and Emotional Development
o Intently watches faces when they are being talked to
o Begins to smile at people and toys they enjoy
o Start laughing
o Recognizes people that are around them often
To encourage social and emotional development in infants this
age:
o Make faces with to your baby. Your face is their favourite toy
o Give positive feedback when they smile or laugh

5. Four – Six Months
Physical Development
o Rolling over
o Lift head and chest when laying on tummy
o Plays and looks at fingers and hands
o Grasps objects
o Can chew toys and soft foods
o Uses entire body to reach for toys
To encourage Physical development in infants this age:
o offer toys that make noise
o Plenty of tummy time
o Offer safe foods

6. Four – Six Months
Intellectual Development
o Explores things by putting them in mouth
o Turns head towards noises
o Knows mother and father faces and may resent strangers
o Babbles
o Experiments with sounds using pitch and tones
o Expresses pain, loneliness, and fear through crying
o Has different cries for different things
Ways to encourage intellectual development in infants this
age:
o Play games such as peek-a-boo
o Try to carry a conversation when they babble
o Play music
o Read books

7. Four – Six Months
Social and Emotional Development
o Smiles and laughs towards people
o Is able to recognize people
o Cries when upset and seeks comfort
o shows excitement by waving arms and legs
o Notices difference between peoples
o Smiles at themselves in the mirror
o Pays attention to their name
Ways to encourage social and emotional development in infants this
age:
o Play with the child
o Allow tummy time in front of mirrors
o Show excitement when you seem them

8. Seven – Nine Months
Physical Development
o Bangs objects together
o Begins crawling
o Sits without support
o Stands with support
o Waves bye-bye
o Passes objects between hands
o Uses pincer grasp to pick up
objects
Ways to encourage physical development in infants
this age:
o Encourage the child to make noise
o Help support them while standing
o Give a variety of sized toys to work on the pincer
and palmer grasps

9. Seven – Nine Months
Intellectual Development
o Begins to recognize and speak some words
o Can follow simple directions
o Listens when hearing sounds
o Is able to distinguish sizes of objects
o Develops the understanding od “in” and “out”
o Searches for objects when taken away

10. Seven – Nine Months
Social and Emotional Development
o Expresses most emotions clearly
o Plays games with others
o Responds to conversation
o Understands your emotions
o Becomes familiar and comfortable around
certain people
Ways to encourage social and emotional development in infants this
age:
o Interact with the infants and have infants interact with each other
o Have conversations with them/ babble along with them

11. Ten – Twelve Months
Physical Development
o Is crawling well
o Begins walking
o Learning to balance on their own
o Pull themselves up
o Pick up tiny objects with thumb and forefinger
To encourage Physical development in infants this age:
o Allow the infant to experiment with movement on their
own
o Encourage them when they begin something new

12. Ten – Twelve Months
Intellectual Development
o Understands simple questions and sentences
o Associates sounds and gestures (no – shaking head)
o Takes turns making noise with you
o Anticipates surprise in songs
o Develops stronger memory skills
o Associates sound and objects (kitten – meow)
Ways to encourage intellectual development in infants this
age:
o Sing songs
o Read aloud and tell a story with props
o Make animal noises

13. Ten – Twelve Months
Social and Emotional Development
o Shows happiness around parents and favourite toy
o Develops stranger anxiety
o Gives affection and love
o Responds to their name being called
o Fears new situations
Ways to encourage social and emotional development in infants this
age:
o Give affection and love back
o Encourage them when faced with a new experience

14. Summary
Infants go through many changes within
the first year. Physical the infants grow 25-
30 cm and they triple their birth weight,
plus they gain muscle and bone that allows
them to move. Mentally the infants gain so
much information about the world around
them and they learn this through all of their
senses, (touch, taste, smell, hear, and see). It
is incredible to see children go through all
these changes in such a short amount of
time and we as adults, caregivers, and
educators help encourage proper
development.

15. How this content is relevant to you personally?
This content is relevant to me personally because I have
gone through this experience already with my son (year
old). I have watched him grow from a newborn to a very
mobile and smart young boy.

16. How is this content will be of use to you in
your professional life
This will be useful in my professional career as I am an ECE student and in my profession we care for
infants and young children. The development of infants and children can affect my daily life as a
caregiver because I will need to consider the children's development and how it affects their growing.

17. References
 http://www.webmd.com/parenting/baby/infant-development-9/stages-of-development
 Google Images
 Healthy Parents Healthy Children pregnancy and baby book, and early years book
 Some of my own pictures