At 12 months to 18 months

 

Around your child’s first birthday, make an appointment for his/ her well-child exam. These trips to the paediatrician are essential to ensure that your child is developing healthily. It’s also a good time to have your parenting doubts and fears put to rest.

Physically and mentally

•  Knows function of toys, e.g. hugs plush toys, pushes button on pop-up toys, builds with blocks
•  Carries toys from place to place
•  By 15 months, uses wrists independently from arms
•  Identifies one or more body parts
•  May walk on his/ her own but still stumbles
•  May climb stairs

Language and emotions

•  Uses more words (that may only be intelligible to you)
•  Smiles at own reflection
•  Develops his/ her sense of humour
•  Shows larger range of emotions e.g. anger and frustration along with pleasure, excitement etc. 
•  More interested in other children (but still won’t play with them) 

Feeding
Your one-year-old now has about eight teeth. And possibly, a fussy palate. Your child may just nibble one day and gobble the next. You can easily cater to these changing whims and fancies by providing smaller meals and nutritious snacks throughout the day.

Sleep
Until two years old, your toddler will require two naps in the afternoon to keep him/ her alert and happy. In total, 12 to 18-month-olds need about 14 hours of sleep.

Ideal toys for this age

•  Child-safe play sets/ dollhouses
•  Puzzle sets (large pieces made of wood is ideal)
•  Battery-operated riding toys (age-appropriate)
•  Climbing gyms (age-appropriate)

Useful tips
Give your child’s confidence a helping hand by showing him/ her a “can do” attitude. Studies prove that when you repeatedly tell your child he/ she is good at something, the child will actually do better in that area, be it social skills, speech or even math!

At 18 to 24 months

Your child is probably spending most of his/ her time upright by now. You can encourage this by massaging the legs after a bath and also introducing kicking exercises.   What your child might do:     Physically and mentally  Drinks easily from a cup  Knows that small things can fit into larger ones  Pushes, throws, knocks down everything in sight   Sits more confidently; able to pull self up and sit again  Walks while holding onto your fingers  Language and emotions  Says “mama” and “dada” and knows what they mean  Babbling develops into intonations of language  May say other words and know their meaning too Feeding It’s common for mums to wean their babies off breastmilk by the first birthday. If you plan to, begin now by dropping one feed at a time, offering a bottle or cup instead. Gradual weaning will be more pleasant and comfortable for both you and your child. Ideal toys for this age  Pushing and pulling toys  Fix-together toys  Colourful containers and items to put in and remove Useful tips Baby walkers have received a bad rap from child development experts for years. Experts believe that not only are walkers dangerous, they are also not very effective to begin with.

What your child might do:

Physically and mentally  Drinks easily from a cup  Knows that small things can fit into larger ones  Pushes, throws, knocks down everything in sight   Sits more confidently; able to pull self up and sit again  Walks while holding onto your fingers  Language and emotions  Says “mama” and “dada” and knows what they mean  Babbling develops into intonations of language  May say other words and know their meaning too Feeding It’s common for mums to wean their babies off breastmilk by the first birthday. If you plan to, begin now by dropping one feed at a time, offering a bottle or cup instead. Gradual weaning will be more pleasant and comfortable for both you and your child. Ideal toys for this age  Pushing and pulling toys  Fix-together toys  Colourful containers and items to put in and remove Useful tips Baby walkers have received a bad rap from child development experts for years. Experts believe that not only are walkers dangerous, they are also not very effective to begin with.