Your Toddler’s Physical Appearance and Growth
It is assumed that at this stage, your baby’s weight is between 8-10kgs, heightbetween 71-81cms and the head is roughly at 44.5cms. Always follow the clinic check-ups for your child’s height and weight curves on the growth charts. This way you can be sure, he/she is following the pattern established for
Milestones at Ten (10)
- Sleeping
The morning nap is a thing of the past, baby is adopting to long afternoon naps. The change is a little irritable and might affect the night routine. At this stage, a whole night sleep with occasional drowsy wakes are evident most likely due to sickness or teething.
Try adapting to workable strategies to increase baby’s sleep quality if you’re not there yet. With a little patience, your baby could learn to let go and sleep. Try to find out from other mothers what methods have worked for them. Then choose wisely what you feel might work for your baby
- Baby’s diet
Interestingly, your baby is more adventurous and picks food on their own from the plate, and yours! Take lead and introduce nutritious foods andfinger foods to them. The little one can now comfortably eat a full-balanced diet. In this regard, ensure the meals you offer are nutritious. Take for instance sweet potatoes, baby rice or normal rice, ugali, porridge, sukuma wiki/spinach, terere, omena, pumpkin, cow/goat milk, yoghurt, red meat, chicken and delicious soups. Remember, baby is learning from you so plan to eat family meals together.
You may want to include bibs with pouches and floor mats in your next shopping to trap food particles.
- Communication
Sound and speech are apparent as the toddler imitates each word or sentence. The language sense is improved, saying ‘ma-a-a-ma’ or ‘bha-a-bha’ as the kid tries to make dialogue.
- Child’s emotional and social development
Your child understands. She can feel sad hence you will notice that they cling and become anxious when you leave. Read more on separation anxiety here.
Nurturing the Babies’ Milestones
Reorganize your home and make it child safe by baby proofing it. Consider also equipping yourself and your child’s caregiver (if you opt to have one) with first-aid skills.
Remember that babies needs you to achieve every milestone, so avail yourself. Let your child explore under your supervision. Make it more fun by adding toys, music tunes, walkers, and fascinating cartoons.
Do You Feel Something Is Not Right?
If you’re worried about much delays, trust you feelings and let your child’s pediatrician know in your next clinic visit for evaluations.
Signs of Delayed Development
Despite supporting our babies in different stages, keep in mind that development differs from one child to another, at their own pace and own time. Look out for these signs if you feel your baby could be experiencing delayed development:
- Cannot stand even when supported
- Does not crawl
- Drags one side of body while crawling (lasting for over a month)
- Cannot point to objects
- Does not search for objects that are hidden while he watches
- Does not say single words like (“mama” or “dada”)
- Cannot use gestures like waving or shaking their head
Disclaimers:
#Remember that every baby develops differently.
# Content intended for educational purposes only, and not a substitute for medical advice from your doctor.
Last reviewed January 2019
Sources: webmd, parents, huggies, verywellfamily, similac, supamamas,huggies
