The first year of life is the most important stage in a child's development. During this period, motor, cognitive or anthropometric acquisitions are unique compared to other ages. The child aged between 0-12 months is medically defined as an infant, but the widely used term is baby. Each baby has its own growth rate and, implicitly, its individual curve, influenced by multiple factors.
To evaluate the baby's physical development, growth charts are used, which record data on weight, length and cranial perimeter depending on gender and age.
Growth charts were developed and used as a screening method in the USA since 1977, later being accepted and adapted by the World Health Organization and used throughout the world.
0-2 months
- In the first 2 weeks of life, the newborn can lose between 5-10% of the birth weight, then recover the loss and have a weight gain of 700-800 g at the end of the first month of life.
- Predominant activity - sucking and sleeping.
At 2 months
- Motricity elements appear: sitting on his stomach, he holds his head without swinging
- Limb movements are more frequent
- He often puts his hands to his mouth
At 3 months
- The cervical tonic reflex appears (supports the head in a vertical plane in the sitting position)
- Weight gain is approximately 25 g/day
At 4 months
- It doubles its birth weight
- The head swing disappears completely
- If he is supported, he can stay in a sitting position for a few moments
- When he is positioned on his stomach, he raises his head to 90°
- He rolls onto his back
- You hold an object in your hand, grasping is done with the whole palm
- He plays with a toy, but he cannot pick it up if he has dropped it from his hand
- He can grab objects with both hands and put them in his mouth
- He sleeps between 9 and 10 hours at night and has two more periods of sleep during the day.
At 5 months
- Sits with support (can be placed in the table chair, folding car seat or in his bed)
At 6 months
- It turns from the back to the stomach and vice versa
- Sits without support
- When in the sitting position, he can lean forward and return to the previous position
- He moves in the bed in different directions
At 7-8 months
- He can try to get up on his knees with support
- He swings his body in the push-up position
At 9-11 months
- Weight gain is approximately 15 g/day
- It grows in length by 1.5 cm per month
- He climbs and reaches his feet without support
- He has the "parachute" reflex: when his head is bent down, he stretches his hands forward to prevent falling
- He looks for the objects around him, hits them together, throws them
- Has digital prehension (grabs objects between shelf and index)
- He can feed himself by grabbing pieces of food with his fingers
At 12 months
- It triples its birth weight
- The increase in length is 50% compared to the value at birth
- The cranial circumference becomes equal to the thoracic one
- Stands without support for a few moments or holding on to furniture
- Walks alone or held by the hand
- He grabs objects and holds them with his fingertips
- He knocks two toys together and moves them from one hand to another
The motor development of the infant must be evaluated individually, each child having his own pace of anthropometric and motor development
The doctor is the one who, corroborating the anamnestic data regarding the infant's personal physiological and pathological antecedents, the type of nutrition as well as the heredocollateral antecedents (family pathology), is able to evaluate the state of development.
