The first year of human life is a wonderful and incredible time. By the time a child has reached the age of twelve months, he or she has gone from a helpless newborn, to a semi-walking, semi-talking little person with a personality and mind of their own. Each experience and every step of a baby’s new life is a learning experience – a natural progression to maturity. The newborn baby has all the tools and abilities to succeed, but not the knowledge of how to use them, or the knowledge of the world around them, to do anything. No wonder they cry.
It is during this first year of life that a child learns to use his or her senses. The Swiss scholar Jean Piaget called the first two years of life the Sensorimotor period because "infants are developing the ability to coordinate their sensory input with their motor actions." (Weitan, 303). It is this concept, development through learning, which will be examined – from newborn to the age of twelve months.
Newborn
Newborn babies, although helpless, do have innate reflexes that help them to survive. These reflexes are called rooting and sucking.
A baby’s rooting reflex is the instinctive turning of their head toward something that touches either cheek. "They will search or "root" for the object that made the touch." (Marzollo, 16). This instinctive reflex can be best put to use by the parent when trying to feed the baby a bottle. When the bottle’s nipple is placed against the baby’s cheek, the hungry baby will turn towards the bottle with an open mouth.
Babies are also born with a sucking reflex. This reflex enables babies to suck liquids from a bottle, or their mother’s breast. This reflex is not always instantly realized by every baby, however. "Some babies can do this instantly while others need a little practice." (Marzollo, 16).
Newborn babies also have several other reflexes that, while not needed for survival, are the baseline developments for future growth. Infants can grasp a parent’s finger and hold on tight with a grasping reflex. They also have very brief head control which allows them to lift their head and turn it to the side when they are laying face-down in the crib. The Moro reflex is an infant’s instinctive reaction to sudden and loud noises. "Infants react to sudden physical sensations and loud noises by throwing their arms and legs out, almost as if they were pushing the noise away..." (Marzollo, 18). The Babinksi reflex is interesting because it is the exact opposite of that of a mature person: "When the sole of the foot is gently stroked from heel to toe, the toes flare upward and the foot turns in." (Eisenberg et al., 48).
Another interesting infant reflex is that of reflex walking. Babies are apparently born with the knowledge of how to walk, but not the strength to do it. While holding a newborn baby up, carefully supporting the head and neck, with the infant’s feet barely touching a flat surface, an infant will actually take a few steps. This reflex disappears after a few months, and will it take about a year before the child can walk on his or her own.
The aural and visual world around an infant can be interesting, calming, or frightening. A newborn infant can hear everything an adult can hear, but does not have the ability yet to make sense of the sounds. As mentioned before, loud, startling sounds causes an infant to throw out his or her arms and legs in what is called the Moro reflex. Inside the womb, the baby became used to the rhythmic pulse of his or her mother’s pulse, and perhaps for this reason newborn babies seem to prefer soft, steady musical beats.
Visually, the world around an infant is limited to about eight to twelve inches from his or her face. They will turn their eyes and heads to light, and close their eyes if the light is too strong. Unable to take it all in, or make sense of what they see, it is not common for a newborn infant to gaze at any one object for a great deal of time. The most interesting object for a newborn’s gaze is that of a human face. Research has been done in which forty newborns were shown four different diagrams of a human face. "The babies turned their heads and eyes and displayed interest in the diagram that showed the facial parts in the right configuration." (Sears, 418).
One to six months
An infant’s sense of sight starts to become more focused during this stage of life. By the third month, babies like to stare at interesting and colorful objects. They are attracted to light, primary colors, motion, and of course, people. Another fascinating, and ready, object for the baby’s attention is his or her own hands. "Discovering that the little hand moving in front of you is your own hand is an amazing discovery for Baby - it’s nothing less than the beginning of discovery of self - and it all comes about from staring...and thinking." (Marzollo, 40).
Visually, a major break through for the baby happens about the fourth month. At this age, most babies develop Binocular Vision. This is the ability to use both eyes on an object. "Baby can now use both eyes together, giving him better depth perception – the ability to judge accurately the distance between his eyes and the things he sees." (Sears, 437).
By the fourth month, babies begin to understand that they "own" their hands, and that they can make them move voluntarily. They also have replaced their grasping reflex with voluntarily grasping at objects held in front of them. "As babies’ eyes develop and they discover their hands, they put the two together in a process of eye-hand coordination that will continue into adulthood." (Marzollo, 46). Also, the baby begins to show some recognition of those - presumably the parents - that nurture and feed them.
At the fifth month, babies begin to recognize a whole object, such as a person or toy, when only a portion of the object is shown. The baby may also want to reach out and touch this object, or remove the object that is obstructing the whole view. This process, which is referred to as object permanence, is gradual. Eventually, a child learns that just because he or she can no longer see an object, it doesn’t mean that the object is no longer there. "Once children realize that disappearing objects continue to exist, they begin to use mental images to represent absent objects. This is the primitive beginning of symbolic thought, which will gradually expand the boundaries of their thinking." (Weitan, 303).
By the sixth month, a baby will focus his or her attention on an object, and desire to manipulate that object. A six-month-old baby will pay attention to whatever object he or she finds interesting, and follow that object with curiosity.
In this stage of life, a baby’s hearing is also being tuned to meaningful noises. A four-month-old baby will start to turn to see who is talking. By the fifth month, "babies are fascinated by mouths and seem to be connecting the noises you’re making with your mouth to the noises they can make with their mouths." (Marzollo, 42). The most important aspect of sound at this stage is that the baby is making the connection between the object making the noise, and the noise itself.
At four months, babies begin to test their vocal abilities. They begin to understand that they can make sounds at will, and that these sounds can bring results. Before this point, babies make sounds involuntarily. Now, however, they may make the same sound over and over, just because they realize that they can.
Physically, babies at this stage get stronger and more in control of their bodies. Babies may do "push-ups" when laid on their stomach, strengthening their arm and back muscles. Eventually, this exercise will lead to rolling over and crawling.
The most important aspect of this stage of life is that the baby has growing awareness of self. The baby learns that what he or she does will affect his or her surroundings.
Six to nine months
By now, babies are becoming more aware of their surroundings. "Babies are learning to turn toward sounds like the dog barking, the phone ringing, and the vacuum cleaner going." (Marzollo, 92). Babies at this stage will also respond more to the sound of their parent’s voice, and seem to recognize it. However, they may not recognize their names yet.
It is also at this age that babies begin to show an attachment to their mothers. This often manifests itself through separation anxiety. Up to this point, babies show little preference to who cares for them, however, "This typically changes at around 6 to 8 months of age, when infants begin to show a preference for their mother’s company and often protest when separated from her." (Weitan, 299).
At this stage of life peripheral vision starts to develop, and babies are learning to focus on small objects, like crumbs of food. Also, the concept of object permanence is becoming more and more easily understood. An object that fell from the baby’s hand on to the floor may now cause the baby to look down to see where it fell. A toy that was taken from a baby and hidden from view may make him or her to search for it. This is a major intellectual leap for babies.
As the baby matures through this stage, he or she will begin to discover how much more useful their hands are. They are more than likely at this stage to concentrate on objects they hold, and to manipulate these objects by rotating them and passing them from hand to hand, and eventually learning to grasp an object with both hands. Also, they begin to realize that they can use their finger and thumb as "tweezers" to pick up small objects, such as peas or corn.
Although babies at this age haven’t mastered words yet, they are learning how to more effectively vocalize their desires. They actually may have their parents trained to understand them. Also, babies at this stage often like to sit and babble to themselves. My 5-month old daughter does this often. It is through this process that they are learning to use their vocal cords, mouths, and lips to express themselves.
Nine to twelve months
By this stage of life, most babies’ muscles have matured enough so that they can sit by themselves. They will have mastered the art of rolling over, crawling, and moving from the crawling position to sitting, and visa-versa. Also, most babies at this age have become strong enough to pull themselves up on furniture, or stand with assistance. Some babies may even be walking by this age.
As the baby becomes more aware of his or her surroundings, they also begin to learn and understand some of the rituals involved in their own care, like bathing and dressing. "At this age babies may begin to be interested in taking off some of their own clothes, particularly garments that come off easily." (Marzollo, 148). Like all learning processes that babies go through, this seemingly small step may go unnoticed, but it is a major achievement, and an important building block on future learning.
Babies’ eye-hand coordination has improved much by this age. They are now handling and manipulating small objects, as they like to see what they can do to them. Observing babies as they play with small objects, like a ball, is a great example of basic learning in progress. Babies drop them, pick them up, put them in and take them out of containers, and hand them to you and take them back. And of course, throw them. These basic actions improve a baby’s understanding of the world around them.
Babbling becomes the major form of communication for babies at this age. "Without knowing exactly what they are doing, they practice making the sounds of consonants, particularly p, b, m, t, and d." (Marzollo, 162). They will add vowels to these consonants and babble on, as if making sentences. As they babble, it sometimes sounds as if they have formed their own language. Of course, their words don’t make sense, but they are practicing their vocal abilities for later development. Some words, however, may make sense to them. They may understand the words Dada or Mama, and the name for objects, like Ba-Ba for "bottle".
Babies are also beginning to understand abstract terms, like "Bye-Bye", "No", and "Come here." These are probably terms they have heard often, and in the same context every time. Even though I realize that my 5-month old daughter doesn’t understand why, I usually take her hand and wave "Bye-Bye" when leaving a room. As she becomes older and starts reaching for things, I’m sure that I will be using the word "No" a lot. And by this stage of development when she has learned to move about more freely, I will be saying, "Come here". This repetition of terms at the right times help the baby to learn these terms.
Babies’ listening skills have developed to the point where they respond to their own name, and they become active listeners. "Babies enjoy listening to people talk because they are studying speech in order to master it themselves." (Marzollo, 165). This may have some unfortunate side effects for parents, however, as the child now knows the meaning of "Bye-Bye", but it is an important step in the baby’s development.
At the end of this first year of life, a baby has hopefully had the experiences and support he or she needs to learn. A noted expert on human development, Erik Erikson, defined each stage of life and the psychological crisis faced at each stage. Stage 1, the first year of life, centers around the concept of "Trust versus Mistrust". An infant needs the love and support of those around him or her to develop their sensorimotor skills. With this support, babies learn to trust those around them, and without it, babies develop mistrust.
All of the developments of the first year lead to more developments in the second, and so on. These basic building blocks to future developments may seem trivial, and easily unrecognized by those who are not carefully looking for them, but are essential. For first time parents, like myself, watching these skills develop as my daughter grows into her own person is incredibly rewarding.
By Matthew R. King
Eisenberg, Arlene, Heidi E. Murkoff, and Sandee E. Hathaway, B.S.N. (1996). What to Expect the First Year. New York: Workman Publishing.
Marzollo, Jean. (1993). Fathers & Babies. New York: HarperCollins Publishers, Inc.
Sears, William, and Martha Sears. (1993). The Baby Book. Canada: Little, Brown & Company.
Weitan, Wayne. (1997). Psychology: Themes and Variations – Briefer version; 3rd Edition. California: Brooks/Cole Publishing Company.
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