A one-month-old baby spends most of their time awake trying to understand their surroundings. So, you’ll notice that your baby recognizes your voice, touch, and face, and they are likely to smile at you while staring at you. This can leave you wondering what to do to make your baby feel even more comfortable around you.
This article offers you exciting 1-month-old baby activities to make your toddler happy and comfortable.
What Should a 1-Month-Old Baby Be Doing?
Although babies develop at different rates, certain growth indicators are common in virtually every baby. For instance, an average one-month-old baby should gain between 0,7 and 0.9 kg and grow between 2.5 and 4 cm tall every month. Their head circumference should increase by around 1.25 cm every month.
It’s normal for your one-month-old baby to lose some weight after birth and recover their birth weight after two to three weeks. From there, their weight should continue to increase steadily. Since babies have different shapes and sizes, your baby can be either large or small at birth.
So, don’t compare them with others. The most important is to ensure that they grow steadily after birth. Your postnatal nurse will monitor your baby’s growth to make sure they’re growing as expected. At one month, most of your baby’s actions are still caused by reflexes.
Therefore, you’ll find your baby sucking your breast, swallowing milk, and grasping other objects that come into contact with their hands. When they’re not holding objects, their hands will be clenched tightly. If you place your baby on a flat surface, you’ll notice that they put one foot in front of the other.
At this age, your baby will be focusing with both eyes and following moving objects from side to side. They will be staring at your face and gaze deeply into your eyes when you are holding them. At one month, your baby should start recognizing you as their parent. They’ll become elated when they hear your voice.
When your one-month-old baby hears a loud voice, they’ll get frightened and throw their hands and legs out and blink their eyes. At this age, your baby should be able to raise their head and turn it sideways when you place them on their stomach. Some babies can even lift and turn their heads when in a carrier or a car seat.
A one-month-old baby cries loudly when hungry or feeling pain. They’ll make little babbling noises when happy and satisfied. When your baby gurgles happily, respond by gurgling back. By the first month, your baby should start learning how to soothe themselves with a toy or sucking their fingers.
The most effective way to calm your one-month-old baby is to help them suck. Also, spend enough time with your baby smiling and gazing deep into their eyes to create a strong bond with them and make them feel safe and comfortable.
8 Activities to Do with Your 1-Month-Old Baby
1. Cooing and Gurgling
As mentioned above, your one-month-old baby will gurgle when they’re happy. So, to keep them happy and excited, you should make little cooing and gurgling sounds. This encourages your baby to play and keep talking. This is an effective way to teach your baby about sounds and conversations.
2. Playing with Toys
Get a wide range of colorful toys with different shapes, sizes, and textures that your one-month-old baby can play with. You should help them to hold and feel the toys. Make sure the toys make soft sounds that are soothing to the ear.
You should also hold the colorful toys in front of your baby’s eyes and move them sideways so that they can focus on and follow them. Alternatively, you should get a toy that makes a rattling sound when shaken for your baby to find.
3. Infant Gym
At one month, you should introduce your baby to the infant gym where they can play with stimulating objects. make sure the objects are dangling so that they can swat at them. You can hold the objects high up so that your baby can try to reach for them. However, make sure the objects aren’t hanging by strings or cables because they can easily tangle your baby.
4. Clapping Hands
You can encourage your one-month-old baby to play and learn by clapping your hands gently or stretching your arms. If they’re happy and comfortable, they’ll try to imitate your hand movements while making gurgling sounds.
5. Moving Their Legs
You can play with your baby by moving their legs as if they’re pedaling a bicycle. This is part of your baby’s regular exercise.
6. Facial Expressions
Try to make different facial expressions and see if your baby can imitate them. In most cases, your baby will smile back when you smile at them.
7. Singing
If you have a nice soothing voice, you should sing to your baby in a low tone to help them relax and sleep. You can clap your hands and move your body if you don’t want them to sleep.
8. Talking
Although your one-month-old baby doesn’t understand what you are saying, they recognize your sounds. They can tell when you are angry and happy. So, they’ll respond accordingly.
What Toys Can a 1-Month-Old Play with?
At one month, your baby will start to develop an interest in colorful objects like toys. This is the right time to get them toys to keep them entertained when they’re not feeding or sleeping. However, keep the toys simple and safe for your baby because they still can’t play with them effectively. At this age, your baby’s range of vision is only 12 to 15 inches.
So, choose toys that you can safely hold close to your baby’s eyes without hurting them. The toys should be washable because the first thing they’ll do when they hold them is to put them in their mouth. Therefore, make sure the toys don’t have loose objects that can choke your baby. Here are some of the best toys for a one-month-old baby.
1. Stroller Toy
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Get your baby a clip-on toy that they can play with when they’re in their stroller or car seat. The toy should be colorful to catch the attention of your little one. It should also make a rattling sound when shaken.
2. Soother
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Your little bundle of joy requires extra comfort even when they aren’t asleep. So, a baby soother or comfort blanket is a good toy for your one-month-old baby. Make sure the toy is colorful, super soft, and has beautiful patterns with human and animal faces. Its corners should be tied properly to hold or suck the baby in to avoid accidents.
3. Playmat
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A playmat is a great toy for a one-month-old baby because it gives them enough space to roll around and play without worrying about accidents. The mat should have brightly colored patterns to keep your baby busy while lying on the floor. It should be nicely padded to offer comfort.
4. Contrast Flashcard
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A flashcard with highly contrasting colors is a great way to keep your little one entertained. Choose a flashcard with bright, highly contrasting primary colors. But even black and white colors are also good.
5. Wearable Rattles
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Give your baby a wearable rattle that attaches to their ankle or wrist so that they can shake them to make the rattling sounds. You can even help your child to move their legs or hands to shake the rattle.
6. Swings or Bouncers
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When your hands are tired of holding the little one, you can place them on a swing or bouncer. It will not only give you some time to rest but also keep your baby entertained. You can even choose the one with an overhead bar and a dangling rattle to stimulate your toddler.
7. Mobile
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This is a portable gadget that makes sounds. Choose a gadget that can be attached to the baby’s gym or crib. It should play soft, soothing lullabies to help your baby relax and fall asleep quickly.
Tips for Parents of a 1-Month-Old Baby
A one-month-old baby is still very fragile. Therefore, they should be handled with great care to avoid accidents. Here are important tips to help you take care of your one-month-old baby.
1. Always Wash Your Hands Before Handling Your Baby
Never handle your baby with dirty hands. At this age, your baby can easily get infected because its immune system is very weak. So, everyone in the family should wash or sanitize their hands before handling the baby.
2. Don’t Shake Your Baby
At one month, your baby’s skull hasn’t been properly formed. Therefore, shaking your baby when playing or angry can easily cause bleeding in the brain, which can be fatal.
3. Provide Head and Neck Support
Cradle your baby’s head and neck properly when carrying or holding them upright. When you lay them down, make sure their head and neck are properly supported to avoid injuries.
4. Properly Fasten Your Baby into the Stroller
When carrying your baby in the stroller or car seat, make sure they’re correctly fastened so that they don’t bounce or swing a lot. You should also limit activities that are too bouncy.
5. Don’t Engage in Rough Play
Do not engage your baby in rough play like jiggling their knees or throwing them in the air.
6. Massage Your Baby
A one-month-old baby responds quite well to massages. Some of these massages have been shown to improve the baby’s development. They also improve the bonding between you and your baby.
