Adjusted age: measured from the due date
Your baby may show more emotions and moods, both positive and negative. Your baby shows affection for favorite people, and may have a talent for attracting and keeping their attention. At the same time, fear and uneasiness around strangers is common, especially if they come too close. Now, more than before, baby may be upset when mom or dad leaves. This signals further maturation of the brain's memory centers. Your baby can better distinguish between people he knows well and those he doesn't.
Learn to read your baby's signals. Follow his lead. Stick with the activities he likes when he is happy and interested. If boredom or stress sets in, stop the activity and try it again later.
Acknowledge and label your baby's feelings. For example, if your baby fusses at naptime, you might say, "You feel mad when daddy has to leave you. I will see you when you wake up from your nap." Saying things like this helps your baby move from negative to positive moods more easily and helps him learn to label his emotions.
Preemies need extra attention, so you would have to go to great lengths to be considered overprotective that first year. While your baby needs all the protection you can give, don't guard your baby from everything. Bumps and falls are an important part of growing up. Falling teaches balancing skills needed for sitting and walking. Babies who are afraid to fall will be slower learning to walk. Babies need lots of time on the floor. They need to experiment with moving their bodies and exploring their environment.
When your baby's health is stable enough, consider playgroups or Early Childhood Family Education (ECFE) programs to help with early "socialization." Babies this age won't necessarily play together, but can be fascinated by each other. You can learn parenting skills from an experienced ECFE parent educator and exchange parenting strategies with others in the group.
For more information about local classes, day and evening, call your local school district. If your baby has chronic lung disease and cannot have much social contact, ask if local ECFE staff can make home visits. This is another wonderful way to gain insight into your baby's development.
Here's what 10-month-old babies might tell you... if they could!
I like to:
I enjoy it when you:
I like to:
I enjoy it when:
I like to:
I enjoy it when you:
I like to:
I enjoy it when you:
Children's Hospitals and Clinics of Minnesota NICU Follow-Up Program: 612-813-6722 Children's - Minneapolis, 651-220-8063 Children's - St. Paul
Last Reviewed by NICU Follow-Up 9/2014 © Copyright
This page is not specific to your child, but provides general information on the topic above. If you have any questions, please call your clinic. For more reading material about this and other health topics, please call or visit Children's Minnesota Family Resource Center library, or visit www.childrensmn.org/educationmaterials.
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