The Senses - 1 -2 Year old

Babies this age are maturing rapidly, and so is their understanding of the surrounding world. As they grow, they'll be seeing, hearing, smelling, tasting, and touching things that are all new.

Sight

Between 1 and 2 years old, your baby's sight will improve dramatically. By age 2, these young toddlers usually have 20/20 vision and can see details and appreciate all colors.

Your role is to provide pleasant, stimulating visual information. Picture books, colorful toys, and kids their own age are great things for babies to look at and learn about. Steer clear of disturbing or scary images, though — your toddler is not able to distinguish between the real and the imaginary yet.

Take your little one on frequent outings. The park, the grocery store, and a friend's house can all provide interesting and novel sights.

Hearing

No matter when toddlers say their first words, they'll already understand much of what is said to them before that. Your child should be able to respond to commands ("Roll the ball to Mommy or Daddy") and be fully aware of the names of familiar objects and family members.

By about 15 months, your child will be able to point to different body parts, even if he or she can't yet tell you their different names. This shows that your baby's hearing is functioning well and language skills are developing.

Although toddlers know a handful of words, most still indicate their wants and ideas in nonverbal ways. They enjoy the other pleasures of hearing: listening to children's songs and music, laughing and yelling with friends in the park, or having you read a bedtime story.

Taste and Smell

With their newfound language skills toddlers will tell you which tastes they prefer and which they dislike. At this age most like bland foods the best. Pasta, dairy, and chicken tend to be favorites.

But don't forget to offer a variety of foods to taste — fight the urge to serve only what your little one likes. Research shows that it can take a few attempts before a child will accept a new flavor. Just keep providing opportunities to try new things, and one day your child will surprise you by accepting!

Help your child label tastes and smells by using descriptive words during meals or trips to restaurants.

Touch

Although toddlers may seem too busy to enjoy a cuddle or kiss, such affection is still a necessary part of their lives. Your child is experiencing and understanding so much more, but still needs to feel loved and secure. Take every opportunity to show this.

Don't forget that little fingers this age will be into everything. Hopefully you've already childproofed your home well, but take another look around from a toddler perspective and put unsafe items out of reach. Then you can encourage your child to touch and learn as much as possible.

Toddlers also start to use their hands to show frustration or look for attention, so don't be surprised if your little one starts hitting. Although very common, teach your child that hands are not for hitting. Initially, finding a distraction may be all that is needed; however, using "time-outs" may be necessary if the hitting persists.

Should I Be Concerned?

By now you have probably addressed any concerns you've had about your baby's eyesight, but be sure to contact your doctor if any of these irregularities develop:

• eyes that wander in or out
• inability to see or recognize distant objects or people
• persistent tearing, fluid discharge, crusting, or redness of the eyes
• eyes that don't move together
• frequent squinting or sensitivity to light
• droopy eyelids
• pupils of different sizes
• excessive eye rubbing or scratching

Hearing problems may become more apparent as speech emerges. Some kids speak earlier or later than others, but there should be signs that they can understand simple instructions even if they are not yet using many words.

Don't hesitate to report any concerns to your doctor, especially if you feel your child is not babbling or responding to your speech patterns. Chronic ear infections can sometimes leave kids with excessive fluid buildup that can interfere with healthy hearing. Special tests can check for hearing loss at any age.

It's common for parents to feel concerned or frustrated with their toddler's behavior, as kids love to touch and explore everything. They're naturally very busy and curious little people, so it's important to make sure that yours has a safe environment to explore. If you're not sure about how to guide your toddler's behavior, talk to your doctor.

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The Senses - 4 -7 Month old Baby

Your baby is now rolling over, starting to sit up, grabbing toys and other interesting objects, and possibly even crawling.
While most of their energy now is spent developing motor skills, babies this age also are honing all five senses, understanding and anticipating more and more of what they see, hear, and feel.

Sight

As your baby's interaction with the environment increases, you should notice a corresponding rise in visual awareness. By 6 or 7 months you may see your baby staring in concentration while holding a toy or studying his or her own face in a mirror. While still nearsighted, your baby sees much more than just a few months ago, focuses without going cross-eyed, and distinguishes colors at an adult level.
In keeping with their ability to move around, babies can track even rapid motion with their eyes. Your baby can follow the course of a rolling ball and probably can focus on watching the quick movements of an older sibling playing nearby.

Your baby also will be practicing newly acquired hand-eye coordination, so watch as your little one stares for a while at an object, then slowly reaches out to get it.
If your baby has been looking at the same toys or crib mobile for several months, now is a good time to change the scenery. Don't forget that babies older than 6 months will start to pull themselves up to a sitting position, so if you have a low-hanging mobile over the crib or wall hangings within reach, remove them so your baby doesn't get hurt.

Babies this age enjoy more complex designs and can distinguish colors. Try reading books with large, brightly colored pictures to your baby, who will enjoy staring at the pages. Stimulate your baby's vision with trips out into the world. Walks in the neighborhood, a trip to the supermarket, or an outing to the local zoo all provide wonderful opportunities for your baby to see new things.

Hearing

Hearing is crucial to developing the ability to talk, and your baby is just now beginning to understand the fundamentals of communication. When younger, your baby understood your meaning through the tone of your voice: soothing tones made your infant stop crying, agitated tones meant something was wrong.

Now, your little one is beginning to pick out the components of speech. Your baby can hear and understand the different sounds you make and the way words form sentences. Babies now respond to "no" and notice new sounds, like the bark of a dog or the hum of a vacuum cleaner.

By the seventh month, babies should recognize and respond to their own name. They also make more attempts to imitate sounds and spend more time babbling. Make no mistake, these are your baby's early attempts at speaking and should be encouraged as much as possible.
Repeat sounds you hear your baby making and introduce simple words that apply to everyday life. Have "conversations" with your baby and wait for a pause in the babble to "answer." The give-and-take of these early discussions sets the stage for your baby's first real words in the months to come.

Taste and Smell

Your doctor may suggest the addition of solid foods to your baby's diet during this period. If so, select foods carefully, introducing one new item at a time. This will help you pinpoint any food allergies that may occur, and also discover which tastes your baby likes best.

While humans innately enjoy sweet tastes best of all, you'll want your baby to be open to vegetables and other not-so-sweet tastes. Consider introducing sweeter vegetables like carrots or sweet potatoes right after those initial days of baby cereal so your baby won't protest that he or she would rather have bananas or applesauce.

You may see your baby respond to the sight and smell of your own dinner. Perhaps you can provide your baby with similar foods, pureed to baby-food softness.

Touch

The opportunities for exercising your baby's sense of touch at this age are endless, even during the course of a regular day. Let your baby roll a while in the coarse grass of your yard. See if your baby prefers to touch the silky trim of the baby blanket, or feel the texture of a carpet. Labeling the textures — "This is rough," "This is soft" — will help your baby learn more about the world.

Don't forget how important the feel of a gentle caress or a tender kiss is, and hold your baby when you are able. This kind of touching shows your baby that he or she is safe, secure, and loved.

Should I Be Concerned?

Between 4 and 7 months, you should see a noticeable increase in your baby's awareness of sights and sounds. Your baby should be responding appropriately to more and more visual and audio stimuli.
Ask your doctor to perform an eyesight assessment if your baby doesn't seem to:

• recognize you by sight or know you're in the room until he or she sees you
• be interested in looking at any new books, toys, or pictures
• have good control of eye motion (although some crossing or independent eye movement is still normal until 6 months)

An evaluation also may be necessary if you have a family history of serious eye diseases or abnormalities.
Since hearing is such a crucial component of language development, you'll also want to discuss with your doctor any concerns you have about your baby's hearing. If your baby doesn't seem to imitate simple sounds by the end of the seventh month, or shows no interest in babbling or having a "conversation" with you, ask your doctor about getting a hearing evaluation.
Warning signs of vision or hearing problems to look for:

• one or both eyes turn in or out consistently
• fluid draining from one or both eyes or persistent tearing
• extreme sensitivity to light
• no response to sound (for example, doesn't turn in direction of loud noise)
• response to only some sounds, not all (some children can hear certain pitches, some hear in only one ear)
• does not laugh out loud by 6 months
• does not babble or make a variety of sounds by 8 months, or concentrates only on making vibrating sounds that are felt in the throat rather than imitating sounds he or she can hear

Caught early, many vision and hearing problems can be treated successfully, so be sure to report any concerns you have to your doctor immediately.

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The Senses - 1 -3 Month old Baby

Every minute that they're awake awake, babies take in the sights, sounds, smells, and feel of the world around them.

Although it may take a while to understand what all this information means, your infant can still find joy and comfort in the familiar faces, voices, and sensations of everyday life.

Sight

Newborns can only see blurry shapes because they are very nearsighted. Perfect vision is 20/20, and a newborn has 20/400 vision. This allows your baby to see your face from a nursing position, which is about 8 to 10 inches away.

As babies grow, vision improves so that by 3 months they can recognize the outline of face as someone enters the room. Human faces are one of an infant's favorite things to look at, especially a parent's and his or her own. Install a baby-safe crib mirror at your infant's eye level and see how your baby watches himself or herself. You also may catch your baby gazing out a window or at a picture on the other side of the room.

Your baby's color vision is also developing, so brightly colored wall hangings or toys will help develop this ability to distinguish color and form. Soft pastel colors, though, are difficult for a baby to appreciate — something to keep in mind when purchasing toys and books.

By the second to third month, your baby's eye coordination has improved enough to follow an object through a 180-degree arch. If you hang a mobile above your baby's crib, look for one that turns around, since watching things move is becoming another favorite activity. By the end of this period, he or she may begin to reach out for objects — the beginning of hand-eye coordination.

Your baby will enjoy looking out from the stroller or baby carrier as you walk the neighborhood or the mall. Point out the sights, letting your baby linger over whatever catches his or her eye. Remember, the whole world is your baby's classroom and there's so much to see!

Hearing

Your newborn probably had a hearing screening before being discharged from the hospital (most states require this). If not, or your baby was born at home or a birthing center, it's important to have a hearing screening within the first month of life. Most children who are born with a hearing loss can be diagnosed through a hearing screening.

Sometimes hearing loss is caused by things like infections, trauma, and damaging noise levels, and the problem doesn't emerge until later in childhood. So it's important to have kids' hearing evaluated regularly as they grow.

In the first months of life, babies use crying as a form of communication. After about the first month you'll be able to distinguish the different cries and what they mean. Sometimes your baby will be hungry, tired, have a wet diaper, or just want to be held. You cannot spoil your baby by picking him or her up and cuddling, so cuddle and coo as much as you like.

Your baby loves to hear your voice, so talk, babble, sing, and coo away during these first few months. Take special advantage of your baby's own "talking" to have a "conversation." If you hear your infant make a sound, repeat it and wait for him or her to make another. You are teaching your baby valuable lessons about tone, pacing, and taking turns when talking to someone else.

Babies this age seem to respond best to a higher-pitched voice, which is why most people naturally raise the pitch of their voices and exaggerate their speech when talking to a small baby. This is fine — studies have shown that "baby talk" doesn't delay speech development. In fact, responding to your baby encourages speech. Feel free to mix in some regular adult words and tone with the baby talk. It may seem early, but you're setting the stage for your baby's first word.

Besides voices, your infant will probably enjoy listening to music (play a variety of styles) and may be fascinated by the routine sounds of life as well. Keep your baby nearby as you rattle pans while making dinner, and let him or her sit in an infant seat within earshot of older siblings laughing and playing. Baby rattles and musical mobiles are other good ways to stimulate your infant's hearing.

Taste and Smell

We assume infants can smell because we know they can taste, and these are the two most closely related of the senses. Research shows they prefer sweet tastes from birth and will choose to suck on bottles of heavily sweetened water but will turn away or cry if given something bitter or sour to taste.
And at this point at least, you don't have to worry too much about your baby's taste buds. Breast milk or formula will satisfy your baby completely.

Touch

It won't be long before your baby will be reaching out and touching everything, especially things that can break.
But now, between 1 and 3 months, your baby depends on you to provide touch. Infants know they're loved and cared for when they're held, hugged, and kissed. Studies show that babies who are never touched don't develop normally, and that touch between parents and premature babies has a very positive effect on the growth, blood pressure, and overall health of the baby.

Make it fun, too. Your baby will respond joyfully to a game of "This Little Piggy" as you touch your infant's toes or fingers. Introduce different textures and temperatures: the softness of a feather, the hardness of a wooden block, the cool feel of a window in winter.

If You're Concerned

You can try some unscientific testing of your infant's seeing and hearing. By 8 to 10 weeks your baby will be able to watch you as you move around the room or follow a shiny object that you pass in front of him or her. Move a small, dim lamp or flashlight from one side of your baby's face to the other. Does your baby follow the movement? Does he or she seem to focus on the light at all, even briefly?
Until 4 to 6 months an infant may appear cross-eyed when trying to look at something that is close. This is normal in the first few months. At the end of 3 months, your baby will probably smile when he or she sees you and recognize your face. If these signs are missing, discuss it with your doctor.
If you're concerned about your infant's ability to hear, ask yourself these questions:

• Does the baby respond to the sound of my voice, even if he or she cannot see me? (Your baby's response might be to stop crying, to smile, or to get excited and move his or her arms and legs.) Some studies indicate that a newborn can already recognize a mother's voice, and by 3 months a baby can turn his or her head toward voices.
• Does the baby startle at an unexpected sound behind his or her head? Clap your hands behind your baby's head and see if there's a response. If not, try it again later (your baby may be momentarily distracted).

If you're still worried about your little one's hearing, call your doctor. The earlier problems with seeing and hearing are discovered, the better they can be treated.

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