5 Effective Developmental Activities for One Month Old Baby

Your new born baby may be just a few days old, but it is never too early to indulge him in developmental activities for one month old babies. After all, he has been active even in the womb of his mother too.

So let’s have a look at the 5 effective developmental activities for your one month old.

In this article:

Gaze at the Visual Mobile
Skin-to-Skin Time
Lifting the Head
Naming Parts of The Body
Tracking Object with Eyes

1. Gaze at the Visual Mobile

Gazing at objects is one of the best sensory activities for 1 month old babies.

Materials Required: Munari Mobile and Baby Movement Mat.

What You Need to Do?

Dangle the Munari Mobile about 30 centimetres above your baby’s movement mat.
When he is awake and alert, just place him below the dangling Munari mobile.
Allow your little one to look, gaze and study the mobile as long as he wants to.

How This Activity Helps Your Baby?

Your new born baby has a developing sense of sight. At birth he can see only as far as 30 centimetres away, which is about the distance between your eyes and his, when you are holding him in your arms (isn’t nature amazing?).

The mobile helps him see, gaze, focus and track the dangling objects slowly moving around. It also improves his ability to concentrate and be on his own.

Related Article | 8 Best Developmental Activities for 2 Month Olds

2. Skin-to-Skin Time

Skin-to-skin time comes right on top when it comes to sensory activities for 1 month old babies.

Materials Required: None

What You Need to Do?

Make sure your baby is in a relaxed state wearing an open shirt, or robe or no shirt at all (weather permitting).
Lay him on your bare chest.
If required, lay a soft white blanket over his back to prevent him from feeling cold.
Being mindful of your breath, just relax, be in the moment, experience and enjoy this time with your little one.

How This Activity Helps Your Baby?

The first three months right after a baby’s birth are also called the Fourth Trimester. It is called so, in part due to the baby’s physical dependence on the mother for warmth, comfort, food and physiological functioning.

Skin-to-skin time helps your baby adjust to the new environment post birth by stabilizing his heart rate, regulating body temperature and improving his sleep.

Receiving warmth from your body means he doesn’t have to spend as much energy producing his own heat, which in turn helps him to allocate that energy towards his growth instead. That’s why skin-to-skin time is the most important among all developmental activities for one month old babies.

Skin-to-skin time also stimulates the creation of a chemical called Oxytocin in the mother’s body, which boosts production of milk and eliminates the possibility of low breast milk supply. Most of all, it fosters a healthy and deep bonding between the mother and the child.

Attention Fathers: This activity is not restricted to mothers alone. As a parent, you too are encouraged to have skin-to-skin time with your little one. It will help you foster a special bond with your child on one hand and help him benefit directly from your love and care on the other.

3. Lifting the Head

Lifting the head is a very good tummy time activity for infants.

Materials Required: None

Your baby can do this activity on your chest. You may also choose to place his tummy down on a movement mat or a quilt, although ideally, a parent is the best and the most comfortable option.

What You Need To Do?

When your baby is awake and alert, place him tummy down on your chest.
Every time he lifts his eyes or head to meet your gaze, just look at him and smile.
As he gazes at you, say encouraging words like “Yes, I see you lifting your head” or “Just look at the way gaze at me”, etc.

This is all you need to actively do, with intention. When he shows signs of tiredness, allow him to return to a relaxing and restful position.

How This Activity Helps Your Baby?

When babies are born, they have very little voluntary control over their bodies. In fact, they can control only their mouth and throat voluntarily.

Before your child can even move the muscles in the rest of his body, the neuron fibres controlling the muscles must be Myelinated.

Myelin is a fatty coating that insulates neuron fibres, and Myelination improves the speed and accuracy of nerve signal sent between the brain and body.

Myelination is necessary for purposeful and coordinated movement of the body. In other words, only through the usage of muscles and practice of body movements can Myelination of muscle nerve fibres can be achieved.

That’s why you need to ensure that you give your baby lots of opportunities to move and use his muscles. With practice, he will be able to coordinate movement of his head and neck, then quickly followed by his upper body.

One of the first ways your baby will gain control over his body is by mastering the ability to lift his head. This gives him the freedom to choose what he wants to pay attention to in his environment.

While the act of lifting head may not sound a big deal to us as adults, from a one month old baby’s point of view, it can be truly empowering! That’s why it is considered as one of the most important brain development activities for 1 month old babies.

When first lifting their head, most babies’ eyes light up with delight on seeing a loved one’s face. That’s why you need to make sure you’re at eye level while your little one is doing this activity.

By the end of the first month, most babies are able to lift their heads while on their tummy. By the end of the second month most are able to not only raise but also hold their head up at a 45-degree angle. And by the end of the fourth month most babies are able to hold their head up comfortably and are able to look around confidently.

4. Naming Parts of the Body

Naming parts of the body is a very good cognitive development activity for infants.

Materials Required: Soft Baby Movement Mat (a Baby Quilt works too).

What You Need To Do?

When your baby is awake and alert, lay him on the baby movement mat.
Baby-talk to your little one about what you are about to do. Say “Come let’s name the parts of your body”.
Name each part of his body as you touch them (head, arms, legs, tummy, feet and hands). You may also help him to touch them himself.
You can make it fun by creatively playing a game or singing a song, like “Where’s your tummy? Here is your tummy” or something similar.

One of the best and powerful ways to help your baby develop body awareness is by using a mirror. Another effective way to teach your baby about his body is while changing diapers or while dressing him. Continue as long as he enjoys the activity.

How This Activity Helps Your Baby?

Developing awareness about the body is a critical part of the development of what is called Spatial Awareness in your baby.

As the name suggests, the awareness has to do with the space around us, which is necessary for understanding aspects like location, placement, distance and speed.

Body and spatial awareness is critical as it helps understand important relative aspects like near & far, over & under, and fast & slow, among others.

To understand these relative aspects, we need to have a good understanding about our bodies including where we are and how we move in space and time.

Activating this awareness requires effort to begin with. But with practice and passage of time, it gradually becomes effortless, therefore freeing up the brain and the body to power itself for more advanced and important tasks.

5. Tracking Object with Eyes

Gazing at objects is one of the most effective sensory development activities for babies.

Materials Required: Baby Mat, Basket and an Object.

What You Need To Do?

Sit down in front of your baby and roll out the work mat slowly and carefully.
Keep the object inside the basket and place the basket on the mat.
When your baby is focused on you, show the basket and take the object out (say a bell) and put the basket aside momentarily.
Show the object to the baby and say “What is this? This is a bell”.
Move the object slowly to the left and right of the baby and allow him to track it with his eyes.
Do this 2 or 3 times and put the object back into the basket.

Repeat the activity a few more times across the day with different objects.

The beauty about interacting with kids is that we become animated with them automatically. So feel free to be animated (in a natural way), as kids love it when you interact to them that way. It also makes them enjoy the activity.

How This Activity Helps Your Baby?

Babies cannot see well enough when they’re born. Your new born can only see about 30 centimetres from his face. He also cannot focus on or follow objects in front of him.

However, within weeks after his birth, his eyes will start to mature and develop, and he will soon cross the important milestone of tracking objects with his eyes.

You don’t have to necessarily use a work mat and a basket, as it is only optional at this stage. Having said, using them can give your baby kind of a sneak peak of how work will be conducted in the real world, which he will eventually experience.

By practicing activities like this, most babies will be able to track objects by the time they are 4 or 5 weeks old. If your little one’s eyes are not able to track objects even after 8 or 9 weeks, do consult your paediatrician.

What do the Work Mat and Basket denote?

The work mat refers to your child’s work space and the basket refers to what contains all the materials required for him to carry out a specific work.

When the right materials are used for your baby’s activities, it gives a method and structure to the developmental process and help him learn and benefit from it.

Conclusion

The above five developmental activities for one month old babies are so effective that you can make it part of his daily routine too, as it takes only a few minutes.

If you can ensure that these activities are followed for your little one on a daily basis, you can rest assured that the growth and developmental milestones of your baby will also be taken care of.

Disclaimer: The content in this page and across this website are for informational and educational purposes only. In case of any concerns about your child’s growth and development, please contact your professional child healthcare provider.