After the first birthday
After your little one’s first birthday, you are likely to witness the transition from needy newborn to take-charge toddler. The toddler years last from the age of one to the age of three. It is the time between infancy and childhood – a time of great intellectual, emotional and social development. Your child is growing and learning at a fast pace, excited and challenged by the new world available for discovery. Remember that children develop at different rates. Don't worry if your child doesn’t reach particular milestones at the same time as other children.
As children grow into early childhood, their world will begin to open up. They will become more independent and begin to focus on adults and children outside of the family. They might use the potty, brush their teeth and have fun imitating you by talking on a play phone or pretending to drive a car. Language is an exciting part of your child's development. This is the period where understanding and use of words builds rapidly. When they are one year old most children can say two or three recognisable words; by the time they are three they will have progressed to conversations of small sentences.
During the second year of life, growth slows down. Your toddler may gain about 2 to 2.5 kg per year and increases about 12 cm in height. The motor skills are becoming fine-tuned. Step-by-step your baby changes shape, developing a longer, leaner, stronger appearance. The baby fat that made your infant so cuddly in the first months of life gradually will disappear.
The brain grows at a faster rate than almost any other part in the body. By age 3, your baby has grown dramatically by producing billions of cells and hundreds of trillions of connections between these cells. The resulting network forms the neurological foundation of skills that your child will use for the rest of his or her life. The immune system is also developing further. This is a continuing process and a strong immune system provides a child with powerful natural defences against disease. Gut health contributes to proper immune function because about 70% of the entire immune system is situated in the gut.