The first year of a baby’s life is full of exploration and discovery, as they begin to learn about the world around them. This period is when your child’s early growth and development journey starts as they build their cognitive, social, emotional and physical skills.
Understands simple communicative gestures like pointing to what they want or waving 'bye bye'
Responds to own name being called, family names and familiar objects
Sits without support and stands by pulling themselves up using furniture
Show initial signs of empathy and kindness to others
Babies first explore by learning through their eyes, ears, nose, hands and mouths. These senses help your child discover the world around them. You may notice as your child begins to use their body by reaching, grasping, tasting, touching and smelling things to make new discoveries. Be careful of hair, bracelets, necklaces and earrings throughout this stage as they are all up for grabs!
In the first couple of months of life, your baby will also spend their days napping as they rest for their early growth and development. In the following 3 to 9 months, you will notice your baby become alert and awake for longer periods of time as they begin to process their surroundings. After 9 months, babies will begin to understand simple principles such as cause and effect with the rules of push and pull.
Babies experience significant cognitive development in the first 365 days of their life. This includes understanding the concept of object permanence and that objects will continue to exist even when out of sight. This milestone occurs around 8-12 months old and is a crucial aspect of early cognitive development.
This skill is fostered throughout Edge Early Learning’s nursery program with activities such as peek-a-boo or hide-and-seek. These games aim to reinforce object permanence build a baby’s confidence and help them understand their environment and surrounds.
Babies will begin to form emotional bonds and attachments to parents, friends, family, caregivers and educators in their first year of life. These relationships are fundamental to their social and emotional development and are characterised by the need for consistent interactions to meet your baby’s emotional needs of security and trust.
Edge Early Learning helps to form healthy attachment styles through our nursery program by creating a safe, secure and supportive environment. Our nursery program is comprised of small group intakes to ensure each baby receives a high-quality level of care. This allows educators to promptly respond to a baby’s needs for food, comfort and play to encourage emotional resilience.
An example of building an emotionally safe environment for your child at Edge Early Learning is the celebration of milestones. Babies who sit unaided have worked hard to develop their core muscles over the past month or so. They have most likely been attempting to do this for a while, and so educators are responsive when this is first achieved. This allows the baby to feel a sense of achievement and confidence, whilst coordinating their body movement to push themselves up into this position.
Developing the ability to recognise faces and interpret expressions is critical to a baby’s social and emotional development. This skill is learned around six months of age as babies take an interest in people’s faces and begin to identify objects, shapes colours, sizes and more. That is why you might often notice a baby staring back at you!
As babies discover people’s faces, they will begin to distinguish familiar faces from strangers, like mum and dad. Babies at this age will also react to strong facial expressions such as smiling or frowning, necessary for bonding and social interaction. They often use their own gestures, facial expressions, sounds, gargles or even basic words to communicate with others.
At Edge Early Learning, we encourage this interaction through our nursery program with frequent face-to-face interactions. This is achieved through story times and other engaging activities, where our educators use expressive facial cues, sounds and eye contact to build healthy social skills and emotional foundations.
A popular approach at Edge Early Learning for building this skill is ‘Serve & Return’. This involves educators making sounds and getting a baby to make a sound back in response and is essential to a baby’s brain development in the first 1,000 days.
One of the first things your infant will learn is how to reach, grasp, roll over, sit, crawl and stand as they gain independence and confidence in exploring their environment. These physical milestones are essential to the physical development of babies and can influence how your baby interacts with other children socially.
In Edge Early Learning’s nursery program, our experienced educators develop baby motor skills through active play. We encourage all children to feel things in their own hands, process new objects through experimentation and test out their abilities in a safe and monitored environment. Our caregivers love celebrating developmental milestones with gentle encouragement to help your baby feel supported and understood.
In the Nursery, there is a world of new experiences that your baby will discover, which is why we place a strong importance on relationship building. As your baby meets new people for the first time, they will start to develop body movements and sounds to communicate and begin to connect with their educators.
At Edge Early Learning, our nursery program encourages this through planned experiences that encourage a baby to extend their movement further. This could include placing blocks out-of-reach for a child and encouraging them to move their body to retrieve it.
Allow your baby to learn, grow, develop and explore the world in a safe and supportive environment at Edge Early Learning. Our Nursery program was thoughtfully created to ensure all children are provided with personalised care and a supportive environment to grow. Each of our experienced educators is on hand to help your baby build their cognitive, social, emotional and physical skills.
Our educators work closely with each child, taking time to respond and acknowledge each of their communicative cues. We focus on building respectful and caring relationships to enable your child to trust their educator and achieve a sense of belonging. This empowers them to progress with their development through exploring the world and those around them.
The most notable milestones in a baby’s first year of life include:
If you are interested in our Nursery program, please enquire online today to learn more or to secure your child’s spot in our next intake.
