Your 49 Week Old Baby – Development, Milestones & Care

Your baby is at the one-year-old mark! At this stage you might be wondering – does she ever stop moving? It’s like all she does now is crawl or cruise or take her steps without a pause. This is why your baby might be sleeping a little more at night or taking longer naps – she is recovering from burning all that energy. This is a good thing, because sleeping better greatly helps your baby’s physical coordination. Organizing your own schedule to suit her routine might be a good idea, since you don’t want her missing her naps.

49 Week Old Baby’s Development

Around your 49-week-old baby’s first birthday, a question frequently asked will be – is she walking yet? Well, your baby may be walking at this stage, or she may not be. The typical age for babies to start walking is between 9-18 months, so if she isn’t yet, it’s no big deal. Let her take her time. If she does start walking, she will still be learning how to coordinate her tiny legs to the movement of walking and may not look graceful at first. She will stumble around, holding her arms out for balance. Gradually as she practices, her arms will come down to her sides, and she will depend on her core to give her balance while she walks. Do introduce push toys like baby shopping carts or baby strollers at this time. She will have something to grab onto, and it will give her more incentive to keep walking.

49 Week Old Baby’s Developmental Milestones

You should watch out for the following 49-week-old baby milestones this week:

• Your baby will be able to babble fluently, with all the tones an intonations of a conversation, even though what she is saying is gibberish.
• Your baby will be able to bend and pick up things from the floor without losing balance.
• Your baby will be able to crawl and cruise confidently and may take her first steps.
• Your baby will start to understand ‘yes’ and ‘no’ and may answer with either if you ask her something.
• Your baby will be able to say a handful of distinct words along with ‘mama’ and ‘papa.’
• Your baby will be able to move at a faster speed when she is crawling or even walking.
• Your baby will be more expressive, and you will be able to read the emotions on her face.

Feeding

You will now be moving towards weaning your baby away from bottles and formula. Ideally, your baby should have a bottle only during sleep time or before a nap. On waking, she should be given milk to drink from a cup, and solid food plays a more prominent role compared to milk feeding at this stage. The hardest part of weaning is to reduce the connection between the bottle and sleep. To make it easier on you, begin with daytime feeds. Gradually reduce the amount of milk you give and aim to end the feed before you settle your baby in his bed. If you are giving her milk from a cup, keep in mind that a baby needs 4-6 serves of dairy per day, so you can replace milk with other dairy products as well. To withdraw the bottle from your baby at night, try and introduce other distractions like songs and cuddles before bedtime, along with reducing the amount of milk. Soon, your baby will turn to these distractions and pay less attention to the bottle. Weaning is gradual, so you need to give your baby time to adjust to these new changes. The goal is to stop bottles around 12 months and move to cow’s milk in place of formula.

Sleeping

For breastfed and formula-fed babies, the weaning process is the same. The goal is always to transition from breastfeeding to sleep to falling asleep with a different form of comfort. This will be easier if some other adult other than the mother takes the role of putting the baby to sleep. This is because if it is the breastfeeding mother, then the baby will instinctively seek out for her breast. If it is another adult, like the father or a trusted grandparent, they can use techniques like cuddling, rocking, patting and singing lullabies to put the baby to sleep. If it is hard for you as a mother to hear your baby call for you, make sure to be elsewhere during this process. Avoid giving a bottle at the 12-month mark. As your baby gets familiar with the new bedtime routine of cuddling and singing, she will gradually accept these changes and no longer need the bottle or breastfeeding to sleep. If the transition is too hard on your baby due to things like illness or teething, wait for a few weeks and try again.

Care Tips for Your 49-week-old Baby

Below are a few ways you can care for your 49-week old baby:

• Use a fluoridated toothpaste to clean your baby’s teeth once her first tooth breaks through. Use only a small amount. This can help prevent your child from having tooth decay.
• Interact with your baby as much as possible, talk to her constantly, point out things and read to her. This will help her pick up new words and use them more in her babbling.
• Transition from bottles to sippy cups when your child approaches her first birthday.
• Avoid using any baby talk. Make sure to always use correct words while talking to your baby so she can learn correctly as well.
• Include more protein in your baby’s diet, like poultry (without skin), eggs (only yolk), beans, and vegetables like peas. These are good as they are also low in fat and cholesterol.

Tests and Vaccinations

It is recommended to have a doctor’s medical checkup when your child becomes 1-year-old.

1. Tests

The doctor will measure your baby’s height, weight, and head circumference so that he can evaluate your baby’s growth progress. He will also ask you a series of questions about your baby so that he can evaluate your baby’s sleep habits, sight, physical and behavioural development. He may also take a blood test to check if there are any signs of lead poisoning in your baby’s blood.

2. Vaccinations

At the 49-week mark, your baby will need the first dose of the chickenpox vaccine, a final dose of the Hib vaccine, the first dose of the Hepatitis A vaccine, the first dose of the Measles Mumps Rubella vaccine, and the final dose of the Pneumococcal (PCV) vaccine. She should also be administered the final dose of the Hepatitis B vaccine and the third dose of the Polio (IPV) vaccine if not given already.

Games and Activities

You can play the following games and activities with your baby:

• Encourage her to walk by gently taking her hands and pulling her to a standing position. This is an activity to make her comfortable with standing.
• Play with different toys, like coloured rings moving along a tube or a picture book which has buttons that make noise. This is all to help your baby learn words and sounds and dexterity skills.
• Demonstrate activities you know your baby will copy, like talking on a phone or picking up toys and putting them back in the box. She will mimic you and learn the activities.
• Join a playgroup and expose your baby to other babies her age. She will learn to socialize and play with them.

When to Consult a Doctor

Consult your doctor on your 49-week-old infant development when you see the following:

• If your baby doesn’t respond to her name by 12 months, take her to the doctor for a hearing evaluation.
• If your baby is itchy or uncomfortable due to some rash on the skin, consult your doctor as it may be signs of an allergy.
• If your baby squints, tilts her head to see better, rubs her eyes often and has difficulty seeing things, consult a doctor to see if your baby has sight problems. Redness, pain, excessive tears and crust in her eyes can also mean pinkeye.

Your baby’s known vocabulary is greater than her spoken one. So, don’t worry, even if she speaks only two words at 12 months, she will understand 25.