What a busy year it has been for you and your 51-week old baby! She’s a toddler now finally. It’s almost hard to imagine one year ago at this time; you were heavily pregnant. You’ve had times of joy, but also you’ve had times filled with worry when your baby just wouldn’t sleep or when she wouldn’t eat any food. And when she cried, sometimes it would be almost a miracle to get her to stop. Through all that you’ve reached the age of one year, where your baby is mobile. Along with that comes a whole set of new challenges. Earlier you would sit in one place, rocking and breastfeeding your newborn. Now all you seem to be doing is running after her all day long! Now instead of fat lining her chubby thighs, you will start to see muscles growing there as she crawls, walks or toddles around.
By 51-weeks along, your baby might be standing quite well and even walking. Some babies can even clamber up and down the stairs at this age. Once she masters the art of balance, she will be able to stand without wobbling and can bend down from that position to pick things up. If she’s not already walking, don’t worry, she will soon be! At 51-weeks old, you might have a picky eater on your hands. One day she might eat just three peas for dinner and the next day eats only bananas and crackers. But don’t force her to eat the way you want her to eat despite how worried you may get. Some babies at nothing during one day but make up for it the next day. If your baby eats only fruit one day, then tweak her meals the next day to include more veggies and protein. Also, your baby might be losing weight at this stage thanks to burning all those calories from running around. This is completely normal so keep feeding her healthy meals and let her grow at her own pace.
Below are a few 51-week old baby milestones you can keep an eye out for
Around 12 months you will be weaning your baby away from the bottle and formula. At this time, the customary bottle at bedtime will be hardest to give up for your baby. This is because she will gain comfort and relaxation from that ritual the most. How do you decrease that dependence? The content of the bottle is not the issue; you can easily switch from formula to cow’s milk. But your baby falling asleep with a bottle in her mouth is an issue as this can lead to tooth decay, along with dependence. So avoid letting your baby lie down while sucking on a bottle. Remove it when she falls asleep. Milk remaining in your baby’s mouth while she sleeps also encourages tooth decay so you can also rinse her mouth with water. Ideally, you should switch to a cup from a bottle but if that doesn’t happen, gradually reduce the milk in the bottle by watering it down till you give only water to your baby at sleep time. Later, you can try again with the cup. The goal is for your toddler to drink only water and keep milk and fruit as foods. Give your baby full cream milk till she is two years old.
This stage will have your baby facing sleep disturbance again as she will actively be walking or moving around more. She will often stand in her cot at night and cruise along the rails, or if you are bed-sharing, she will use the bed head or your bodies as support to clamber around. No matter how tightly you tuck her in, she will still crawl, wriggle and somehow stand. You may have to resort to the usual relaxing techniques like patting, rocking or singing softly to put her back to sleep again. Once your baby has mastered walking during the day, the urge to stand at night will diminish, and she will start a new sleeping pattern. Teething will continue to cause pain in the second year as the eye teeth, one-year-old and two-year-old molars start coming in.
Below are some ways you can care for a 51-week old baby
Your doctor will schedule a check-up around the time your baby turns one-year-old.
Your doctor will measure your baby’s height, weight and head circumference to track her growth progress. He will also ask questions on your baby’s talking, her sleep routine and whether she is crawling or walking just to get an evaluation on her sleep habits, mental and physiological development.
Your baby will need boosters of immunisations she has previously been administered like vaccines for Hepatitis B, DTaP, Polio, Hib, Hepatitis A and the first doses of MMR and chickenpox vaccine.
You can play the following games or activities with our 51-week old baby
You can consult a doctor for your 51-week old infant development for the following
Don’t be worried if your baby isn’t walking by 12 months; some babies need 24 months till they take their first steps. In the meantime, just give her plenty of safe space to experiment.