Understanding Baby Developmental Milestones (Zero to One-Year-Olds) | Episode 7 SHICHIDA Shining Stars Podcast

Danh: Hello, everybody, and welcome to another episode of the SHICHIDA Shining Stars Podcast, a podcast where we address all the questions parents have about early childhood education. My name is Mr. Danh, and with me today is a very special guest. She is the curriculum manager for SHICHIDA Australia. Please welcome to the show, Caz. Hi Caz!

Caz: Hi Danh. Thanks for having me today.

Danh: Thank you for joining us. Caz is here today to help us understand more about early childhood developmental milestones. Kids grow up so fast sometimes it is hard to keep track of where they are in their learning and indeed where they’re supposed to be in their development. So Caz is going to help us a bit with that.

So Caz, when do children start learning?

Caz: Well, naturally from birth, but actually if we’re really being honest, babies start learning in the womb, you know, they start to recognize their parent’s voices, they register music, they can pick up a lot of things in the womb as well. And I guess we still don’t know to what extent, but obviously once they’re born, the little brains are absorbing information using all of their senses. So sight, hearing, smell, touch and even taste. And it’s really important that we stimulate these senses to develop their little brains as well.

Danh: Yeah, sometimes we do forget about the other senses, but definitely when they’re babies, obviously they’re not able to speak, but they’re still making noises, they’re still feeling things with their hands and all of these senses are kind of picking up data that they’re storing away for the future, yeah?

Caz: Yeah, that’s right.

Danh: And you did mention that, you know, this even starts inside the womb and SHICHIDA recognizes that. I think in Japan they do have a prenatal program. I think there is a prenatal program coming soon to SHICHIDA Australia as well. So look forward to that, yeah?

Caz: That’s right. Yeah, we are pushing for it here.

Danh: But let’s talk about babies. So babies from zero to, let’s say one year old. What’s going on in their learning?

Caz: Well, it’s a big period of growth, as you know. It’s almost the fastest period of development and it’s really known as the Doing-Phase. So, you know, they start as newborns, but by the time they’re one, they’re really starting to sit up first with support but then by themselves, they start rolling, then they start crawling. So lots of movement and they get into everything. They start grasping lots of things, first with their full hands and then with they like the pincer grip and being able to pick up little things, they start to self-feed, you know, so many things cognitively. Putting a lot of things in their mouths, exploring food, responding to names, you know, even recognizing simple phrases and instructions. And then, you know, as they get closer to one, of course, starting to talk.

Things like object permanence starts to develop, which is where they can understand that people and things still exist even if they can’t see them, which is why you see a lot of dropping off the side of the highchair.

Danh: Okay. That’s interesting. Yeah, I’ve never really thought about that before. So before that phase kicks in, I guess it’s normal for kids that young to just – if they’re not seeing anything, it just doesn’t exist, right?

Caz: Yeah, exactly. They don’t know where things are. So it is something that kicks in a bit as well, which is why around six months, I guess they love playing peekaboo because that’s when that’s sort of starting to develop.

So with peekaboo, you’re hiding something. It’s like, Well, where is everything? I can’t see anything. And then all of a sudden, it’s there. So it’s sort of leading on to object permanence where they haven’t quite learned that the parents are still there. They’re just hiding behind the handkerchiefs. So it’s a fun little exploration for them.

Danh: That’s really interesting. And you did mention putting things in their mouth kind of thing. So yeah, anybody that’s kind of interacted with a baby at this age, they know that everything’s going in the mouth.

Caz: Everything!

Danh: Is that them trying to explore like taste or is it more that they just recognize everything as food or why do they do that?

Caz: I guess there’s a few reasons why they do it. It is taste, but it’s actually one of the ways that they’re learning about texture. So because their reflex is to put things in their mouth, because that’s how they eat, that’s one of the ways that they explore. So they see an object that might feel hard in their hands. And the instinct is just to let’s just, you know, have a little feel in the mouth, see what it feels like when I bite down on it. Is it hard or soft to bite down on as well because it’s the very orally-based at that age as well.

Danh: Okay. And physically there are still a lot of milestones like you mentioned grabbing things with their hands but also their fingers as well and also starting to sit. So when do they start trying to sit?

Caz: <chuckles> Well, I’m laughing because my own twins have a few little developmental delays, so it could be anywhere between four months to even eight months, they start to pull themselves up to sit.

Danh: Okay.

Caz: It can be later as well. And I think it’s really important to stress that when we talk about milestones today, whatever time period I say is sort of medium, right?

Danh: Sure, it’s not a hard deadline.

Caz: Yeah. So I don’t want anyone listening to be concerned that their child isn’t doing this yet because it will come, it will happen. I think a lot of parents, especially first-time mums – like I am – get really hung up on the fact that my child’s not doing this at this point. And I think it’s just really, you know, important to remember that most kids – and there are exceptions obviously – but most kids will catch up by the time they’re three.

Danh: Sure. And no children are different as well. So they’ll excel in some things and then need a little bit of extra help with other things. That’s perfectly natural.

Caz: Absolutely.

Danh: At this age what role do you recommend that parents take in helping their children to achieve these milestones? Should they really be like doing, for example, sitting up exercises with their babies or…

Caz: I mean, these things are going to come no matter what you do, but of course you want to give them the help and the leg up and the importance of tummy time is the first major thing that you need to do to build up their strength and their muscles. So you need to be doing the tummy time lots and lots of tummy time first.

Danh: Sorry, for those that aren’t familiar with tummy time like me. What is tummy time?

Caz: So tummy time is when you put the baby on the floor on their tummy so that they are learning to lift their head up and push up with their arms, which is strengthening the head, the neck muscles, the chest muscles, the arm muscles as well.

Danh: Okay

Caz: So you need to build those muscles and play on the floor and do lots of those tummy times, because then once they’re quite strong with their head, the next step will be rolling, which takes a different set of muscles. So that’s another step towards sitting. And then once they’re really strong doing that, they might start crawling, but they’ll also try and start to sit up and use those core muscles to sit up.

So if you haven’t done a lot of tummy time, often kids will be a little bit delayed in doing these things, like sitting and crawling because they haven’t built those muscles. So obviously doing lots of tummy time with them to begin with is extremely important. So definitely doing that to help them. But then, yeah, sitting them up – and it can just be sitting up on the lap or sitting in the floor between the legs as well. With support of course. Or the highchair. Normally around 4 to 6 months, again, depending is when you start looking at maybe putting them in the highchair.

I think the guideline recommends starting food at about six months and that’s usually when those muscles have developed enough that they can hold themselves up to be able to eat as well. But there’s lots of things you can do in a highchair that’s not food related. If you didn’t want to start with solids yet, you can put them in the highchair and just have little sensory toys to play with. And that’s still helping develop the sitting.

Danh: Yeah. And I guess that would also help with fine motor skills as well, grasping big objects first and then reducing the size. Is that something we also cover in the classes for our babies?

Caz: We absolutely do. So we start our baby program at six months, which again is around the time that they should be able to see that with a bit of support, but can hold their head up so that they can see in class. And we do a lot of fine motor skills training in the baby classes. A lot of picking up objects and dropping them in containers and taking things out of little spots as well. So they’re using their little pincer grips. We start this really early as well because there is a link between the part of the brain that uses fine motor skills and language development.

Danh: Oh okay. So there’s a link between fine motor skills and promoting language development. That’s interesting.

Caz: It’s in the same part of the brain.

Danh: So would you say that a lot of language development happens during this period?

Caz: Well, as you know, part of our program at this age is very big on input. So I would even say that language development probably happens even in the womb.

Don’t hold me to that. But definitely once they’re born, input language. Talking to your baby is very important because that is already starting to input into their brain words, that they might not be able to make sense of, but it does come out. And I have a really funny story on this because my twins attend SHICHIDA and they’ve been coming since six months of age and they love the Hello Song.

And I swear that’s because I used to have to sing it while teaching while I was pregnant. Yeah, they know it really well.

Danh: That makes sense.

Caz: The second they hear that song, they know it’s time for class and we’re ready to go. I was never sceptical of language input being important, obviously, but I didn’t really realize the extent of it until Claudia started talking.

And one of her first words was “Triangle.”

Danh: Okay.

Caz: It’s such an unusual – you know, aside from ‘Mum’ and ‘Dad’.

Danh: Yeah, it wouldn’t be most baby’s first words, right? Triangle.

Caz: Yes, she did start with mum and dad, but then all of a sudden triangle. She points at triangles when we go out and everywhere. I don’t – it must be her favorite shape. It’s triangle, triangle, triangle. And that’s all SHICHIDA input. Shape input, singing the song, all the words like. So that’s obviously stuck from before she could talk.

Danh: That’s so cool. I guess that’s one of the good things about SHICHIDA is that we input such a variety of vocabulary. You really don’t know what’s going to stick with them.

And I think the fact that you were teaching while you were pregnant with them and that speaks to how important even the prenatal program would be as well once we get it running.

Caz: I agree, because the one thing that I’ve noticed with both of them is they just adore the SHICHIDA songs over anything else. So we non-SHICHIDA kids songs. They’re like, yeah, this is okay. But the second it’s a SHICHIDA song and it’s ones that they’ve heard, but it’s even ones that I play to them that I might have taught with while they’re in the womb. The attention is instant and they’re smiling, they’re dancing, they’re trying to clap and sing along to it.

So, you know, songs that I didn’t do when I was pregnant or didn’t do in those early two months with them, they’ve got no interest in it. But because my SHICHIDA brain has always got those songs in it, they’re the ones that they’ve been exposed to since well before birth, but especially after birth. They’re the ones they’re attracted to.

Danh: Yeah, definitely. The more familiar that kids are with something, the more willing they are to participate and the more excited they get when they hear it, yeah?

Caz: Yeah, that’s right.

Danh: Okay. So aside from language development, like what other kind of cognitive milestones can we speak to during this baby period?

Caz: Okay, so another set of milestones is emotional and social.

Around six months to one year old, they start showing fear and anxiety over people or situations that might not have bothered them before. So the stranger danger sort of kicks in. They’re looking at your reactions to people as well, picking up on your emotions. Do you like this person? Is this person a safe person or do you not know them or like them?

We talked about object permanence before. They start to cling or cry when you leave them and they’re very happy to see you return. They start to read other people’s emotions and they purposely start playing with toys as well.

I did want to make a note here about kids crying in class at this age because this is something that comes up in a baby and told the class was a lot about kids coming in and just being hysterical and crying.

And this is actually very normal because it’s a new environment. They don’t know what’s going to happen. If they’ve been going to childcare, then the expectation is they’re going to be left there by their parents and they probably find going to childcare now because they’re used to it. But this is a new place. And are you going to leave me here or what’s happening?

And so they get very scared and it stresses a lot of parents out. And I think it’s very important to let parents know that this is a very normal thing and it will get better. Once you’ve come a few weeks, they will settle into the class and they will begin to love the class because you’re in the class with them. So it’s a good bonding moment.

Danh: Yeah, generally that does happen quite quickly as well. As long as we’re consistent about bringing the kids to class and on time as well, because there are a lot of activities that we do at the start of class to settle the kids in and kind of get them into that routine of going to a SHICHIDA class.

Again, it’s about familiarity, right? Once they’re familiar with how classes go and what the environment is like, then they feel a lot more comfortable.

Caz: Oh, absolutely. And that by the time they’re four and they’re matured and they’re independent enough, they’re ready for the parents to be out of the class.

Danh: Yeah. And usually parents are ready to be out of the classes by that point.

But definitely the bonding experience is something that can’t go overlooked as well. They aren’t a lot of programs where the parent is allowed to participate in the class with the kids. So yeah, definitely making the use of those 50-minute classes and really bonding with your child and learning together, it’s like it’s not really something that you can really put a price on. It’s quite precious.

Caz: Yeah, absolutely. And I want to add to that as well. Like you get that really good 50-minutes of bonding in the class, but you’re also able to see what we do in class and take it home and do all the things at home that reinforce all the concepts and the ideas and have those bonding moments at home.

Because you’re doing something and you’re engaging together in things.

Danh: 100%. All right. Thank you so much for talking us through these learning milestones for the younger kids. I definitely have a better understanding now of like the progression of development for young kids and a lot of what you said, like, I’ve been able to see it in the kids that I teach and now I finally understand, like how their brains are working a little bit more. So thank you for that.

Caz: No problem.

Danh: We’ll have another episode later down the line to talk about some of the older kids and their developmental milestones. But for now, guys, remember everybody, your baby is learning and absorbing information from day one, so it’s never too early to start supporting their learning. The SHICHIDA Program is a weekly 50-minute learning program using fun brain boosting techniques for children Age 0 to 9.

Each class accelerates your child’s development by providing the vital elements for them to thrive and excel. For more information on how SHICHIDA Program has been helping parents and kids get an early start on education visit www.shichida.com.au. You can enter the coupon code FUN50 to receive a 50% discount on your first lesson.

Alternatively, you can follow us on Instagram @shichidaaustralia. You can join our Facebook group to be part of the conversation. You can subscribe to our YouTube channel to get instant access to a wealth of parenting and early childhood education videos. Please join us next week as we invite Angie on to talk to us about getting a head start on reading and writing.

But for now, thank you so much for listening and thank you again Caz for joining us.

Caz: Thanks for having me.

Danh: Until next time. Bye bye.