The Power of Parenting

Friday, 30 July 2010

Emotional Development: Your Baby at Two Months

At two months your baby will show you different moods and emotions. He will also begin to develop some ways to soothe themselves, such as thumb sucking. Emotional Development means the development of a full range of emotions from sad to happy to angry, and learning to deal with them appropriately, and this begins the moment your baby is born. Over time your baby will build self-esteem which will lead to deeper qualities such as sympathy, caring, resiliency, assertiveness and empathy and the ability to rise to life’s challenges.
Typical Skills
  • Shows different moods such as distress with different cries and excitement and delight with small throaty sounds
  • Can quiet himself by sucking his fingers, a pacifier, etc.
  • Expresses contentment when touched and cuddled
  • Able to express discontent, e.g., fusses at loud noises
  • Displays different emotions as seen with peaks of irritability and crying
Emerging Skills
  • Fits her form to yours and relaxes body when held
  • Makes appropriate facial expressions in response to emotions, for example, fear, joy, anger
Comfort, Play & Teach™
 Comfort, Play & Teach™

Comfort
If you do this:
Your Baby will:

 
  • Recognize and respond to your baby’s cues that tell you how he likes to be handled and touched
  • Respond to baby’s cues consistently and appropriately
  • Feel secure and understood
  • Communicate to you more often knowing that you understand his cues
Play
If you do this:
Your Baby will:

 
  • Respond to your baby’s choice to stop an interaction
  • Copy the faces your baby makes
  • Begin to understand that her feelings are important and valued
  • Respond with her own smiles and begin to copy you and others
Teach
If you do this:
Your Baby will:

 
  • Create routines
  • Respond to your baby’s signals in the same way every time
  • Learn to anticipate what comes next
  • Feel secure