FIRST THREE YEARS – Period 1 (0-1 month)
In this period, the mother’s main duty is to provide her baby’s basic needs (such as nutrition, love, touching, cleaning, defecation, sleep) and to care for her baby. to protect her from physical and environmental threats, to establish close emotional and social contact with her baby. While the mother is doing all these, the warm eye contact she makes with the baby, the soft sounds she makes, touching, caressing, hugging, holding her, and the facial expression of the mother during breastfeeding meet the emotional and social needs of the baby.
FIRST THREE YEARS – Period 2 (2-7 months)
The remarkable situation in the second period is the increase in reciprocity between the baby and the caregiver. Awareness of the outside world increases – possibly with increasing visual skills. At about 6 months, visual acuity approaches adult visual acuity. In the first months of life, babies begin to look at the human face selectively. With the experience of looking at the human face, which is done many times every day, the baby becomes able to distinguish different faces. At about 2 months, babies respond to mothers’ loving voices; begins to distinguish emotional responses. Joint attention begins to develop in babies at about 3 months. Joint attention is the ability to coordinate attention with a social partner in relation to a third object or event. In this way, the foundations for development in many areas such as cooperation, language skills and social skills are laid. Different forms of joint attention skills develop between 3-18 months of infancy. Here there is the motivation to share their experiences, interests and pleasures. Usually 9-12. Initiation of joint attention in months is advanced. At about the 5th month, hand, eye and mouth movements become coordinated and the baby gains the ability to extend his hand to an object and bring it to his mouth. Meanwhile, he begins to see his mother and himself as separate persons. With similar games and repetitive life experiences, babies understand that they have a mother whose continuity and certainty has been proven, and they are not adversely affected by their mothers’ short-term absences. A baby under six months old cannot distinguish the familiar face from the stranger. He can smile at anyone who takes care of him and acts. After the sixth month, recognition begins and adopts the mother as a reliable object. As a result, separation anxiety begins and lasts until about the age of three. In the early years, separation from the mother is the most traumatic event for the child.
FIRST THREE YEARS – Period 3 (7-18 months)
In the 7th-9th months, a change is observed in mutual communication, social preference and belonging to the family. In these months, the baby realizes that his own thoughts, feelings, gestures and voices are understood by others. For example, the baby asks for help by looking at the caregiver while pointing at the object in order to obtain an object that he cannot reach. While all this is happening, social preferences begin to be established and become increasingly evident. Separation anxiety (separation anxiety) begins to appear at about 6-8 months, peaks at 14-18 months and gradually decreases after that. In relation to this, stranger anxiety begins to appear in the 8th month, peaks at the 24th month and then gradually decreases. At around 12 months of age, babies learn to walk; this is a new form of being able to act independently; In this way, the child’s world expands. The baby has passed from the state of “horizontal existence” to the state of “vertical existence”. At the end of the first year and in the first half of the second year, babies begin to carry out their research more intentionally. Generally, infants have communicative speech, albeit rudimentary, at 12-18 months. By the twelfth month, many babies know the meaning of a few words and may have about 5-6 expressive (expressive) words. By the time babies reach 18 months, they surprisingly know the meaning of many words and can communicate in single-word sentences. Expressive (expressive) words double to about 10. Melodic and jargon-like speech are similar to inflections; It is observed that they wait their turn during the conversation.
FIRST THREE YEARS – Period 4 (18-36 months)
In the fourth period, it is started to be understood that a symbol represents an object, and this advantage heralds a great increase in language proficiency. At about 18 months, symbolic representations change the cognitive and social world of the baby. Before about 12 months, they begin to remember mental designs of an object and steps regarding object permanence have been taken. With the introduction of symbols into the baby’s world, the basis for thinking with symbols and symbolic and imaginary play is laid. For example, a matchbox drives a car; A doll symbolizes a real doll. The use of words is an indication of a qualitative change in the infant’s interaction with the world and others. The baby’s expressive language capacity increases from about 10 to 50-75 by the age of 18 months to 24 months. Approximately 300 words are observed in a 30-month-old child, and in the 36th month, approximately 500-1000 words are reached and 3-4-word sentences begin to be formed.
Controlling the muscles of walking, voiding and defecation increases the baby’s autonomy. Keeping or letting go of the child’s poop brings the child the ability to choose; reinforces a sense of autonomy. Toilet training begins in the child, who achieves the ability to voluntarily tighten and loosen the external defecation muscles (sphincter) in the mean of 16-18 months, and at the end of the patient, loving and supportive approach of the mother, control of urination and defecation is gained. In the cognitive field, speech in sentences begins to develop and symbolic play begins. In this period, the child who experiences conflict between autonomy and shame-doubt eventually gains willpower (finding the strength to do the right thing in himself) and autonomy.
