Khaberni - In her recent article on "The Conversation," Dr. İlim Altuntaş, a researcher in the field of speech and language development at Western Sydney University, says that infants are like "little detectives," continually gathering clues about the world around them; "If you ever notice your child staring at you while you speak, it's because he's not only picking up sounds, but also learning how to make them."
Altuntaş explains that "anyone who has spent time with an infant knows how difficult it is to predict what happens in the first year," as a child might seem to grasp something new one week, and then seem to lose that understanding the next. This often worries parents and prompts them to wonder: Did my child forget? Did something go wrong? Believing that their child's progress isn't following a normal trajectory. This underscores the importance of parents understanding the details of this stage, which can give their child a stronger start in life.
Why focus on the first year?
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in the United States, knowing the emotional and social development stages of children from birth up to the age of one "gives your children a good start in life." In the first year, children learn to focus their vision, reach out their hands, explore and recognize objects around them; this includes their cognitive development or brain growth, and learning memory, language, thinking, and reasoning.
Language learning is not limited to making sounds (babbling) or saying "mama" and "dada," but also involves "listening and understanding and knowing the names of people and objects," an essential part of language growth. This is confirmed by Dr. Samantha Durant, a lecturer in speech and language therapy for the "BBC"; she explains: "In the first year, a child acquires a lot of basic skills, which they later use to develop other skills"; for example, children learn the sounds that make up words, before mastering speech and writing.
Learning speech in infants is an amazing process
In efforts to reveal the ways in which the brains of infants create an ideal environment for language learning, a study led by Dr. İlim Altuntaş, published in early 2025, indicated that "by the age of 4 months, infants are capable of learning speech sound patterns by linking what they heard with what they saw."
Researchers concluded that in this amazing process that begins at 4 months, children were not only recalling individual sounds, "but they were understanding how to pronounce sounds, whether with lips or with the tip of the tongue."
By their first birthday, infants start precisely tuning their ears to the sounds of their mother tongue in a process called "perceptive tuning," as if their brain is filtering out a large array of sounds to focus on the most significant ones, and between 6 months and 12 months, they begin focusing on the sounds they frequently hear. However, the study found that children at the age of 4 months actually learn how to pronounce sounds "long before this exact focus begins."
In March, another study led by Dr. Altuntaş indicated that between the seventh and tenth month, children "become more sensitive to the language sounds they hear daily, and they also begin recognizing common words and associating sounds with meaning."
Each child's growth differs from others
There is a fine line between caring for a child's development stages in their first year, and comparing them to other children's stages. Dr. Samantha Durant says that parents should not overly focus on developmental stages because each child's growth may differ from others; "Some children might master a skill early, and some may master it later."
Therefore, there's no need to worry if your child hasn’t shown a particular skill after a certain age; your pediatrician can help you understand the nature of your child's growth.
Kerry Bennett, a health visitor at an NHS-affiliated foundation, says it’s important not to compare children's growth stages as they vary from one child to another. She adds: "I believe we live in a culture of excessively monitoring children, and we always assume that at this age we must do this, and at that age we must do that." In her experience, she says she sees parents intensely focused on whether their child is crawling, but "when you visit the child, you see that they are growing beautifully."
Returning to it, Samantha clarifies that just because a child isn't growing at the same rate as other children, "doesn't necessarily mean there is cause for concern; it might simply be achieving another stage faster." She adds: "The most important thing is not to compare, and not to judge a child based on achieving a certain goal, but to look at the whole picture."
Dr. Altuntaş also found in her research that "children do not learn regularly, and if a child doesn't show a clear response at a certain age, it doesn’t mean they have stopped learning or missed an important step; findings show that these changes can mask an ongoing learning process, not just empty moments or loss of knowledge."
10 tips for the growth and safety of your infant
Here are the most important tips to ensure your child's safety and growth during their first year according to experts:
• Talk to your child, Dr. Samantha says that talking, reading, and singing to infants, soothes them and increases their chances of learning language, recommending the use of "slower speech with a high tone and a sing-song rhythm"; and narrating details of the day to them, like saying: What will we do now? I'll make a cup of tea, I'll put the water in the kettle; it's very beneficial and makes it easier for them to distinguish the characteristics of language and its sounds.
• Spend time cuddling and holding them, to help them feel cared for and secure. In this stage, children form bonds of love and trust with others, and holding, cuddling, and playing with them, "forms a foundation for their future interactions with parents and others."
• Play with them and watch closely for signs of tiredness, and let them take a break from playing.
• Be wary of the pincer grasp; according to Kerry Bennett, children from the age of 9 months start developing the pincer grasp (a fine motor skill where the child uses their thumb and index finger to pick things up), which requires attention to what small objects they find and put in their mouths.
• Protect them from choking, by cutting their food into small bites, and not allowing them to play with small objects easily swallowed; and do not let them play with anything that covers their face.
• Never shake them, as infants' neck muscles are very weak and can't yet support their heads; shaking them may cause brain damage, or can be fatal. Try not to keep them in a swing, stroller, or rocking chair for long periods.
• Keep them away from passive smoking, and do not allow anyone to smoke in your home.
• Do not carry hot liquids or food near them or while holding them.
• Always put them on their back to sleep, to prevent sudden infant death syndrome.
• Make sure they receive all necessary vaccinations to protect them from serious illnesses.
