PHYSICAL NEEDS of the Baby

PHYSICAL NEEDS 

On the average, a baby will gain seven ounces a week during the first three months of life; then about four ounces a week (less regularly)" until the age of six months; and (still less regularly) about two ounces a week until nine months. But this, it must be remembered, is average; each baby has his own rate of growth. If your baby fails to gain properly, your doctor will find out what needs to be done-perhaps supplementary feeding if you are nursing, perhaps a change of formula. 

How the Average Child Develops At 2 years of age, the average child weighs 28 pounds and is 34 to 35 inches tall. He has about 16 teeth. He sleeps about 14 to 16 hours of the 24. He has been able to walk, "holding on," since he was about 12 months old and by himself since he was 18 months old. Now he can run, after a fashion, as well as walk. The dozen words he could say when he was 18 months old have increased to 200, and he uses them in phrases or short sentences.

He has a fair degree of bowel and bladder control in the daytime (girls do better at night than do boys). At 3, the child has passed through a certain amount of turmoil mani- festing itself in temper tantrums, negativism, and s'o on, and is in a rela- tively stable period, He has all his "baby" teeth (20), speaks in sentences (short), practically dresses and toilets himself, and even "helps" around the house. 

His daily diet might consist of 1/3 cup juice, 1/2 cup stewed or fresh fruit, 1/2 cup cereal, about 1/2 cup meat, 1 baked potato, 1/2 cup vegetable (cooked and raw), 1 egg, 2-3 pieces of toast, 3 teaspoons- ful of butter or margarine, 2 small cookies or some other dessert such as junket, and between a pint and quart of milk. For the average child, the years from 4 to 7 mark a transition from dependence of babyhood and beginning of the independent school years.

Outdoor activity increases, too. Between 4 and 5, a child develops more self-reliant eating habits; he should be encouraged to eat a variety of foods. Between 4 and 7, his legs and arms grow proportionately more than the rest of the body and be- come more slender. On the average, there is a gain in height of 2-1/2 to 3 inches a year. At 5, the average height for both boys and girls will be about 43 inches; by 7, the average for boys is 49 inches and 48 for girls. On the average, a 5-year-old boy will weigh about 41 pounds and a girl, 40. At 6, the average for boys is 48 pounds, and for girls 46; and at 7, . about 54 pounds for boys and 52 for girls. At 5, a child needs only one or two naps a week if any, and by 6 seldom takes any at all. Usually, between 4 and 7, he will sleep 11 hours a night.