16-month-old: Physical, motor, cognitive and emotional development

This is an automatically translated article.

The article was professionally consulted by Doctor of Pediatrics - Neonatology - Vinmec Nha Trang International General Hospital.

By 16 months, children's hand skills are relatively mature, especially grasping skills. Baby has learned to move objects from one place to another and not by throwing anymore. Baby can walk alone, walking while dragging the toy behind.

1. What can a 16-month-old baby do?

When the child is “16 months old, what can a child do?” This is the question of many parents, in fact, at this stage, children will love to hear you sing nursery rhymes and songs or try to sing along with their parents with their meager vocabulary. 16-month-old babies will learn to speak and say about 3 words, many babies even say 15-20 words.
It is easy to guess your baby's preferences because young children tend to like repeating certain actions.
While parents may be surprised at what a 16-month-old can do during this time, babies won't be very patient. Sometimes, little angels easily cry if they are not happy about something.

2. Physical development of 16-month-old children

Children's hand skills are relatively mature, especially grasping skills. Baby has learned to move objects from one place to another without the act of throwing.
Some children are already able to run, but running is only slightly faster than walking. Children really want to help their parents, so please ask your baby to do many light things such as giving tissues to you, taking keys from the table... Children will surely be very happy to help because then they see I'm useful.
You will be surprised when you kick a ball towards your child and see the child respond by passing the ball back to you. Even so, the ball may only travel a distance and not reach the destination the child wants.
Baby develops and practices climbing, running, jumping, grasping, throwing skills more and more proficiently every day.

3. Motor development of 16-month-old children

Here are some motor skills commonly found in 16-month-old babies, marking quite obvious physical development.
Climbs objects, can climb out of cots by himself Learns to walk alone or at least can grab onto objects and walk Can walk backwards and in circles Can try to kick a ball with low accuracy Able to run Crawls up stairs, can walk up stairs with help Can dance Intentionally when releasing objects from hands, especially near 18 months of age Use spoon or fork Undress yourself; raise arms and legs when dressed Can turn pages Can doodle Able to throw objects high

4. Cognitive development of 16-month-old children

16 to 18 months is the time for the next stage in cognitive development: you will see the change from copying actions to symbolic play. This means that a 16-month-old baby can pick up the phone on his own to make calls pretending to use blocks or a spoon as a phone to make calls.
As said, this is the birth of imagination. Baby now has the power of mind to imagine things that aren't really there and play with her ever-rich and incredibly busy imagination.
But even though your baby's mind may be growing stronger, his attention span is still very short. Usually, toddlers this age can only concentrate for a few minutes at a time and are easily distracted.
So don't try to force me to concentrate - sit still and do nothing - because I haven't developed to this level yet. Play and do things with your baby in a nutshell.
When reading – baby may run around or not pay attention. The way to make it more interesting is to have your baby transform into a character, pretending to be a character's voice in a book, changing the sound will attract her to participate and focus her attention more.
And don't worry why your baby can't focus attention because everything will develop gradually. At this point, your baby may be more interested in pointing to pictures and commenting on them. Follow her lead, and let yourself be swept away by her enthusiasm.
If you want your child to instill reading from an early age, try to read more often instead of longer to reach your target minutes.

5. Social and emotional development

16 months old baby starts to keep his toys, does not like to share his favorite toys, even the attention of his mother. Your baby's focus remains on herself and her needs first and foremost. So don't worry if your baby doesn't give up his toys easily even if he doesn't play at first.
The birth of imagination also means that your baby can begin to imagine how other people feel. In other words, your baby will begin to understand emotions and empathy.
Here the mother will play an important role by starting to label the baby's emotions by saying things like: “you are crying, are you sad” and “oh you are smiling, you are having fun”. By understanding how she feels about herself and using her new powers of imagination, she can begin to understand that others feel the same way.
This is the time when your baby has a short attention span and attention, so he is also very quick to laugh, cry quickly, get angry quickly, and also quickly switch his attention to other things.
16-month-old children need 5mg of elemental zinc/day to eat well, reach the correct height and weight and exceed the standard. Zinc plays a role in affecting most biological processes taking place in the body, especially the breakdown of nucleic acids, proteins... Organs in the body when zinc deficiency can lead to a There are a number of diseases such as neurological disorders, irritability, etc. Therefore, parents need to learn about the role of zinc and guide them to appropriate zinc supplements for their children.
In addition to zinc, parents also need to supplement their children with other important vitamins and minerals such as lysine, chromium, B vitamins,... errands.
Please regularly visit Vinmec.com website and update useful information to take care of your baby and family.