It’s laborious to imagine your as soon as tiny new child is now an lively toddler with seemingly boundless power! At 18 months previous, your toddler will proceed to make leaps and bounds of their milestones. Watching them develop brings pleasure and pleasure, however it may possibly additionally result in some questions. This text will cowl what milestones they’ll attain, their feeding and sleep schedule, enjoyable actions to do together with your 18-month-old, and extra to present you a greater thought of what to anticipate.
This month is all about studying. Your toddler will study new phrases, abilities, and methods to precise their feelings. New milestones you possibly can anticipate your 18-month-old to attain embrace:1,2
- Strolling independently
- Climbing on stairs and furnishings
- Copying you doing chores and wanting to assist
- Ingesting from a cup with out a lid
- Scribbling
- Serving to to decorate themselves
- Expressing their feelings by throwing tantrums
- Naming animals and realizing their sounds
By 18 months previous, your toddler’s communication is ever-evolving. Your 18-month-old shall be saying many phrases and following easy instructions. They might begin to title gadgets and animals in footage and title physique elements whenever you level to them, though this milestone is often achieved by 2 years previous.2
With all that working round and exploring, your toddler will develop fairly the urge for food. They’ll want three meals a day and two snacks. You’ll be able to supply these snacks mid-morning and mid-afternoon, in addition to one other one earlier than bedtime if wanted. Your toddler ought to eat their meals with the remainder of the household from their excessive chair or booster chair.3
Along with your toddler’s growing urge for food, supply them a variety of meals to make sure they obtain the correct vitamins. Present them with varied fruits, greens, complete grains, meats, cheeses, and yogurts.4 Toddlers over a yr previous can have complete cow’s milk, fortified soy milk, or breast milk. By 18 months previous, your toddler ought to be ingesting their milk from a cup as a substitute of a bottle and may have 16-24 ounces of milk every day.3 In case your toddler needs some water in the course of the day, restrict the quantity to about 4-8 ounces every day.4
Toddlers can have water at meals or snacks and at any time when they’re thirsty. Milk and water are the principle drinks they need to be ingesting; juice, soda, and caffeinated drinks should not really helpful. For those who determine to present them juice, restrict it to a max of 4 ounces per day and have them drink it in a single sitting. Letting them sip sugary drinks all through the day can result in dental issues and general well being points.12 The exception to this rule is that in the event that they’re sick and never consuming or ingesting properly, you possibly can supply drinks that assist maintain them hydrated and maintain their blood sugars regular, resembling oral rehydration answer or juice, along with water.13
Planning meals and determining portion sizes to your toddler might be worrying, however it doesn’t need to be. Your toddler could eat comparatively small parts in comparison with you, so supply them small quantities and allow them to eat what they need. To assist with meal planning, listed below are a couple of concepts:3
- Breakfast: 1 cup of complete milk with one slice of complete grain bread with peanut butter or one scrambled egg with cheese and sliced bell pepper
- Lunch and dinner: 1 cup of complete milk and a small portion of the household’s meal (Make sure that to incorporate small quantities of greens, proteins, resembling meat, fish, or beans, and complete grains, resembling pasta, bread, or brown rice)
- Snacks: 1 cup of milk or water with one container of yogurt or one piece of toast with peanut butter, or whole-grain crackers with cheese or a couple of items of fruit
Now that your toddler is eighteen months previous, chances are you’ll marvel about their sleep schedule and if their sleep habits will change. Their sleep habits will possible mirror their habits from months prior. They’ll nonetheless want between 11 and 14 hours of sleep every day and a two- to three-hour afternoon nap.5
Despite the fact that your 18-month-old’s sleep habits will keep fairly constant all through this yr, there could also be occasions once they expertise a little bit of sleep regression. Sleep regression is a time when your toddler has a change to their sleeping habits, normally having issue falling or staying asleep. Quite a lot of issues may cause it, however the most typical causes embrace:6
There’s little doubt that sleep regression is tough, however fortunately, there are methods to assist your toddler sleep higher throughout these occasions, relying on your loved ones’s sleep preferences. These embrace:6
- Sustaining a constant routine and bedtime
- Avoiding display screen time
- Having your toddler sleep of their crib
- Placing them to mattress whereas they’re drowsy however not but asleep
- Permitting them to fuss for a couple of minutes earlier than comforting them
- Offering them with consolation and reassurance whereas they’re nonetheless of their crib
- Ensuring they’ve entry to their consolation gadgets, resembling their blanket, all through the night time
Preserving a constant schedule will give your baby construction and assist with intervals of sleep regression. At 18 months previous, your toddler’s every day schedule will revolve round meal and nap time. They may take one afternoon nap that lasts for about two to a few hours. This nap sometimes begins round 1:00 p.m. Setting a bedtime round 7:30 p.m. remains to be acceptable at this age, permitting for the really helpful quantity of nighttime sleep.5
Your toddler ought to eat their meals alongside the remainder of the household. Every household has completely different wants, so schedule your meals round the very best time for yours. Along with scheduled meal occasions, your toddler will want not less than two snacks every day. These snacks sometimes occur between breakfast and lunch, between lunch and dinner, and typically earlier than bedtime.3
At 18 months previous, your toddler can have one other well-child go to to test their bodily well being, growth, and weight and to replace their vaccines.11 Your physician will be certain your 18-month-old is on observe to realize a median of three to five kilos of weight and three inches between 12 and 24 months previous.7
Throughout this well-child go to, your physician will decide in case your toddler wants vaccines. The vaccines your toddler could obtain embrace:11
- DTaP (diphtheria, tetanus, and pertussis), if not given at 15 months
- Hepatitis A
- Annual COVID and flu shot
In case your toddler is excessive danger, they might additionally obtain the meningococcal and Respiratory Syncytial Virus (RSV) vaccines. Your physician will let you recognize in case your toddler falls into this class.8
Even with a well-child check-up, your toddler is nearly assured to expertise childhood sicknesses. Toddlers can have six to eight colds a yr, extra in the event that they’re in daycare, so realizing methods to deal with them at dwelling is important. Your toddler can’t have over-the-counter cough and chilly medicines or aspirin, so maintain a provide of Tylenol and ibuprofen to deal with any pains or fevers.9 Observe the package deal instructions or test together with your physician for the correct dosages.
Along with the widespread chilly, your toddler could expertise a number of different widespread childhood sicknesses. These embrace:10
- Ear infections: These trigger ache, fever, irritability, and issue sleeping.
- Bronchiolitis: This will result in swelling of the airways and extreme mucus, leading to coughing, fatigue, and hassle respiration.
- Respiratory Syncytial Virus (RSV): RSV causes gentle cold-like signs in most kids. Nevertheless, it may possibly trigger an extreme cough, hassle respiration, and pneumonia in different youngsters.
- Hand, foot, and mouth illness: This sometimes causes sores to the mouth, arms, and toes. It may be painful and make it troublesome for the kid to eat.
- Abdomen flu: This causes nausea, vomiting, and diarrhea.
Your toddler will possible get well from these sicknesses at dwelling with out issue, however some signs want fast medical consideration:9
- Extreme sleepiness with little to no facial expressions
- Very troublesome to console
- Weak or no cry
- Refuses food and drinks or solely takes a couple of small sips or bites for greater than a day
- Darkish yellow urine, no tears, or a dry mouth
Name 911 in case your baby experiences any of the next:
- Excessive hassle respiration
- Irregular coloring resembling grey, blue, or very pale
- Lack of consciousness
Your toddler is changing into an increasing number of verbal each day. Speaking, singing, and studying to them is one of the simplest ways to encourage language growth. Listed below are another actions to advertise your 18-month-old’s growth and independence:1,2
- Ask them easy questions and permit them to reply. For instance, “What shade is the ball?”
- Give them easy decisions, resembling permitting them to choose between two completely different pairs of footwear.
- Restrict display screen time for each your toddler and your self.
- Discuss to them at eye degree.
- Train them the names of their physique elements, like their nostril, eyes, ears, and mouth.
- Roll a ball backwards and forwards with them or push a toy automotive backwards and forwards.
- Learn to them and permit them to babble alongside. Level out objects on the web page and have them let you know what these are.
- Give them faux toys to play with, like a toy broom or child doll.
- Train them methods to say “please” and “thanks.”
Along with your toddlers’ ever-increasing power and curiosity, preserving them protected is a prime precedence. Sustaining a protected surroundings that permits your toddler to study and discover with out the danger of harm is vital. To assist craft a protected dwelling, implement the next security requirements:2
- Set up window guards on all home windows.
- Set up gates on the prime and backside of all stairs.
- Set up cupboard locks on all decrease cupboards and drawers.
- Set up bathroom seat locks.
- Set up outlet covers on all unused retailers.
- Safe all cords out of attain.
- Preserve all drugs and cleansing options out of attain.
- Preserve all weapons and ammunition locked up, and maintain weapons unloaded.
- Supervise your toddler round all water, together with bathtubs, swimming pools, rivers, lakes, streams, and ponds. Keep inside arm’s size always.
- Use a rear-facing automotive seat.
Seeing your once-little new child develop right into a toddler is a joyous and adventurous time for all. Toddlers are regularly exploring their world and determining their half in it. They’re studying methods to work together with their surroundings by watching the way you work together with yours. Serving to them learn to work together with the world appropriately is likely one of the most rewarding elements of parenthood.
