Your baby: Month 14
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Article originally in
Parent24
What's the baby up to?
Growth points
From now on the rate of growth is more even than in the first year. Physical skills develop from head to toe and from the centre of the body outward, so children learn gross motor skills like walking before they learn fine motor skills like eating yoghurt without getting it in their hair.
Month 14 Milestones
• Most babies of this age are able to:
• Stand well
• Take a few steps unassisted
• Eat with fingers
• Empty and refill containers with objects
• Say three or more words other than “mama” or “dada”
Other stuff to think about
Hitting the bottle
How much you should be offering your baby to drink will vary, depending on the weather and how active she has been. If a baby drinks too much he may not want to eat later, so let him decide when to push the bottle or cup away.
Milk
• At a year old, formula-fed babies can switch to full cream cow's milk. It is important to use full cream milk, because children under two years old need fat for brain development.
• You can keep breastfeeding your one-year-old for as long as both mother and baby are happy with the arrangement.
• Your toddler can join you at the table for meals, the best way to learn about mealtime as family time.
• Your 12 – 24 month toddler can drink 2 cups of milk per day as part of his 4 – 5 servings of daily diary intake.
Water
To satisfy your toddler’s thirst he needs about a cup of water a day.
Juice
You can start giving your baby a small amount of 100% fruit or vegetable juices without extra sugar, colourants and preservatives. Dilute with water for babies this age. Your 14-month-old may drink ½ to 1 cup diluted juice per day.
Other drinks
Tea, coffee, fizzy cooldrinks, sweetened drinks and sports drinks should not be offered to babies. The only exception is rooibos tea, which is not a substitute for milk, but does make a great cool or warm extra drink.
Go back to the complete list of Baby week-by-week updates.