The first few months and weeks are a very important time for you and your baby. Spending a little extra time each day to hug, love, kiss, smile at, and give reassurance to your five week old baby goes a long way for your baby's healthy development and growth. At the same time, it's a wonderful opportunity for you to bond with your little one. Crying babies is all a part of parenting, and there is no escape from it. We simply have to learn to deal with it the best we can, and always make our best effort to calm down a crying baby. Research suggests that you should go and comfort a crying baby within one to two minutes after they start crying. When a baby cries, they are usually communicating a need to you. Perhaps your baby is hungry, has a dirty diaper, or is simply bored, and wants some love and attention from you.
A baby at 5 weeks old may be smiling at you when you smile at them, and they are able to recognize your faces. By this time, your baby will probably have tried to "talk" to you by making cute cooing sounds. When your baby tries to "talk" to you, always respond back and talk to them. Engage them in a gentle conversations, and it really doesn't matter that they don't quite understand you at this point. This is simply good practice, and promotes healthy baby development.
Baby at 5 Weeks Old
At five weeks old, your baby will be alert for around 2 to 4 hours each day, and during these alert periods, communicating with your baby will be a time well spent. During this time, you'll see that your baby recognizes you, and knows your voice. If you smile at your baby, he or she will usually smile right back at you, and who could be a better person than dad and mom for babies to practice smiling on?
Aside from your voices that your baby has became familiar with, he or she will also know other noises and sounds. Sudden, loud sounds will startle your baby, and could make them cry. Your baby also becomes aware of other common household sounds such as a dog barking, vacuuming sounds, door bells, television sounds and phone rings. Some of these sounds may be pleasant for your baby, and he or she may kick their feet or make cooing sounds at it. Other sounds may not be so enjoyable for your baby, and may make them cry. Pay attention to these types of details, and you'll known how to respond better to your baby's needs.
Week 5 baby development should continue with some very short periods of supervised tummy time. This continues to help your child practice and develop important motor skills, and also helps to build some neck strength. Most babies tend to not enjoy tummy time so much at first. Certainly with all of our own children, they really didn't like being put on their bellies for too long. The first half a minute or minute might be okay, but after a short while, it gets tiring for the baby and they start complaining. You'll know. This is why it's important to always supervise your baby's tummy play time, and also important to keep it short and brief.
For stimulating your five week old baby development, TVs, movies, or DVDs are absolutely not necessary. All that you really need, is to pay attention to your baby's alert periods throughout the day, and during these alert periods, talk to, read books to, read nursery rhymes to, and cuddle and love your baby.
Watch a 2 year old toddler read, and see how this child's reading skill develops at 3 and 4 years old.