After day 365
Tomorrow your baby turns one. A year ago they could not lift their head or focus on your face. Now they know your voice, your smell, your jokes and your routines, and they have learned more in twelve months than they will in any other year of their life. So have you.
The first birthday
There is no right way to mark it. Some families throw a party; many keep it small, because a one-year-old is easily overwhelmed by noise and crowds and may well sleep through the cake. A quiet morning, a favourite food, a walk somewhere you went in the early weeks, a photo in the same spot as their first: all of these count. The day is as much about you as about your baby. You got through the newborn nights, the worry, the learning. That deserves marking.
What changes in the second year
Between one and two, babies become toddlers in the full sense. Most will walk well by about 18 months, and many will run, climb and try to escape. Words come slowly at first and then quickly: many children have around 50 words by their second birthday and start putting two together. They begin to pretend, to copy what you do around the house, and to want to do things themselves.
They also start to feel big emotions they cannot yet manage. Tantrums usually appear somewhere in the second year. They are not bad behaviour or a sign of poor parenting; they are a brain learning to handle frustration. The calm, gentle guidance you began in the first year, naming feelings, staying close, setting limits kindly and firmly, is exactly what helps.
Some practical things carry on or change:
Food and drink: your toddler eats family meals with you, three meals and two or three snacks a day. Whole cow's milk (or a suitable fortified alternative, if your child's doctor agrees) as a drink, about 500 ml (2 cups) a day at most, alongside water. Breastfeeding can carry on for as long as you both want.
Sleep: most toddlers move from two naps to one somewhere between about 12 and 18 months. Keep the bedtime routine going; it is one of the most protective habits you have.
Safety: a walking, climbing toddler needs a home that is checked again at their height. Keep the car seat rear-facing for as long as the seat allows. Drowning remains a leading danger: stay within arm's reach near any water.
Checkups and vaccines: keep going to the routine checks at the ages your local schedule sets. They are where development, hearing, vision, growth and teeth are checked, and where you can ask anything.
Teeth: brush twice a day with a smear of fluoride toothpaste, and see a dentist if you have not yet.
Screens: under 18 months, video calls with family are fine; other screen time is best avoided. After that, a little high-quality content watched together is fine, but nothing replaces talking, reading and play.
Looking after yourself beyond the first year
Recovery from pregnancy and birth does not end at six weeks, or even at a year. If you still have pelvic floor problems, pain with sex, back pain, low mood, anxiety or exhaustion that does not lift, these are treatable, and it is never too late to ask for help. Your own health is part of your child's health. Look back, too, at how far you have come. The person who carried, birthed or welcomed this baby a year ago did not know what you know now. You learned on the job, through nights with no sleep and days with no instructions. Whatever this year held, you are here, and so is your child. Happy birthday to you both.