Week 45

Days 309 to 315 · 44 weeks 0 days to 44 weeks 6 days old · about 10 months A typical baby this week measures about 73 cm (28.5 in) and weighs roughly 8.9 kg (19.6 lb). Babies vary widely, and the important thing is a steady path along your baby's own growth curve. Weight gain slows a lot in the second half of the year, which is why so many babies look leaner now that they are on the move. Your baby may be letting go of the furniture for a moment, or still busily crawling. You may be juggling work, childcare and a baby whose wants grow louder by the day. This week covers helping a new walker, the first visit to a dentist, car seats, how you feel about your body, cup practice, water safety and changes in who looks after your baby.

Day 309 · 44 weeks 0 days old

Helping a baby who is learning to walk

Babies learn to walk by doing it, falling and doing it again. Your main job is to make that practice safe and appealing, not to speed it up.

Push-along toys can help, as long as they are sturdy and weighted so they do not tip or roll away too fast. A small, stable chair or a laundry basket can work just as well. Walking your baby around by both hands is fun for many babies, but it puts them off balance and does not build the skills they need on their own. Short bursts are fine; lots of floor time matters more. Expect your new walker to look odd. Feet wide apart, arms held up high, a stiff, rolling gait and frequent sit-downs are all normal. Most babies look flat-footed, because the arch is hidden by a pad of fat and does not develop for a few years. Slightly bowed legs are common too, and usually straighten during the toddler years.

Falls are part of learning. Most are small tumbles onto a padded bottom. The earlier entries on falls and head bumps explain when a knock needs a doctor. Call your baby's doctor if your baby limps, refuses to put weight on a leg, or walks only on tiptoe all the time once walking is established. Try this: Clear a straight path along the sofa to a favourite toy, so your baby has a short, safe route to practise on.

Day 310 · 44 weeks 1 day old

Planning a first visit to the dentist

Many dental bodies recommend a first dental visit by the first birthday, or within six months of the first tooth appearing, whichever comes first. If your baby has no teeth yet, a visit is still useful. In some places, a doctor or nurse does this first check.

The first visit is short and gentle. Often your baby sits on your lap, facing you, and leans back onto the dentist's knees so they can look in. The dentist checks the gums and any teeth, looks for early signs of decay, and talks with you about brushing, fluoride, feeding and habits like dummies or thumb sucking. Some paint on a fluoride varnish to strengthen the enamel. Tooth decay in young children is common and largely preventable. It can start as chalky white lines near the gum, then turn brown. Bottles of milk or juice at bedtime, frequent sweet snacks and sharing spoons that carry adults' mouth bacteria all raise the risk.

Keep brushing twice a day with a smear of fluoride toothpaste about the size of a grain of rice, as you read when the first tooth came in.

Call your baby's doctor or dentist if you notice white or brown spots that do not brush off, a swollen gum or a tooth that has darkened after a fall. Try this: Find a dentist who sees babies, or ask your baby's doctor or nurse where first checks happen locally, and book a visit.

Day 311 · 44 weeks 2 days old

Keep your baby rear-facing for as long as you can

As the first birthday approaches, some parents start wondering when to turn the car seat around. The answer from car safety experts is clear: keep your child rear-facing for as long as possible, until they reach the top height or weight limit for rear-facing on their seat.

Rear-facing protects a young child's head, neck and spine in a crash. A toddler's head is large and heavy compared with the body, and the neck bones are still soft. When the seat faces backward, crash forces spread across the whole back. Many convertible seats allow rear-facing until 2 years or well beyond, often up to 3 or 4.

Legs touching the back of the vehicle seat or bent at the knees are not a reason to turn around. Children sit comfortably cross-legged, and leg injuries in rear-facing children are rare.

If your baby is outgrowing an infant carrier, look for the height limit, usually stated as the distance between the top of your baby's head and the top of the shell, and check the label. Moving to a larger convertible seat used rear-facing is the usual next step. Always follow both the seat manual and your vehicle manual, and the laws where you live.

Try this: Look up the rear-facing height and weight limits on your car seat label today, and note them in your phone.

Day 312 · 44 weeks 3 days old

Making peace with the body you live in now

Ten months after giving birth, your body may feel familiar again, or it may still feel like someone else's. A softer belly, stretch marks, a scar, different breasts, wider feet or hips that never quite went back are all common. So is feeling ambivalent about them.

You may hear stories of bodies that "bounced back" within weeks. Those stories leave out a lot: genetics, the help of trainers, flattering angles, or simply the fact that the body is still changing beneath the surface. For many people, it takes a year or longer to feel settled, and some changes are permanent. That is not failure. It is what growing a baby involves. It can help to shift attention from how your body looks to what it does and how it feels. Can you carry your baby up the stairs? Do you have energy for a walk? Are you sleeping when you can and eating enough? Comfortable clothes that fit the body you have now can make a surprising difference to how you feel each day.

If thoughts about your weight or shape take up a lot of your day, or you find yourself restricting food, bingeing or exercising compulsively, talk to your doctor. Eating disorders can start or return after birth, and help works. Try this: Put away, for now, clothes that make you feel bad when they do not fit, and keep out the ones you feel comfortable in.

Day 313 · 44 weeks 4 days old

Building cup skills a sip at a time

Drinking from a cup is a real skill, built over months. Your baby has to grasp the cup, tilt it just enough, close their lips around the rim, and swallow before the next mouthful arrives. Spills are not a sign that they are not ready; they are how they learn.

Open cups give the most practice. Small, light cups with a little liquid in them are easiest. Hold the cup with your baby at first, letting them guide it to their mouth. Some babies prefer two-handled cups, others a tiny cup they can hold in one hand.

Straw cups are also useful, especially for milk and for times when an open cup is not practical. Many babies figure out a straw quickly. If yours does not, try a cup with a squeezable body so a little liquid rises up the straw to show them how it works.

As cups take over, offer water between meals and with them, and milk mostly at meals or before sleep. Juice is not needed at all; whole fruit is better. Keep the cup at the table or with you rather than letting your baby carry it around, which helps protect their teeth.

Try this: Pour a few millilitres of water into a small open cup at bath time, where spills do not matter, and let your baby practise freely.

Day 314 · 44 weeks 5 days old

Water safety for a baby on the move

Drowning is one of the leading causes of injury death in young children, and it rarely looks like the splashing struggle seen in films. A baby or toddler who slips under water usually goes quietly and quickly, sometimes in less than a minute and in only a few centimetres of water.

The most important protection is close, constant supervision. Around any water, stay within arm's reach of your baby, with your eyes on them and your phone away. If several adults are present, agree on one "water watcher" at a time. Inflatable armbands, rings and bath seats are not safety devices. Pools need a fence on all four sides, separating the pool from the house and yard, with a self-closing, self-latching gate. Empty wading pools, buckets and coolers right after use, and turn them upside down. Hot tubs are not safe for babies: the water is too hot for them and drains can trap hair or limbs. On boats and docks, your baby needs a properly fitted life jacket made for their weight.

Swimming lessons for babies can be fun and build comfort in water, but they do not make a young child drown-proof.

Get help right away if your baby has been pulled from water and is not breathing normally. Call your local emergency number and begin CPR. Try this: Walk around your home and yard and empty or remove anything that holds water, from buckets to pet water bowls placed outside.

Day 315 · 44 weeks 6 days old

When the people caring for your baby change

Childcare rarely stays the same for the whole first year. Your baby might start daycare, move from a home caregiver to a centre, switch to a new room with different staff, or spend more time with a grandparent while you go back to work. Each change asks your baby to adjust, and at 10 months, with separation anxiety often at its height, that can be hard.

A gradual start helps. If you can, spend a short visit or two together in the new setting, then leave your baby for an hour, then a morning, building up over several days. Bring familiar things: a sleep sack, a small comfort object if allowed, the same cup.

Share what you know with the new caregiver. How your baby falls asleep, what they eat, the sounds and signs that mean hungry, tired or overwhelmed. A short written note can help a busy carer.

Expect some protest, clinginess at pickup, or more night waking for a week or two. Most babies settle within a few weeks. If your baby is still very distressed after a month, or you have concerns about the care, talk with the caregiver and trust your sense of things.

For your partner: Take on some of the drop-offs and pickups this week, so your baby learns that more than one familiar person brings them and comes back.