The development of the 23-week-old baby after birth

The article is expertly consulted by Master, Doctor Truong Thanh Tam - Pediatrician - Pediatrics - Neonatology - Vinmec Danang International General Hospital.

What makes a parent's best feelings is watching their little angel grow and develop every day, especially in the early stages. Your baby is learning and discovering so many new things, and it can be wonderful to see the wonder around his environment. The 23rd week of your child's life is an exciting week because he's starting to show signs of what's going on around him.

The 23rd week of every baby's life after birth is an exciting week because it marks a new milestone. Children begin to show signs of recognition, being able to partially understand what is going on around them. A 23-week-old baby can actually act highly entertaining towards parents and family members showing that they are in the process of developing steadily. It is important for parents to understand and recognize the signs of child development at this stage and make specific plans to help children achieve the best development both physically and mentally.
When babies are 23 weeks old, babies become more stable and ready to move on to the next stage of development. The strong growth of babies at 23 weeks is also preparing them to go through physical and emotional changes over the next few months. By the 23rd week, most babies are physically active enough to begin rolling over and prepare the necessary skills before crawling. They can also sit up straight and enjoy their meals in high chairs.
Parents can also easily notice that children at this stage like to hold and grasp things with their fingers, especially food, and will lose their tongue reflex. The baby's salivary glands are also active because the foods babies eat at this stage are mostly in solid form, needing to secrete a lot of digestive enzymes in the oral cavity. Babies also laugh more, especially when other people play with them. A 23-week-old baby's weight can be measured during routine physical exams. The doctor will let the parents know about the child's indicators and compare it with the standard of the child at this stage or other children of the same age so that they know what to do with their baby.

1.1. Feeding your 23-week-old baby At this age, babies are usually ready to eat more solid foods so parents can incorporate these foods into their baby's meals as well. If you want to use methods to wean your baby, this is a relatively reasonable time.
At this stage, babies will love to hold food and put it in their mouth. Parents can also feel the eagerness and enthusiasm their baby shows when trying pureed foods or pureed foods. However, even when introducing solid foods into the baby's diet, breast milk should still be the main source of food in the baby's diet. Regardless of how moms breastfeed or eat a mixture and formula, babies will start to get the full range of nutrients from food after just a few months. Breastfeed your baby before solid foods to make sure he's satisfied with his appetite and to help stabilize his digestive system.
Stages such as putting food in the mouth, chewing, biting and swallowing are all skills that will be practiced and mastered by children. Foods that are difficult to digest will be eliminated through the child's stool. Over time, your baby's gums will also get stronger and food will also be better digested.

1.2. Putting a 23-week-old to sleep 23-week-old babies can show slight changes in their sleep patterns, and it's not uncommon for babies to wake up in the middle of the night during this period. Here are a few things parents need to keep in mind about their 23-week-old baby's sleep:
While many experts say that a 23-week-old baby needs to learn how to sleep and not wake up in the middle of the night for 6 months, here are some tips: is not an easy thing. Studies have shown that about 78% of babies 6-12 months old wake up at least once during the night and about 60% of babies still wake up every night to feed. Some babies can sleep for 3-4 hours or more in a row while others only sleep about 1 hour at a time. This is not a problem, as long as the child is satisfied with sleep and not irritable after waking up, parents have nothing to worry about. Parents also need to prepare mentally that their baby will spend time alone for sleep. This can take several months or longer but once they get used to the sleep patterns, things will become much more comfortable. 1.3. Tips for taking care of a 23 week old baby Here are a few tips to help parents take better care of their baby at 23 weeks:
Read aloud to your baby and introduce colors and toys Animals children can play with. The process of bathing your baby can also be combined with teaching your baby about different objects, such as rubber ducks, soap bubbles.... Also most babies love splashing in the shower but Children should be closely supervised in case of drowning. This is also a good time to introduce play activities to help children develop cognitively and physically.

1.4. Immunization for 23-week-old babies During this age, parents will need to prepare for their baby's immunizations. Therefore, the most important thing is to arrange a time to take your child for vaccination according to the prescribed vaccination schedule. Your baby may be irritated or show a slight fever after the injection and should be monitored for a few days to avoid side effects of the vaccine.
This is also a time when children's resistance is not good, they are easy to catch colds and make parents worry, especially those who give birth for the first time. Symptoms that signal a baby's ill health may include sedentary behavior, rash, vomiting, high fever, diarrhea....
1.5. Games and activities for 23-week-old babies Here are a few games parents can apply to babies at this age:
Riding: The fathers or mothers sit on a high chair and put The baby stands on his knees, holds his waist with both hands, and begins to gradually bend down to his knees, singing while bowing. Play in the Bath: Parents can also play with their baby in the tub with a soapy sponge. Lightly poke the body parts to get the child excited and try to learn to follow.

At 23 weeks, babies may begin to show signs of developing cognitive skills. Some of them include:
A basic awareness of cause and effect as pushing a toy car to make it move can get the child to enjoy and perform repetitive push-pull movements clock hours. Children are also beginning to know best how to button toys to let them play songs and tunes or let cars move on their own. Understanding the concept of the existence of objects or toys, children begin to perceive which toys are missing from the set and will go looking for them. Enjoys looking at one's own reflection in the mirror and expressing joy and enjoyment in it Beginning to entail exploring objects that are out of reach. A 23-week-old baby can show some very interesting actions, which shows that he is gradually grasping and understanding the movement of the world around him. Parents or caregivers at this stage need to pay close attention to observe and help children complete some complex activities, but at the same time need to let children freely develop their creativity and let children can do what they want to do on their own.

The 23-week-old baby is one of the important stages in the development of the baby and parents need to keep a close eye on the babies during this time to keep them healthy and growing steadily. If the baby shows signs of illness and recurs many times, often has colds, coughs or sneezes continuously, it is necessary to seek medical attention for examination because it is likely that the baby is allergic to some items. In addition, this is the time when the child's digestive system is not yet mature, so it is easy to get diseases related to the digestive tract.
23-week-old babies are generally susceptible to respiratory diseases, respiratory infections and gastrointestinal infections if they are introduced to solid foods early or the storage and preparation of milk is not guaranteed. To protect children's health, parents should do well to exclusively breastfeed their babies for the first 6 months (if possible) and vaccinate on schedule. As soon as a child shows symptoms such as anorexia, fatigue, and crying, the child needs to go to the hospital to be consulted by a specialist for monitoring and treatment. The pediatric department at Vinmec International General Hospital is the address for receiving and examining diseases that infants and young children are susceptible to: viral fever, bacterial fever, otitis media, pneumonia in children. ,... With modern equipment, sterile space, minimizing the impact as well as the risk of disease spread. Along with that is the dedication from the doctors with professional experience with pediatric patients, making the examination no longer a concern of the parents.
Master. Truong Thanh Tam has 15 years of experience in pediatrics and especially has a lot of experience in hematology, resuscitation and pediatric oncology. The doctor has participated in many national and international scientific conferences on pediatrics and participated in many short-term training courses and was certified as "Pediatric Core Instructor", by Hue University of Medicine and Pharmacy. grant. Currently, she is a Pediatrician at the Department of Pediatrics - Neonatology - Vinmec Da Nang International General Hospital.

References: parenting.firstcry.com, mamanatural.com
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