18-Month-Previous Child: Feeding, Sleep, and Milestones by Month

It’s exhausting to imagine your as soon as tiny new child is now an lively toddler with seemingly boundless power! At 18 months outdated, your toddler will proceed to make leaps and bounds of their milestones. Watching them develop brings pleasure and pleasure, however it will probably additionally result in some questions. This text will cowl what milestones they’ll attain, their feeding and sleep schedule, enjoyable actions to do along with your 18-month-old, and extra to offer you a greater concept of what to anticipate.

This month is all about studying. Your toddler will be taught new phrases, expertise, and methods to precise their feelings. New milestones you may anticipate your 18-month-old to attain embrace:^1,2

• Strolling independently
• Climbing on stairs and furnishings
• Copying you doing chores and wanting to assist
• Consuming from a cup with out a lid
• Scribbling
• Serving to to decorate themselves
• Expressing their feelings by throwing tantrums
• Naming animals and understanding their sounds

By 18 months outdated, your toddler’s communication is ever-evolving. Your 18-month-old will likely be saying many phrases and following easy instructions. They might begin to title objects and animals in footage and title physique elements if you level to them, though this milestone is often achieved by 2 years outdated.²

With all that operating round and exploring, your toddler will develop fairly the urge for food. They’ll want three meals a day and two snacks. You’ll be able to provide these snacks mid-morning and mid-afternoon, in addition to one other one earlier than bedtime if wanted. Your toddler ought to eat their meals with the remainder of the household from their excessive chair or booster chair.³

Along with your toddler’s growing urge for food, provide them a variety of meals to make sure they obtain the correct vitamins. Present them with numerous fruits, greens, complete grains, meats, cheeses, and yogurts.⁴ Toddlers over a yr outdated can have complete cow’s milk, fortified soy milk, or breast milk. By 18 months outdated, your toddler needs to be consuming their milk from a cup as a substitute of a bottle and may have 16-24 ounces of milk day by day.³ In case your toddler desires some water through the day, restrict the quantity to about 4-8 ounces day by day.⁴

Toddlers can have water at meals or snacks and at any time when they’re thirsty. Milk and water are the principle drinks they need to be consuming; juice, soda, and caffeinated drinks will not be beneficial. In case you determine to offer them juice, restrict it to a max of 4 ounces per day and have them drink it in a single sitting. Letting them sip sugary drinks all through the day can result in dental issues and total well being points.¹² The exception to this rule is that in the event that they’re sick and never consuming or consuming effectively, you may provide drinks that assist maintain them hydrated and maintain their blood sugars regular, similar to oral rehydration answer or juice, along with water.¹³

Planning meals and determining portion sizes on your toddler might be irritating, however it doesn’t must be. Your toddler might eat comparatively small parts in comparison with you, so provide them small quantities and allow them to eat what they need. To assist with meal planning, listed here are a number of concepts:³

• Breakfast: 1 cup of complete milk with one slice of complete grain bread with peanut butter or one scrambled egg with cheese and sliced bell pepper
• Lunch and dinner: 1 cup of complete milk and a small portion of the household’s meal (Ensure to incorporate small quantities of greens, proteins, similar to meat, fish, or beans, and complete grains, similar to pasta, bread, or brown rice)
• Snacks: 1 cup of milk or water with one container of yogurt or one piece of toast with peanut butter, or whole-grain crackers with cheese or a number of items of fruit

Now that your toddler is eighteen months outdated, you could marvel about their sleep schedule and if their sleep habits will change. Their sleep habits will probably mirror their habits from months prior. They’ll nonetheless want between 11 and 14 hours of sleep day by day and a two- to three-hour afternoon nap.⁵

Despite the fact that your 18-month-old’s sleep habits will keep fairly constant all through this yr, there could also be occasions after they expertise a little bit of sleep regression. Sleep regression is a time when your toddler has a change to their sleeping habits, normally having issue falling or staying asleep. Quite a lot of issues could cause it, however the commonest causes embrace:⁶

There’s little doubt that sleep regression is tough, however fortunately, there are methods to assist your toddler sleep higher throughout these occasions, relying on your loved ones’s sleep preferences. These embrace:⁶

• Sustaining a constant routine and bedtime
• Avoiding display time
• Having your toddler sleep of their crib
• Placing them to mattress whereas they’re drowsy however not but asleep
• Permitting them to fuss for a couple of minutes earlier than comforting them
• Offering them with consolation and reassurance whereas they’re nonetheless of their crib
• Ensuring they’ve entry to their consolation objects, similar to their blanket, all through the evening

Retaining a constant schedule will give your toddler construction and assist with intervals of sleep regression. At 18 months outdated, your toddler’s day by day schedule will revolve round meal and nap time. They may take one afternoon nap that lasts for about two to a few hours. This nap sometimes begins round 1:00 p.m. Setting a bedtime round 7:30 p.m. continues to be acceptable at this age, permitting for the beneficial quantity of nighttime sleep.⁵

Your toddler ought to eat their meals alongside the remainder of the household. Every household has totally different wants, so schedule your meals round the perfect time for yours. Along with scheduled meal occasions, your toddler will want at the very least two snacks day by day. These snacks sometimes occur between breakfast and lunch, between lunch and dinner, and typically earlier than bedtime.³

At 18 months outdated, your toddler can have one other well-child go to to test their bodily well being, growth, and weight and to replace their vaccines.¹¹ Your physician will be certain that your 18-month-old is on monitor to achieve a median of three to five kilos of weight and three inches between 12 and 24 months outdated.⁷

Throughout this well-child go to, your physician will decide in case your toddler wants vaccines. The vaccines your toddler might obtain embrace:¹¹

• DTaP (diphtheria, tetanus, and pertussis), if not given at 15 months
• Hepatitis A
• Annual COVID and flu shot

In case your toddler is excessive danger, they might additionally obtain the meningococcal and Respiratory Syncytial Virus (RSV) vaccines. Your physician will let you realize in case your toddler falls into this class.⁸

Even with a well-child check-up, your toddler is nearly assured to expertise childhood sicknesses. Toddlers can have six to eight colds a yr, extra in the event that they’re in daycare, so understanding the best way to deal with them at residence is important. Your toddler can’t have over-the-counter cough and chilly medicines or aspirin, so maintain a provide of Tylenol and ibuprofen to deal with any pains or fevers.⁹ Comply with the package deal instructions or test along with your physician for the correct dosages.

Along with the frequent chilly, your toddler might expertise a number of different frequent childhood sicknesses. These embrace:¹⁰

• Ear infections: These trigger ache, fever, irritability, and issue sleeping.
• Bronchiolitis: This could result in swelling of the airways and extreme mucus, leading to coughing, fatigue, and bother respiration.
• Respiratory Syncytial Virus (RSV): RSV causes gentle cold-like signs in most youngsters. Nevertheless, it will probably trigger an extreme cough, bother respiration, and pneumonia in different kids.
• Hand, foot, and mouth illness: This sometimes causes sores to the mouth, fingers, and toes. It may be painful and make it tough for the kid to eat.
• Abdomen flu: This causes nausea, vomiting, and diarrhea.

Your toddler will probably get well from these sicknesses at residence with out issue, however some signs want fast medical consideration:⁹

• Extreme sleepiness with little to no facial expressions
• Very tough to console
• Weak or no cry
• Refuses food and drinks or solely takes a number of small sips or bites for greater than a day
• Darkish yellow urine, no tears, or a dry mouth

Name 911 in case your youngster experiences any of the next:

• Excessive bother respiration
• Irregular coloring similar to grey, blue, or very pale
• Lack of consciousness

Your toddler is changing into an increasing number of verbal day by day. Speaking, singing, and studying to them is one of the simplest ways to encourage language growth. Listed below are another actions to advertise your 18-month-old’s growth and independence:^1,2

• Ask them easy questions and permit them to reply. For instance, “What colour is the ball?”
• Give them easy decisions, similar to permitting them to select between two totally different pairs of footwear.
• Restrict display time for each your toddler and your self.
• Speak to them at eye stage.
• Educate them the names of their physique elements, like their nostril, eyes, ears, and mouth.
• Roll a ball forwards and backwards with them or push a toy automobile forwards and backwards.
• Learn to them and permit them to babble alongside. Level out objects on the web page and have them inform you what these are.
• Give them faux toys to play with, like a toy broom or child doll.
• Educate them the best way to say “please” and “thanks.”

Along with your toddlers’ ever-increasing power and curiosity, maintaining them protected is a prime precedence. Sustaining a protected surroundings that permits your toddler to be taught and discover with out the danger of harm is vital. To assist craft a protected residence, implement the next security requirements:²

• Set up window guards on all home windows.
• Set up gates on the prime and backside of all stairs.
• Set up cupboard locks on all decrease cupboards and drawers.
• Set up bathroom seat locks.
• Set up outlet covers on all unused shops.
• Safe all cords out of attain.
• Preserve all drugs and cleansing options out of attain.
• Preserve all weapons and ammunition locked up, and maintain weapons unloaded.
• Supervise your toddler round all water, together with bathtubs, swimming pools, rivers, lakes, streams, and ponds. Keep inside arm’s size always.
• Use a rear-facing automobile seat.

Seeing your once-little new child develop right into a toddler is a joyous and adventurous time for all. Toddlers are frequently exploring their world and determining their half in it. They’re studying the best way to work together with their surroundings by watching the way you work together with yours. Serving to them learn to work together with the world appropriately is likely one of the most rewarding elements of parenthood.