During the first year of early child development your baby develops at an incredible rate, not just physically, but intellectually, emotionally, even socially. Your baby was born with a certain amount of reflexes, like sucking, grasping and crying. But within a few weeks of your infant's development she will become more and more efficient at these actions and gradually those reflex behaviors will be replaced by deliberate actions of sucking, grasping and crying. Your baby is learning that if she sucks, she will eat. If she cries someone will comfort her.
It's interesting to note that at 4 months of age, your baby has yet to reach the stage of early child development known as 'object permanence'; so when an object is out of his sight he has forgotten about it (literally out of sight, out of mind). If a toy is moved from his sight he won't look for it, because he has forgotten about it.
But as your baby matures in his early stages of child development he develops object permanence. By around 8 months a baby will look for a toy he was playing with if it is taken out of his vision. This is why babies at this age love dropping toys and watching you pick them up! They have figured out that the toy has not disappeared when they drop it, and are thrilled to see it reappear! Parents who go along with the game of bending over and picking up the rattle over and over again while their child gleefully tosses it back to the floor are strengthening their little scientists' theory of object permanence.
It is also at this stage of your baby's early stages of child development that she loves to play peek-a-boo. She knows you are still there, even though you have hidden your face, and she is delighted when you reappear.
Parent's can test their baby's object permanence by sitting them in a high chair with a toy. If you drop the toy on the ground and she looks down for it, then she has grasped the concept of object permanence. If she doesn't look for it, then she is not quite at that stage of child development at the earliest stages yet.
There are lots of fun games to play with babies who are at this stage of child development. Let your 10 month old baby see you 'hide' her toy under a blanket. She will be delighted to pull the blanket away to find her toy (and can play this game over and over again!)
Babies at this stage also love to imitate the changes in your face. Stick your tongue out, and watch her imitate the action. Playing games like this with your baby is an excellent way to spend quality time as well as a way to help develop her grasp of object permanence.
Daniel D. Dwase is publisher and co-author of http://www.child-development-guide.com - a website for the development of children from birth to teens offering helpful tips and advice for parents, early year's professionals, and students.
