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Your baby's thirty-second week after birth
Are you prepared for a hyperactive, always moving 32-week old baby? If not, we recommend you start taking this seriously because your child will be an absolute terror, always moving around to fulfill his curiosity! With each day your baby will become more and more wriggly, playful, and social. Unlike the weeks prior, babies will also now start focusing on what toy they play with. At this point, it is recommended you let your baby explore the house and play around on their own in order to help them develop their motor skills. However, you will definitely want them to stay in place at times and an exersaucer could be an interesting way to do so!
Your 32-week-old baby's development and physical growth
Hallelujah, new milestones! Your little one, at this point, will have more tricks up his sleeve than yesterday. Here’s what you can expect from them in terms of their physical growth and development-
- Your baby’s reflexes
Most 32 week old babies gain rather impressive control over their hands and fingers, enabling them to drop and throw things around. (This is where your house starts looking like a dump yard, hehe!)
- Your baby’s speech
Your baby will be now a celebrity in their own little universe, waving hands at people to respond to ‘bye,’ pushing you when they want something, and frequent shaking of head when they don’t like something you’re trying to force on them. Most babies also start saying mamma and papa by week 32.
- Your baby’s emotional development
By this age, since your baby has grown attached to you and understands that you are there to take care of him, they may start showing some emotional signs and behaviors. For example, most babies bring on an anxious expression or start to cry when they realize the parents are leaving them at home to go to work. Babies at week 32 can also differentiate between known and unknown faces.
- Your baby’s teething progress
By the time your baby is 32 weeks or in the 8th month after birth, you can expect them to have grown at least 2 or more teeth, causing them to chew on any and everything that gets in their way! If you are a breastfeeding mother, do not worry, these teeth will not scratch or hurt your nipple since the baby’s tongue will completely cover the teeth as they feed.
- Your baby’s feed
Since babies at week 32 can hold and grasp things, now could be a good time to introduce them to snacks like soft biscuits, wafers, boiled vegetables, etc. As mentioned, in most cases, your baby’s new teeth will not hurt your breasts but, in case, if you do feel a denting or piercing, the reason for that could be that all your feeds are in the same position. Feeding in the same position over time can cause the tiny teeth to cause sore breasts and so, try to instead alternate positions in which you feed your baby.
- Your baby’s sleep
As your baby grows, with an increase in their physical activities, so will be a subsequent fall in their sleep habits and patterns. Though your baby may show some retaliation to sleep, we advise that you stick to a nap schedule and put your baby down to sleep at the same time every day. In case they happen to nap, you can always make them sleep earlier at night or bump up the next day time nap (if any) with the lost hours before. If the baby is now sleeping less during the day than before, you can then move the bedtime with a 30-60 minutes increment to make up for the lesser number of hours slept in the day.
Your 32-week-old baby's health
- Vaccination:
At eight months, you will need to have your baby get the Hepatitis B and IPV Booster shots administered. Make sure you fix an appointment well in advance.
- All you need to know about baby head banging
Infants universally tend to bang their heads in the air as a form to burn up their leftover energy after all the playing. While this might be scary to look at and might worry you for the kind of repercussions it may have, there’s usually nothing to worry about because more than 20 percent are reported to intentionally bang their heads. While the reason headbanging is also a sign of autism albeit with a couple of other signs. In most cases, babies themselves tend to outgrow the headbanging and be assured that the baby themselves will stop the headbanging if it hurts them.
What is this Linea Nigra everyone has been talking about?
Linea Nigra! Linea Nigra is that thin, dark line running through the middle of your stomach (from the pubic area up to the belly button), first appearing around the second trimester of pregnancy. You may already be aware that it is absolutely harmless and occurs due to the fluctuating hormones of the mother during pregnancy.
The Linea Nigra, you might notice, starts fading away by the time your baby hits the 32nd week, only to then disappear completely only around the time the baby hits their first year. As you wait for the line to disappear, ensure you use enough SPF if you go out to the beach in a swimsuit and try minimizing the exposure of your skin to sunlight altogether.
Before you go, here’s a quick, endearing tale about the Linea Nigra: As the old wive’s tale goes, the length of the linea nigra on a pregnant woman, it is believed, can help determine the sex of your baby. If it extends up your abdomen past your belly button, you’re supposed to have a boy; and if it reaches the belly button just there, you’re having a girl! Did this actually hold any truth for you? Let us know in the comments below!
