Babies (0–18 months)
In the first year, your baby is learning and growing every day. By understanding early development, you can bring simple and enjoyable activities into your daily routines and support your baby’s progress.
Bonding
Building a strong bond with your baby is the most important focus at this stage. This early connection helps your baby feel safe and secure, giving them the confidence to explore and learn as they grow. Holding your baby close, making eye contact, smiling, singing, talking gently, and doing activities like baby massage all help nurture the connection that is so important for every child.
Routines
Routines play an important role in your baby’s development. A predictable rhythm to the day, like regular times for feeding, sleep, and play, helps your baby feel secure and anticipate activities. Knowing what comes next brings comfort and can make the day feel calmer and more manageable for both of you. Consistent routines also support healthy sleep and feeding patterns, and over time, they create space in your day for meaningful play and early intervention activities.
Movement and Body Awareness
Your baby is discovering how their body works as they practice reaching, kicking, rolling, and eventually sitting and crawling. Babies with Down syndrome often have lower muscle tone, so these skills may take a little longer. Activities like tummy time and baby massage help build strength, coordination, and body awareness. Time on the floor to stretch, roll and move is one of the best ways to support early physical development.
Communication
From day one, your baby learns to communicate through eye contact, sounds, facial expressions, and crying. When you respond to your baby’s cues, you show them how communication works. Babies with Down syndrome often need extra time and support developing speech and language, but there is a lot you can do early on. Talking, singing, reading, and playing together create a rich language environment. Using visual cues, like holding up a spoon at mealtime while you say “spoon” or “time to eat”, helps your baby understand the meaning of words. You can also begin using Lámh hand signs. These hand signs support communication before speech develops.
Support for families
Our Early Intervention Specialist runs a Parent and Baby Group for families of babies with Down syndrome aged from birth to 18 months. Expectant parents are welcome to join too.
In each monthly session, we discuss early child development and share practical activities you can do at home. Parents have the opportunity to liaise with our early intervention specialist for individualised guidance and connect with other families.
These sessions are held once a month, both in person at DSI’s office in Dublin and online. Some DSI branches also run local parent and baby groups, so you may find a group closer to home.
For more information or to join our parent and baby group, please contact us by email at silvia@downsyndrome.ie
