Leap 8

Hip, hip, hooray! During this leap, your baby will celebrate its first birthday. Your baby will not only make a leap in their mental development but will also turn from a baby into a toddler!

Around 51 weeks on, your baby may take a leap into the world of programs. Welcome to leap 8! While your baby learned to deal with ‘sequences‘ during the previous leap, they learn to observe and carry out different programs during this leap. They learn that an end goal can be achieved in different ways. Washing dishes, setting the table, having lunch and getting dressed are all examples of programs that your baby is beginning to understand better and better. Step by step!

The fussy phase of leap 8: the world turned upside down

The moment your baby takes the leap is always quite exciting. A new world is opening up for them. A world in which they have to let go of the old, familiar ways for a moment and begin to explore again. Your baby may be more inclined to cry or cling and be more cranky than you would normally expect. This is how you will know that leap 8 has started!

Many parents recognize the same characteristics in the difficult phase as in the previous leap. Most babies are shy, do not want you to break body contact, want to be kept busy more often, are more jealous than usual, have a strikingly changing mood, sleep worse and have (more often) nightmares.

This difficult phase lasts four or five weeks for most babies but can also last three to six weeks. In our app you will find a list of signals for the fussy phase by which you can recognize this leap.

The skills phase: step by step

Shortly after their first birthday, at around 54 weeks, you will notice that your toddler has acquired a new skill. The ability to observe and perform various programs! You will notice that they are a little less clingy and that they acquire skills that you have not seen before. Visit our app to see all the skills you can discover during this leap!

Your toddler is now able to perceive a whole sequence of actions as one thing. They now recognize that putting a dirty plate in the water, moving the brush over it and placing it in the rack for the water to drip off is “washing dishes”. They love to help you with these kinds of chores. And of course it takes lots of soapy water!

Your baby is now about to change from being a baby to becoming a toddler. You can notice and feel it. The tiny, helpless part of your baby has disappeared, and your child is entering a whole new phase. A phase that will undoubtedly bring you lots of joy!

Discover your baby’s character

Some babies mainly demonstrate motor skills during the leap, while others show in particular their verbal and language skills. Each baby develops in their own way and chooses a skill they would like to develop. And the best part is, that this tells you something about the (future) character of your baby! Did you know that in our app you can not only tick off all the skills of the leap, but also keep track of them in your personal diary?

Have we sparked your curiosity, and do you want to know all about the 10 leaps, the fussy phases and all the skills that go with it? Order the book or download the app right now!