search

• Aspects
• Family
• Child care
• In study and work
• Community
• Health
• Crime and safety
• Economic security
• Demographics
• Age groups
  • Infancy (<1 yr)
    • Trends
    • Table: summary
    • Trend: age at death
  • Toddlers (1-4)
  • Early childhood (5-9)
  • Middle childhood (10-14)
  • Adolescence (15-17)
• Essays
• Glossary

We have long known that the first years of life are critical to our development and have implications for our whole lives.

Babies need a secure and loving environment to grow and develop. In a nurturing environment, babies form their first attachments and learn to trust that their needs will be met. Families are critical in providing this environment.

Babies enjoy being with people, watching faces, listening to voices, being hugged. They are paying attention to everything that is happening around them, preparing for all the things they will need to be able to do. For example they will begin to play with making sounds and learn that through this they can communicate to others and get what they want.

In the first year, they begin to explore the world around them, learn to crawl and eventually to walk. By the end of their first year babies will usually have developed strong bonds with their parents or carers and have the beginnings of a sense of self.

Based on the limited data available, Kids Stats builds a picture of the situation of our infants. Kids Stats monitors:

• Child abuse
• Domestic violence
• Infant mortality
• Serious injury
• Death due to transport fatalities, drowning and fatal assault