It is the ultimate gift at the end of a long, tiring nine months of living healthy, taking extra care of yourself: a precious, tiny little baby. Growing a new life inside your womb takes a lot out of any woman.

The word infant derived from the Latin word in-fans meaning unable to speak is the term used to characterize a human baby. An infant less than one month old is called a newborn, which includes babies that are born premature, post mature, or full-term. An infant becomes a toddler when they reach age 1 or start to walk, generally somewhere between 12 and 36 months.

There are a handful of items that beginning parents need for a new baby, from clothing to bibs to a car seat. Hospitals and birthing centers will not let you take a new baby home without having a car seat installed; some police and fire stations do routine inspections to see that the car seat has been installed properly to keep your baby safe in case of an accident.

Some of the first items of baby gear that parents-to-be register for are: a stroller for taking walks around the neighborhood or a trip to the shopping mall; a sling or wrap to tote baby around on your chest or hip hands-free; a stylish diaper bag with tons of compartments and storage room for bottles, bibs, and blankets; and crib bedding sets for a cute themed nursery like animals, polka dots, cartoon characters, and more. Other essential items are socks, outfits or clothing in sizes newborn up to six months, bibs, blankets, burp rags, bottles, diapers, baby bath soap, and a baby kit including thermometer and tiny nail clippers.

Like every birth story is different, each and every baby is also different. There are a wide variety of numbers and scores that measure how one baby compares to another. One of these is done at birth at is called the Apgar score, which provides a simple, quick method to assess the health of newborn babies immediately after childbirth. The Apgar score uses a 0 to 2 on five criteria appearance, pulse, grimace, activity, and respiration with 0 meaning the skin is bluish, heart rate and breathing are absent, and baby doesnt respond to stimulation. A 2 stands for active movement, strong breathing, and pink extremities. The five scores are added to make an Apgar of 0 to 10. The test is done at one minute and five minutes after birth. While some newborns sleep through the day and are awake all night long, others develop a schedule similar to their parents and only wake a few times during the night to eat or have a diaper changed. It is at the end of month four when your baby may start sleeping about six hours a night before waking up.

Developmental milestones can generally show a parent where their baby should be each month. For example, by the end of the first month, a baby can typically lift his head for a short period of time, move his head from side to side, bring his hands up to his face, turns toward the sound of familiar voices, responds to loud noises, and blinks at bright lights. By the end of month two, your baby will be smiling at you, will keep track of objects with his eyes, starts to make cooing noises and other sounds, and should be talking to you with ooh and ahhh noises. By the time he makes it through the third month, a baby can open and shut his hands, grasp and shake rattles or hand toys, imitate sounds, recognize familiar objects even at a distance, reach for dangling keys or other items, and straighten and kick his legs when lying on his back.