Frans X. Plooij

From Babydom to Toddlerhood

Extended Version of Worldwide Bestseller, The Wonder Weeks, Now Available

- Recommended by T. Berry Brazelton, Celebrated Pediatrician and Child Development Specialist, Among Others -

Have you ever wondered what's going on in your baby's head? Why is a normally well-tempered baby suddenly difficult and demanding? And then, suddenly, he is doing things he could not do the day before.

Research has shown that babies make 10 major, predictable, age-linked changes - or leaps - during their first 20 months of their lives. During this time, he will learn more than in any other year. With each leap comes a drastic change in your baby's mental development, which affects not only his mood, but also his health, intelligence, sleeping patterns and the "three C's" (crying, clinging and crankiness).

The Wonder Weeks Explained

Following each leap comes the "wonder weeks," in which the baby has new and expanded brain capacity and is able to learn to do new things. Each leap sets the stage for subsequent development of skills, which depend on the baby's preferences, experimentation and physical development. For example, perceiving special relationships (about 26 weeks) is necessary for taking a first step, which normally varies from five-to-eleven months.

As amazing as this is, it is also scary for the baby. Suddenly, he can think, feel, notice and understand what is happening around him in a new way. The perception of sensations does not change with increasing age, but becomes subservient to the new, higher levels of perception that are emerging one after the other in the hierarchy and that are superposed onto the already existing, lower levels of perception. These changes in thinking can show up in changes in what he can do and how he behaves. That is why, before he is able to explore his new abilities, he often cries more, is more clingy and crankier. These changes can also manifest as poor sleep, lack of appetite and general fussiness - and exhausted parents.

The Wonder Weeks

The Wonder Weeks, by Dutch authors Hetty van de Rijt and Frans Plooij spells out the phenomenon happening inside your baby's brain with detailed information about each leap. Based on 35 years of extensive research, The Wonder Weeks describes in easy to understand terms the incredible developmental changes that all babies go through during their first 20 months of life.

In the years since the publication of his original book, Dr. Plooij continued to research the developmental leaps in infants together with numerous national and international experts. The results are found in an extended version of The Wonder Weeks, which explores ninth and tenth are key leaps to form the basis of a well-educated child in cleverness and in well-raised person.

The Wonder Weeks, which has been an international bestseller for years selling more than 1 million copies worldwide in 12 languages, is more readily available in the U.S. available at www.thewonderweeks.com. There is also an iPhone/iPad app available.

Using the book as a guide, parents can be better prepared - often within a week or two - when to expect the behavior that marks a new change in their baby's development. The Wonder Weeks provides:

* A phase-by-phase guide to baby's behavior

* An explanation of the markers for the "three C's" and how to react

* Fun games and gentle activities parents can do with their baby to guide them through their "leap"

* A description of the baby's perspective on the world around him and how it can help parents understand the changes he's going through

The Experts Weigh-In on The Wonder Weeks

"This is a very practical and entertaining window into the baby's first year and a half. van de Rijt and Plooij have observed and found the vulnerable times in an infant's development that I independently came to in my book Touchpoints (Perseus Books Group). The authors' observations and practical suggestions are wonderful."

-T. Berry Brazelton, M.D., professor emeritus, Harvard Medical School

"Anyone who deals with infants and young children will want to read The Wonder Weeks. This book will open parents' eyes to aspects of their children's growth, development, changing behavior, and emotional responsiveness that they might otherwise not notice or find puzzling and distressing."

-Catherine Snow, Ph.D., Shattuck Professor of Education, Harvard Graduate School of Education

Scientific Curriculum Vitae: Frans X. Plooij

Born in 1946, Frans X. Plooij studied in the Netherlands with Adriaan Kortlandt, University of Amsterdam, with Hein Oomen, University of Nijmegen, and with Gerard Baerends, University of Groningen, where he received his Ph.D. in 1980.

In 1971–73, he and his wife Hetty van de Rijt worked with Jane Goodall in the Gombe National Park, Tanzania, East-Africa, on infant development in free-living chimpanzees. In 1973-76 he worked with Robert Hinde in the Medical Research Council unit on the Development and Integration of Behaviour, University Sub-department of Animal Behaviour in Madingley, Cambridge, England; in 1976-80 at the department of Developmental Psychology, University of Nijmegen, the Netherlands; and from 1981 to 1993 as head of the department of Research and Development at the institute for Child Studies of the City of Amsterdam, the Netherlands, where, among other things, he participated in European Union SOCRATES-LINGUA projects concerning the implementation of an innovative second- and foreign-language teaching method for small schoolchildren.

From 1993 to 1998, he was a professor at the Department of Developmental and Experimental Clinical Psychology, University of Groningen.

Currently, Dr. Plooij is president of the International Research-institute on Infant Studies (IRIS) at Arnhem, the Netherlands, initiator of the European project on “the intercultural study of infantile regression periods” (ISIRP), and director of Kiddy World Promotions B.V., a consulting firm that serves companies producing products related to children, such as toys.

Dr. Plooij was Vice-president for Information of the International Society for Human Ethology from 1989-1993, Vice-president of the Institut Européen pour le Development de tous les Enfants (IEDPE), served on the editorial board of the journal “Ethology and Sociobiology”, and is member of the panel of assessors of the Journal of Clinical Child Psychology and Psychiatry.

He is a full member of several international, scientific societies in the domains of child development and behavioural biology, and of the New York Academy of Sciences.

In addition to numerous scientific publications, Dr. Plooij has written several bestselling parenting books, one of which, The Wonder Weeks, has been published in twelve languages, from the USA to Japan.