Premature babies tend to be behind developmentally. Their age and developmental levels are often out of sync. However, many preemies will catch up developmentally by the time they are one years old. The bulk of the remainder of babies will do so by their second birthday.
The more premature your baby was, the more behind developmentally he will be. In other words, babies who were only two weeks early will not lag as far behind as a baby who was ten weeks early. Early intervention is typically initiated as a means to catch your baby up with his peers.
When you are buying toys for your preemie, then you want to pay less attention to the recommended age on the box. Your attention should be on what your baby is doing at this time. Whatever developmental stage your baby is in, you want to buy toys appropriate to their development. Otherwise the toys will set unused until baby’s development catches up. This can be very depressing for mum and dad.
Keep in mind that your preemie has two ages: actual and adjusted. His actual age is how old he is based on his birthday. His adjusted age is how old he is minus how many weeks he was early.
