Often newborns will smile in their sleep. Sometimes a smile in the early weeks of life is simply a sign that your little bundle is passing gas. But starting between 6 and 8 weeks of life, babies develop a "social smile" -- an intentional gesture of warmth meant just for you.
Baby may also smile when passing gas; this could be because it helps them feel better, but no one really knows the exact reason, says Scott. More often than not—especially during the newborn stage—these baby smiles are reflex smiles rather than social ones, Goldenring explains.
In the vast majority of cases, parents of smiley babies have nothing to worry about. "A baby always smiling isn't anything abnormal," says Smerling. "It's a learning process for them and they're really just trying to process exactly what joy is, and how to share that joy with others around them that they're gazing at."
Babies smile for a variety of reasons, including as part of an involuntary reflex, due to gas, and in response to social stimulation. 1 Learn more about why babies smile in their sleep.
A baby's first social smile usually appears by the end of their second month. That's one reason why, as a pediatrician, seeing babies and their parents at the 2-month-old checkup is always a great pleasure. The exhausting days when they were newly home from the hospital are behind them.
Gas troubles often start right away or when babies are just a couple of weeks old. Fortunately, most infants outgrow them by the time they're 4 to 6 months old, though for some, baby gas can last longer. Infants are usually gassy because they have immature digestive systems and swallow air during feedings.
These “real smiles” are responses to something baby sees or hears, like a parent's face or a sibling's voice. Another difference between reflexive and “real” smiles is that real smiles are predictable. If your baby keeps smiling once you perform the same action more than twice, you can be sure it's a real smile.
Additionally, babies naturally make an O shape with their mouths when they are trying to learn. If your baby does the O shape with its mouth, don't worry it's totally normal act of behavior. This way they are showing excitement, and interest in playing with their parents .
Newborns also smile in response to sweet tastes and smells. It is thought that while awake, their developing brains record all their daily experiences, which possibly gets processed while they are asleep. The happy emotions felt while soaking up these new experiences may show through smiles or laughter in their sleep.
It's important to remember that some babies smile more than others. Temperament plays a big role in the evolution of smiles and other expressions.
Babies may smile soon after birth. However, a newborn's smile is usually a reflexive response to an internal physical feeling, such as gas or hunger. This is in contrast to an adult's smile, which communicates pleasure.
Do Babies Like Hugs, Kisses, and Other Signs of Affection? Clearly, there are many different ways in which babies express their affection for their parents and caregivers. But do they enjoy being on the receiving end? In short, yes.
Newborn to 3 Months
Babies will also start smiling around this age, begin babbling, and grasp objects in their hands. Those who may be on the autism spectrum will mostly avoid any type of eye contact and will typically not smile or exhibit many facial expressions.
Babies who are suffering from colic may not smile that often. And babies with parents who aren't very smiley may not respond to them with smiles.
Though this is sometimes dubbed grunting baby syndrome, it's totally normal and nothing to worry about. Babies experience many sleep transitions. Newborn babies cycle through just sleep stages—REM sleep (aka “active sleep”) and NREM “quiet sleep”—every 45 to 50 minutes.
For some babies, sticking the tongue out may become a habit, as it may simply feel fun or interesting for them. A baby may also copy what their parents, caregivers, or others do around them. A study in Developmental Science found that this form of imitation may occur in infants as young as 1 week old.
When babies are tired, they often show it by rubbing their face, tugging on their ears or balling their hands into fists. Often they get a bit glassy-eyed and stare at nothing in particular. These are all sure-fire signs your little one needs to get to sleep.
The rarest smile type is the complex smile, with only an estimated 2% of the population possessing this smile.
Babies who are breastfed cry more and smile less than those who are bottle-fed, according to a leading paediatrician. Researchers at University of Cambridge discovered that bottlefed babies tend to be more placid because they eat more and consequently feel calmer.
Researchers believe that these earliest smiles represent the pleasure of the baby recognizing an object (such as Mommy or Daddy) [2]. By two months, infants begin to develop the smile that communicates their emotional experience of pleasure and contentment.
The gas escapes while they rest. Babies should always sleep on their backs, even if they're gassy. Do not try to relieve your baby's gas by putting them to bed stomach down. You can, however, try burping them while they're laying stomach down across your lap or give them some supervised tummy time to move the gas.
Also, babies with colic may burp frequently or pass a significant amount of gas, but this is thought to be due to swallowing air while crying, and is not a cause of colic. The face may be flushed. The abdomen may be tense with legs drawn toward it.
Tummy time.
Placing a baby on their stomach while awake helps to relieve gas pains. By gently increasing the abdominal pressure, tummy time pushes gas bubbles up and out. Tummy time is also a great way to strengthen the head and neck muscles needed to reach early motor milestones.