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.
It may be possible for your baby to smile at 4 weeks but usually only while he's sleeping. This is called a reflex smile. Your little one may not flash a true smile until about 6 weeks or a little older, and these true smiles happen when he's awake and alert.
Typically, babies start smiling between 6 and 12 weeks, but you may notice a smile or smirk soon after baby's born.
By about 6 to 12 weeks, your baby will begin to smile in response to you (social or "real" smiles). Until then, sweet-looking grins are automatic reflexive smiles in response to gas and other bodily functions. You can tell the difference between a reflex and real smile by the timing and duration.
At around the same time your baby first smiles, she'll likely also practice her first coos — putting her well on her way to another thrilling social development: baby's first laugh. Expect to hear that joyous sound when she's around 3 or 4 months old, although it may come a little later on too.
If you hit the 3-month mark without seeing a smile, bring it up with your pediatrician—it's possible there are other factors at play, such as hearing or vision impairments, or a developmental delay.
Rolling over often happens anywhere between 4 and 7 months. But this “rolling over” milestone, like other developmental achievements, could happen at a different time for an individual baby.
Your baby will likely learn to sit up before being able to crawl. The strength and balance needed to sit up with and without support is typically developed between 6 and 8 months of age, whereas the skill to crawl is typically developed between 7 and 10 months of age.
It is not until around the fifth month that the eyes are capable of working together to form a three-dimensional view of the world and begin to see in-depth. Although an infant's color vision is not as sensitive as an adult's, it is generally believed that babies have good color vision by 5 months of age.
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.
Major achievements—called developmental milestones—include rolling over, sitting up, standing and possibly walking. And your heart will likely melt at the sound of her first “mama” or “dada.” No two babies are exactly alike. Your baby will develop at her own pace.
Researchers believe laughter during sleep is a sign of a baby's developing social and emotional skills. Laughter during sleep may also be a way for babies to process and practice the emotions they experience during the day.
At birth, they are starting to recognize your voices, faces, and smells to figure out who is taking care of them. Since the maternal voice is audible in utero, an infant starts to recognize their mother's voice from the third trimester.
Your baby sees things best from 8 to 12 inches away. This is the perfect distance for gazing up into the eyes of mom or dad (a favorite thing to do!). Any farther than that, and newborns see mostly blurry shapes because they're nearsighted. At birth, a newborn's eyesight is between 20/200 and 20/400.
When babies are propped up in the sitting position before they can stabilize their bodies independently, harmful pressure may be exerted on the spine, which triggers the need to support themselves with their hands. The result? They can't use their hands for play and investigation.
By 1 month old they'll be able to briefly focus on objects as far as three feet away. By 2 or 3 months of age your baby's ability to focus may be developing steadily. Your baby may be able to turn both eyes inward, known as convergence, to focus on something nearby such as their hands.
Your baby rolling over after one or two months old is possible if your baby was active in developing the necessary muscles for rolling. If you see your baby rolling over at 1 month or your 2 month old or 3 month old starts to roll, this may be earlier than average but is still normal!
Most babies will outgrow the need to be burped by 4-6 months of age. You can often tell that a baby needs to be burped if he or she is squirmy or pulling away while being fed.
You should stop swaddling your baby when he starts attempting to roll over. Many babies start working on this move at about 2 months old. Swaddling once your baby can roll over may increase the risk of SIDS (sudden infant death syndrome) and suffocation.
When do babies crawl for the first time? Studies suggest that approximately 50% of babies begin crawling by 8 months. But some babies may start before 6 months, and others may not crawl until after 11 months, if ever.
The milestone of responding to one's own name usually occurs between 4 and 9 months, according to the American Speech and Hearing Association (ASHA). Not all babies reach this milestone at the same time, of course, but most should be appearing to recognize their name with consistency between the ages of 7 and 9 months.
Cooing refers to single-vowel sounds, such as “ooh” and “aah.” Sometimes the noise your baby makes sounds like the word “coo,” which is where the action gets its name. A cooing baby is making their first attempt at expressive language, which is why this is such an exciting development milestone for your little one!
Some babies become overstimulated by eye contact and the neural messages their brain is receiving! They might refuse to have eye contact for some time afterwards, even for weeks. Over time you will learn your baby's particular personality and know their cues for when they're keen to have eye contact.