Get to Know Your Baby’s Development (Part 2)

2-3 Months: Your observant little baby

Your baby is now sensitive to his surroundings and is learning while playing. He has some control over his movements and can move his hands at will. He also tends to grasp at objects without knowing how to release them. Baby’s neck is getting stronger and may be able to sit supported for a while. Baby will begin to bring his feet to his face and also hold his head up longer when on his tummy. He is self- training to strengthen all those little muscles! Baby games which involve lots of movements will surely excite your baby now.

Sight

At this stage, your baby will be keen to observe bright patterns and colors. Baby might even seem to deeply observe slow movements and might even seem ‘lost’ in a daydream while doing so. Your baby will begin to be interested in interaction games and also objects placed at a distance. Do your part and play along, mama!

Speech

Your future chatterbox is beginning to show a keen interest in uttered words and will laugh or giggle when spoken to. This communication will surely make you smile. Your baby is now able to detect the emotions reflected by you and may be able to sense if you’re happy or otherwise by the tone of your voice. At this stage, baby’s intelligence is rising steadily. Soon, he will be trying to immitate sounds you make and working on his consonants. Usually, baby’s first consonant will be ‘m’. An unhappy baby, however, tend to make more ‘p’ or ‘b’ sounds. Soon, baby will start to use more ‘j’ and ‘k’ sounds when he is happy or excited.

Mind

Your baby becomes more aware of his own body. He will begin to marvel at his own limbs, especially his hands. He seems to get excited at his own movements and movements nearby as well.

3-4 Months: Your curious baby

Physical

Your baby has got more control over all his movements now and is happy to use it to move those hands and legs about! He is also becoming an expert at turning to his side and some babies at this stage may be able to turn onto their tummies easily too. In fact, your little one may seem to want to show off his skills and keep going from his back to his side to his tummy, over and over again! Babies this age may be able to sit up straight if well-supported and to the surprise of some parents, they may also begin to show a keen interest in thumb-sucking.

Hearing

Baby’s hearing is getting sharper by the day and every sound seems to garner a respond from him. You will see your baby turning his head to find the source of sounds he hears. Play games with baby using sound to help him further sharpen this listening skill. Use toys with interesting sounds and noises for these games.

Sight

Baby will look straight at you whenever you’re near him. He will recognise close family members now and his memory skills are beginning to sharpen up nicely too. Baby might even be able to recognise you through a clearly printed photo!

Mind

Your baby’s mind is developing at an amazing rate. If you were to place junior at a new surrounding, he will immediately show an interest in this new environment. Entertain your baby’s thirst for new experience by carrying him outside for a walk through a park and let him observe the new sights and sounds.

Speech

Your baby will be quite busy trying to communicate with you. You will hear incomprehensible words and sounds being uttered from that tiny mouth, especially when he is on his back, looking up at you! A series of strange one- syllable sounds can be heard as baby begins to use his mouth to try to talk. Part of the results of all this effort is the constant drooling and producing of saliva ‘bubbles’ from baby’s busy mouth!

4-5 months: Reading your emotions

Baby‘s sensitivity to sounds is growing stronger and he almost never fails to respond from sounds he hears, including the sound of your voice. He will seem to stop whatever he’s doing to listen to a sound, or to figure out if you’re angry or happy. Baby can read your emotions by the sound of your voice and its intonations.

Emotion

Your cutie is now a clever expert at playing emotional games! He will not hesitate to make his ‘feelings’ known by crying out loud if he’s scared, unhappy, disappointed or frustrated with something (or with you!). Positive reactions from you will reassure the little one and he will be smiling happily again!

Speech

If he thinks you’re not giving him the attention he wants, he might bawl out for it! Don’t fret, for it’s a baby’s own way of communicating with you. Some attention from you will get him gurgling in contentment again.

Physical

Baby is now beginning to make use of all those developing muscles, especially the buttocks and leg muscles. Also, baby will not hesitate to lift up his head to look around. Now and then, baby will seem to lift up his head, hands and legs at the same time just to exercise those muscles. Your active baby needs to be watched over carefully to keep him from injuring himself in any way. Also, baby will begin to place objects he finds into his mouth for a taste, so do keep your baby’s space clean and clear of harmful items. Keep small objects away from baby’s sight or your little one may try to move towards it. Baby loves gnawing at his own fingers and other body parts. Let him explore his own body!

Sight

Your baby can easily recognize loved ones now. He is also becoming an expert at making his emotions known, whether he’s happy, alarmed, excited or even sad, through his facial expressions and body language. At this age, he is actually developing his own taste and preferences – he can even pick out his favourite toy among the many toys near him! He will start to show a keen interest in almost everything within he sees – even your hair – so don’t be surprised if he reaches out to grab it!

5-6 Months: The discovery of the tongue!

Physical

By now, your little bundle may be able to hold a feeding bottle on his own using both hands. What a wonderful development! He can shake and rattle objects in his hands too. It won’t be long before he holds on to an object and refuses to give it back to you. (Watch those ear-rings, mama!).Babies this age tend to enjoy being on their tummies and will love it when you hold them upright so they can ‘’stand’ supported by you. He may even be able to sit unsupported for a few seconds.

Speech

Baby loves making all sorts of sounds now. He seems to laugh and shout in glee at everything he likes! This is indeed a delightful development for all parents! Baby is perfecting all his his ‘ma’, ‘da’, ‘ka’ and ‘ eargh’ sounds in preparation to talk. He is beginning to understand what you’re saying to him, so do make an effort to interact with your attentive little listener!

Sight

Your baby can see quite clearly now, so sneaking away from his sight might be a bit challenging from now on. He is incredibly sensitive to his surroundings and the slightest change can prompt him to turn around for a look. Delight your baby by ‘hiding’ objects under a pillow and allowing him to ‘discover’ them again. He will surely be delighted!

Hearing

The mere sound of your footsteps can alert your baby of your presence in the room! Yes, baby seems to have super hearing, doesn’t he? Play some music to entertain him and help develop his intelligence too. Repetition at this stage can strengthen a baby’s memory and help him learn more in the later stages of life

6-7 months

Physical

Baby’s weight has practically doubled since he was born. At this age, many babies will begin to cut their first teeth and this may cause discomfort in the gums. Let your baby bite on a good teething ring for comfort, and use a good teething gel to soothe sore gums. Other than that, baby will be happily using all his limbs, especially his hands to hold, explore and study objects offered to him.

Mind

Your little one is getting more independent by the day and can perform many of his favourite activities without your help. His memory is getting quite sharp too. If you say ‘no’ to him, he will look at you, understanding very well what you’re saying. If baby seems clueless somehow, repeat phrases again and again till he gets it… and he will!

Speech

Your little growing baby is getting smarter by the day! He is always trying to talk with a mixture of sounds like ‘ ba-ba’ and ‘da-da’, so do pay some attention to him!. You can start teaching him animal sounds like ‘meow’ for cats or ‘moo’ for cows and so on. He might just imitate them like he does everything else he sees and hears! You will notice too that your baby is making ‘chewing’ sounds – one of the indications that he is ready to start on solid food!

Social

Junior is now able to appreciate the company of everyone around him. He might even begin to show an interest in making friends and may try to get close to any other babies nearby him. Babies this age love to parallel play and are quite content to just stare at one another. They may also do some baby talk between themselves. However, baby is soon to enter the stage of stranger anxiety where he will only be comfortable with people he knows well.

Sight

Baby’s eyes are always on the lookout for things and actions to imitate, so do leave your precious one good examples to follow! No picking your nose in front of him now! He is also easily entertained by his own reflection in the mirror and may be just as amused with yours too!

7-8 Months: Baby potentials shine bright!

Physical

Your little child is still sharpening his skills for all sorts of activity he will be partaking of soon! Picking up objects, throwing them around, etc… Ever so often, baby loves to show off his skills to his mum and dad, so do pay some attention and express your feelings of admiration towards his talents. His tastes buds are developing rapidly too, so this will be a good time to introduce a healthy baby diet into his daily life.

Social

Stranger anxiety sets in about now and your little one may seem uncomfortable or even scared of being with people he does not recognize. He will probably cry in the arms of anyone other than his close family members. At this age, some babies also cannot stand to be left alone. Enrolling him in a playschool will be a good idea to get him to socialize with other babies. Your loving baby may begin to show you some love with baby kisses!

Speech

As baby gets more and more independent, he might take to babbling away and telling you all sorts of stories in his own baby lingo. He is still learning to combine syllables to form words. You may be lucky enough to hear uttering’s of ‘mama’ or ‘dada’ from him as he babbles away!

Mind

Your clever little baby may soon discover gravity when objects in his hand, when released, drops to the ground! Expect him to drop his toys repeatedly on purpose for you to pick them up again and again and again! He can now differentiate between familiar objects and tell the size of objects too.

Hearing

Your baby can hear extremely well now and will promptly turn to search for sources of sounds heard. Both his ears should be functioning well now. Your baby is also capable of crawling towards sources of sounds he likes so do keep baby’s surrounding free from harmful objects which he may stumble upon.