Early smiles are genuine signs of happiness and contentment
Babies in the womb have been seen to be smiling on ultrasound images and these smiles are believed to be real indicators of contentment. Your newborn baby’s first smiles are also understood to be smiles of genuine satisfaction. Your baby may pull funny faces when burping up milk or filling nappies but they are equally capable of showing genuine emotion. Just as their first cries and first tears are real and indicators of distress, similarly, very young babies can display early positive emotions.
More on massage – how your touch makes your baby feel
Your baby’s sense of touch was the first sense to develop before they were born, and helps them to learn about themselves and the world around them. Your baby might find firm but gentle touch comforting and be calm when, or shortly after, being massaged.
Settling and calming: how your baby will learn self-regulation
Your baby will have been gently rocked in the womb and have listened to the voices and sounds around them. You might now be recognising what helps your baby to settle; they will need you to support them to regulate for some time and you'll probably find that different things help to soothe them at different times.
Face to face with your baby and the importance of eye contact
Your baby’s vision when they were born was quite blurred and they focused best on objects around 20 to 30cm away. You might also have found that they've shown a preference for high contrast patterns, and have been interested in looking at faces.[1] As they are beginning to gain greater control of their head and eye movements, you might see that your baby looks at your face more intently.
The delicious sounds of your baby's mouth, lips, tongue and throat working together
Your baby’s first sounds were reflexive – ones that didn't require control, like crying, coughing and burping. They will have been exploring the movement of their mouth and tongue as well as developing physical skills and control of their mouth as they sucked to feed and to explore their hands.[1] Now you might notice that they move their mouth, lips and tongue in different ways and might begin to explore making a wider range of sounds.
Ooh, ahh... what your baby's cooing may sound like
Your baby will have been listening to people talking since before they were born and might have started to make some sounds when they were comfortable and content. As their control of their mouth and tongue develops they will start to make some different sounds, moving their mouth, lips and tongue in different ways to explore the sounds that they can make.
Reaching out for objects and your baby's growing accuracy
Your baby will have started to move their hands towards objects a little while ago. Now as they develop control and the ability to think about their movements they will reach out and grab objects when lying on their back.
How grasping supports lots of other development
Now that your baby's hands are open more often, they are also likely to be showing interest in toys and objects as their vision and physical skills develop. When you give them a toy, they will hold it in their hand, but they don't yet have the physical control needed to drop the toy when they want to, so they will probably just let go when they are tired.
The stages of reaching to hit an object with their fingers
As your baby gains more control over their movements, you might see them reach out and hit an object that is close to their fingertips. This is the linked control of their arms and hands in action: your baby needs control of their arms to position their hands, as well as to provide support when they have the control to hold and move objects.[1]
Your baby's hands and arms will move with more purpose
When your baby was born, their hands will have been closed for much of the time, but around now you might notice that they are starting to have their hands open more often. They will also begin to open their hands in different ways, perhaps bringing their fingers towards their thumb or looking like they are pointing with a finger. Let's take a closer look...
