Touching faces to make sense of themselves and other people

Your baby will have been bringing their hands towards their face for a while as they explored movement. Now, they will be developing more control of their movements and as their hands are open and move often, you'll see them touching their face and features.  

Learning about themselves 
The sense of touch is one of the first senses to develop before your baby is born, and in the early days after birth, touch is important for them as it is linked to reflexes that support feeding and supports the development of your bond with them.^[1] 
 
As your baby grows, they use touch to support their awareness of their body. At first, this might be when they are kicking and feel their foot against the side of their pram, or when you gently stroke them as you change them.  

 
As they develop their physical skills, they will be able to move their hands to touch their face and to put their hands in their mouth. Your baby will explore their features, and as their brain receives signals from their hand and face at the same time, they will develop more understanding of themselves.[2]  

Physical skills, touch and sense of self 

An important part of your baby’s social and emotional development is them developing their understanding of themselves, and then of other people.  

As your baby touches their face, mouth, eyes and nose, they develop their sense of their body and they will begin to link what they feel with themselves. Developing their understanding of their body is part of developing their sense of self.  

Feeling their hands, face and features uses the sense of touch and also helps them to develop proprioception – that is the sense of their body and where their body is in space. Proprioception is an important part of your baby developing lots of skills, as they need to know where their body is to position themselves to do things such as kicking a ball, putting on clothes or brushing their teeth.

Reaching out and touching others

As your baby continues to develop their physical skills, they'll be able to move their fingers individually will use their hands to explore objects and other faces.  

They might soon reach out to touch your features; this touching helps them to explore and understand other people, and it will help them understand that they are separate from you. Then it won't be long before they start to recognise similarities and differences between people. And you can enjoy their different reactions to the people who are around them.

References: 

[1] Goddard-Blythe, S. (2004). The Well Balanced Child: Movement and Early Learning. Stroud: Hawthorn Press. 

[2] Addyman, C (2020) The laughing baby: The extraordinary science behind what makes babies happy.  London: Unbound.