Further Reading

Your baby may be surrounded by a large family, or their circle might be a little smaller. There will be people your baby will see every day and will be showing warmth and affection towards. For example, they might be settled by your touch, or just seeing you, or might kick with excitement when hearing your voice.  

By now, your baby will be engaged in tummy time, and they will be used to lying in this position. Some babies do not take to lying on their stomachs at first, but after implementing tummy time little and often into their usual routine, it should become just a normal aspect of their day.  

Your baby might be enjoying longer periods of tummy time, and if they are starting to explore when they do it, you may notice that they are moving more on their tummy too. They will start to push themselves up on their arms and lift their chest up in the process.  

Your baby may now take part in tummy time. It may have taken some time for them to get used to playing in this position, and they might well still be getting used to it. When in this position, they will be making movements like reaching for objects, and they may even be lifting their heads more to tune into their surroundings.  

Your baby is now making more deliberate motions with their body. You might see them reach out and grab for objects or raise their arms to be lifted as you come close by, wanting to be picked up by you. Your baby might be using their hands and feet in ways you have not noticed before now, for instance, when lying on their back, they may push their feet on floor. They might even be able to push up their pelvis when pushing their feet down.  

Your baby is now likely to be engaging in tummy time, or will be starting to do so. When lying on their tummy, you may see your baby arch their back and lift their arms and legs. This is also known as the Landau reflex, which is often present in babies when they are spending more time on their stomach. 

Your baby's movement abilities are rapidly growing, particularly in the spine and neck area. They've progressed from reflex-based movements to having more control over their body and making more deliberate moves while playing. Your baby may also be enjoying tummy time, which enables them to strengthen their spine and neck muscles while also offering them more control over their head movements. 

Your baby is now more active than before and is starting to control their movements. They will be eager to explore their environment, but haven’t yet got the skills to squeeze and poke with their fingers to learn about objects. However, their mouths are full of nerves that tell them if something is soft or hard, cold or hot, and more. This makes their mouth perfect for exploring themselves and objects.^[1]  

Your toddler will have had lots of experiences sharing books and rhymes now and might have a few favourites that they ask you to share over and over again. This repetition will help them to remember their favourite stories and rhymes and they will begin to join in with parts of their favourite stories and rhymes.

Your toddler has been exploring and learning about the objects around them for some time now. Through this experience, they will be noticing some similarities and differences and might begin to group objects together based on a characteristic they can easily identify.