Infant Development: Birth to 4-Month Baby Milestones

Babies are truly incredible little beings, and the birth to 4-month baby milestones are nothing short of astounding. Infants learn so much in their first few months of life. Within just 12 short months, babies go from being completely helpless to crawling, sometimes walking, and even expressing their needs through words and gestures.

When I first had my daughter, I was surprised at how little information is given to new parents about what milestones a baby should be hitting each month. I remember attending my daughter’s 6-week appointment and realizing we were supposed to be doing tummy time since day one! I thought for sure I’d already messed up my child. But we started doing tummy time every day right away, and she quickly caught up.

In this post, I hope to provide guidance and ways you can support your infant in reaching these birth to 4-month baby milestones. I’ll be publishing a series on infant milestones – there were too many milestones in the first year to cover in one post!

Birth to 4 Month Baby Milestones: Physical Development

During the first couple of months, infants gain some amount of head control. By 1-2 months, babies can usually hold their heads up briefly. Designating “tummy time” throughout the day is important for helping a baby develop their head control skill. Tummy time is simply placing your baby on their belly for just a few minutes at a time, while supervising them closely. Simply start with 3-5 minutes of tummy time three times per day. Slowly build up tummy time to about 10-15 minutes three times per day by four months.
While we’re on the topic of tummy time, remember, never lay a baby down to sleep on their belly. Years ago, lying a baby to sleep on their belly was normal practice. However, doctors now strongly recommend putting a baby to sleep on their back. Research shows lying a baby on their tummy for sleep increases the risk of SIDS (Sudden Infant Death Syndrome), which kills about 2500 infants each year. Lying your baby on their back for sleep is safest, and it’s one major way to protect your baby from SIDS. If you’d like to learn more about SIDS, check out this article from UChicago Medicine.
By 3-4 months, infants will start holding their heads up during tummy time or while on your lap. Also, at the 4-month mark, your baby may begin to push themselves up onto their arms while in the tummy time position.
During these first couple of months, babies will also start bringing their hands or toys to their mouth. This is an important part of development, as it is one way babies explore different textures. Exposure to many textures from soft books, teethers, and toys help babies adjust to food textures when they start eating solid foods.

Infant's Reflexes

From birth, these amazing little creatures exhibit reflexes, such as the rooting reflex (turning their head toward a touch on the cheek or toward the breast to eat). Babies should also have a strong startle reflex, even from the newborn stage.
At 2-3 months, a baby may begin to grasp toys you place in their hands. Giving a child a teething toy or even your finger to grasp is a great way to improve this reflex. At three months, they may begin to reach for toys, although their efforts may be a bit uncoordinated.

Birth to 4-Month Baby Milestones: Brain Development

Babies start tracking objects and faces with their eyes by 2-3 months. These eye movements may be slightly uncoordinated but will get smoother by three months. Note: it’s very important to keep infants away from screens such as TVs, tablets, and cell phones, as the bright screens can damage their eyes. Children are not recommended to be in front of a TV, tablet, or phone screen until at least two years of age.
Note about electronics for babies, toddlers, and preschoolers – please hold off on allowing your child to use your devices as long as possible due to the disruptions they also cause to brain development. Unfortunately, I often see two and three-year-olds on their parents’ cell phones. In our own experience, we started to make this mistake with our firstborn when she was two years old. Luckily, we saw firsthand what was happening to her and how it was affecting her brain. We stopped allowing tablet time until she was 4.5 years old. When we reintroduced it, it was for VERY limited amounts of time of ABC Mouse. If you’d like to learn more about screen time and your child, check out my blog post: Tips to Reduce Screen Time.
During these first few months, babies will also show interest in the patterns and bright colors of their books, toys, and other objects they may find.

Infant's Language and communication development

Babies begin to coo by the age of 2 months. You’ll hear them make vowel-like sounds to explore their voice, also known as cooing or babbling. Babies love it when adults imitate their cooing sounds or start talking with them as though they are in real conversation.
During these first few months, you may also notice your baby making different sounds or cries for different needs, such as hunger or sleepiness. It’s an amazing mom moment when you realize you’re beginning to understand your baby’s “language.”

Social and emotional Development

At 6-8 weeks old, a baby may begin to smile at you when he sees you. This is one of my favorite baby milestones!
At 2-3 months old, babies begin to recognize familiar voices and may turn toward a voice or sounds they recognize.
All babies enjoy being held and cuddled. I firmly believe that babies, especially during these first few months, cannot be “spoiled” by being held a lot. It is part of the bonding experience, so snuggle with your little one as much as possible during their first year.

These birth to 4-month baby milestones are intended to give you a general idea of what to expect during the first few months of life. Every child’s development is different. Some infants will hit these milestones early and others a little later. If you have any concerns about your baby’s development, be sure to discuss it with your pediatrician. In the meantime, enjoy these first few months with your baby. They may feel slow due to lack of sleep, but I promise you’ll look back and realize how quickly these precious moments passed!