What Can a Four-Month-Old Baby Do?
Physical and Social-Emotional Development of Baby at Four Months
Oct 2, 2009
Attachment theory promotes parents to tune into their baby’s unique needs and personality. Knowing what stage of development a child is at can help parents better do this, and here is information about the new skills a baby will acquire in and around the age of four months.
Baby is Babbling
At this age, baby will be able to make some consonant-vowel sounds such as “ba,” “da” and “pa.” Baby will try to have “conversations” with his or her parents. When parents talk with baby, they will notice that he or she will look into their eyes and babble back. The four-month-old is able to smile easily now and will use this to communicate as well as cooing, wiggling, giggling and gurgling.
Baby is More Expressive
Parents will notice that baby is able to express more emotions now, such as feeling happy, content, excited, tired or restless. The baby will also be able to communicate when he or she wants to play and will be able to interact with parents for longer than he or she did in the past. Parents will need to look for signs of tiredness and give baby a break when he or she needs it.
Four-Month-Old is Interested in Faces
The four-month-old can recognize his or her parents and they remain the focus of a baby’s world at this age. But, baby will be interested in new people and study their faces. If a stranger tries to speak with the baby, chances are that the baby will smile back. But if the baby finds the new person is too loud or too close, then baby may feel startled and turn away.
Babies who are three- to four-months-old are also now able to notice differences in things they see. For example, they can distinguish the difference between two black-and-white patterns, and they tend to be more interested in the more complex design or a new pattern. Exposing baby to different patterns and people will appeal to baby’s growing curiosity.
Baby Getting More Control of Hands
Babies at this age will be able to coordinate their eyes and hands more and they can keep their hands open. They will also be able to rotate their wrists and this makes it easier for babies to reach for things. They will be interested in reaching for small objects like a rattle or toy. If they can, they will put the object into their mouth to explore it some more. They will also become aware of their hands at this age and inspect them too.
Baby is Attempting to Self-soothe
When baby is feeling tired or upset, he or she may try to self-soothe. A typical way to do this is to suck on his or her own fingers. The baby will still require his or her parents to help out in times of stress by meeting basic needs and providing reassurance with their presence.
Baby Will Sit With Help
A four-month-old baby will have developed more physically compared to a newborn. The baby will be able to hold his or her head up and look toward a new sound. Baby will like to practice sitting, but will need “spotting” and support for awhile. Tummy time can be a nice change (for some babies, others might not like it quite yet) and babies at this age can push up on their forearms and try to reach for an interesting toy or teething ring.
At four months, baby will start to babble, recognize faces of caregivers, have more visual-motor skills, try to self-soothe and be able to sit if assisted.
Also check out Activities for Four-Month-Olds, Activities for Two-Month-Olds, and Bonding with a Newborn.
References:
Newton, Ruth. The Attachment Connection: Parenting a Secure and Confident Child Using the Science of Attachment Theory. New Harbinger Publications Oakland, California, 2008.
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