First three months newborn developmental milestones.

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The first months after having a baby are the most exciting, but the most overwhelming as well. I remember when I had my first child that the lack of sleep and the pain of the C-section kept me very tired, but the first day I saw his first smile everything changed. In this post, we will talk about First three months newborn developmental milestones, and I will also include a detailed checklist of the milestones. and normal development such as Physical appearance, growth, and body normal development, movements, vision, hearing, and finally emotional and social development, ready? Let’s get started.

Within the first 3 months of life, your baby will go under dramatic transformation, from a totally dependent newborn to an active and responsive infant. He’ll lose many of his newborn reflexes while getting and developing more voluntary control of his body. He’ll also be increasingly interested in his surroundings, especially if the people close to him are involved.

First three months newborn developmental milestones.

Newborn developmental milestones, Physical appearance, and growth.

In the first 3 months, your baby will continue growing at the same rate. In general or average, from birth to 6 months babies might grow 1/2 to 1 inch every month, and gain 5 to 7 ounces every week.

Their head size will increase in size every month at about 1/2 inch. By 2 months of age, the soft spots on the baby’s head should still be open and flat, but at the end of the second month beginning of the third, they should be already close. The baby’s head is expected to be larger than the rest of the body in the first months because it is growing faster, this is normal, soon his body will catch up.

At 2 months your baby will look round and chubby, as he starts to gain more weight and his muscles will start to develop because he is using more his arms and legs. His bones will also grow rapidly.

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Normal newborn movements.

In the first month or so, many of your baby movements still will be by reflexes. However, by the middle of the second month toward the third, his movements are going to be more intentional.

One of the most important newborn developmental milestones of these early months will be your baby’s increasing neck strength. It is very recommended, after the second month placing your baby for a few minutes each day on his stomach, on a soft surface with constant supervision from an adult. This way your baby will be exercising the muscles of the neck, shoulders, and back, gaining strength and developing these muscles.

The movements milestones chart from 1 to 3 months!

Some of them obviously will start to happen gradually by the second month.

He raises his head and chest when lying on his stomach.
Supports the upper body with arms when lying on the stomach.
Stretches legs out and kicks when lying on the stomach or back.
Opens and closes hands.
Brings hands to the mouth.
Takes swipes at dangling objects with hands.
Grasp and shakes hand toys.

Normal newborn developmental milestones for Vision.

At one month your baby still can’t see very clearly beyond 12 inches, but he’ll definitely study anything within that range.

As you hold him, his attention is drawn automatically to your face, particularly your eyes.

Gradually, his visual span will broaden so that he can see your entire face, instead of only a few features of you. As this happens he will be much more responsive to your facial expressions, involving your mouth, jaw, and cheeks.

In the first early weeks, your baby will have a hard time following any object that is moving in front of his face. But this will change drastically by the age of 2 months When his eyes are more coordinated and can work together to move and focus at the same time. This increased visual coordination will give him the depth perception he needs to track objects moving toward or away from his face.

As his vision develops, the visualization of colors, geometric shapes and even sensitivity to light will also start to occur.

Visual milestones chart from 1 to 3 months!

Your baby will start to watch face intently.
He follows moving objects with his eyes.
Recognizes familiar objects and people at a distance.
It starts using hands and eyes in coordination.

Normal newborn developmental milestones for hearing and first vocal sounds.

Just as your baby naturally prefers the human face over any other visual pattern, he also prefers the human voice over any other sounds, especially his mother’s voice sounds. The mother’s voice is going to be your baby’s favorite sound because it is the sound that he associates with love, food, warmth, and comfort.

By the end of the two months, your baby will be able to listen to you even if you are in another room or space. Your voice will be comforting to him, and the assurance he needs that everything is fine.

With this process of hearing, the speech process will simultaneously develop in the baby’s brain, your baby will begin to make sounds such as ah-ah or ooh-ooh, this is the part where you play an important role, you should talk with him, imitating his sounds, but also gradually incorporating a coherent language, with the use of short and easy to understand words. This way your baby will be learning the basic principles of communication such as turn-taking, vocal tone, imitation, pacing, and speed of verbal interaction.

Hearing and speech milestones chart from 1 to 3 months.

Your baby will start to:

Smiles at the sound of your voice.
It begins to babble.
It begins to imitate some sounds.
Turns head toward the direction of sounds.

Newborn developmental milestones for Emotional and social development.

By the end of the second month, your baby will spend a lot of time watching and listening to the people around him. He’ll understand that these people will entertain, feed, bath him, etc. He feels good when they smile at him, and he seems to know instinctively that he can smile too.

If you haven’t experienced your baby’s first smile yet, look up to that, because is about to happen. And it is the most incredible feeling in the world, really, there is nothing better than that.

Emotional/Social milestones chart from 1 to 3 months.

He begins to develop a social smile.
Enjoys playing with other people and even may cry when play stops.
He becomes more communicative and expressive with his face and body.
Imitates some moves and facial expressions.

Related posts you might like:

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Newborn care, useful guide about your newborn baby care.

Child development, normal development by 12 months.

After checking everything that is part of normal baby development in the first 3 months of life, Let’s talk about some signs of Abnormal development to look for, in order to address them with the pediatrician immediately.

Abnormal developmental health chart to look up to from 1 to 3 months:

Still have Moro reflex after 4 moths ( Moro reflex definition: a reflex reaction of infants upon being startled that is characterized by extension of the arms and legs away from the body and to the side and then by drawing them together as if in an embrace position.
When the Moro reflex is done, the baby has two reactions:
1 – The baby will experience what can be best described as a sensation of free-falling, where the baby reacts by lifting and stretching their arms. She may even let out a sharp gasp.
2 – The baby will curl the arms and legs closer to their body into a slight fetal position.
Doesn’t seem to respond to loud noises
Doesn’t notice his hands by 2 months of age
Doesn’t smile at the sound of your voice by 2 months
Doesn’t follow moving objects with his eyes by 3 months
Doesn’t grasp and hold objects by 3 months
Doesn’t smile at people by 3 months
Can not support his head properly by 3 months
Doesn’t reach for or try to grasp toys by 3 or 4 months.
Doesn’t babble by 3 months.
He doesn’t bring objects to his mouth by 3 or 4 months.
Begins babbling, but doesn’t imitate any other sounds by 4 months.
He doesn’t push down with his legs when his feet are placed on a firm surface by 4 months.
Has trouble moving one or both eyes in all directions.
Cross his eyes all the time.
Doesn’t pay attention to new faces, or seems very frightened by new people, faces or surroundings.
Your baby still has the tonic reflex by 4 months.

Final thoughts:

The development of a baby is crucial in the first 3 months of life. In these first months, a baby goes from a completely dependent little human to someone that already interacts and understands the people around him. Always paying attention to the signs that the normal development of your baby is happening is very important.

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