Babies change very fast during the first three months of life. Your dependent newborn grows and develops into a more alert, responsive, and active infant. The strong infantile reflexes become integrated into smoother and more controlled movement patterns. This allows your baby to gain greater control over arms and legs, allowing greater motor abilities. During this time, it is very important to have vision and hearing checked.

Below are typical milestones for development in babies from birth to three months:

• Poor head control
• Hand and leg movements are still jerky
• Movements dominated by infantile reflexes
• While lying on stomach, can raises head to 45 degrees
• Recognizes scent of mother’s breast milk

• Prefers black-and-white or high-contrast patterns
• Begins to develop color vision by two months
• Looks directly at caregiver’s eyes by two months
• Has a grasp reflex to hold an object when placed in the hand
• Brings hands to mouth
• Is able to swipe at an object with hands

• Prefers looking at faces
• Begins to imitate facial gestures
• Shows anticipation of event that occur regularly in everyday care
• Begins to relate what he sees with what he touches

• Turns head to the direction of a sound
• Initially startles at loud noises
• Smiles and quiets in response to a familiar voice
• Recognizes and prefers mother’s or caregiver’s voice
• Coos back and forth with caregiver; begins to babble
• Laughs during play
• Communicates mostly through crying, using different cries for hunger, discomfort, and pain

• Cries in response to the sound of other’s crying
• Can be comforted by being held, rocked, or spoken to
• Calms when swaddled
• Develops a social smile

• Feeds every two to four hours by two months
• Needs head and neck support during feeding
• Moves hands to mouth
• May sleeps about fifteen hours of sleep (6 hours/day, 9 hours/night)

Signs of Possible Developmental Delays: Birth to Three Months
Helpful article if you suspect your child may have developmental delays.

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