Supporting Your Baby's Developments
Baby Month 4 – What can Babies do at 4 months? What to Expect
At seven months old, babies really start to show off their personalities. Playtime is looked forward to by you both. They make noises and sounds which sound like they are trying to talk to you and call you. Everything that ends up in their hands will enter their mouths as oral exploration, which is the way they learn now. This further develops baby’s hand eye coordination and they are able to eat finger foods easily. Choosing the foods you feed your baby carefully is important.
There are many foods available that babies can hold and feed themselves with, but that doesn’t mean they are nutritious, so choose wisely. While your baby is growing, you will notice that baby can:
- Self feed finger foods
- Looks for the source of sounds
- Plays simple games such as peek-a-boo
- Imitate sounds
- Blows bubbles and ‘raspberries’ with their mouth
- Can read your emotions from the tone in your voice, will try to avoid you when you are grouchy and will show fear if they sense you are afraid too
What to do
Use the timetable below to support their developments and avoid developmental delays.
Choose a timetable
Baby Month 4 – What can Babies do at 4 months? What to Expect
Your baby is now considerably more aware of what is happening around her/him. His /her eyesight and hearing are stronger. S/he is much more alert and responsive, indicating more focussed abilities through eye contact and focused interest.
You will now also be more aware of your baby’s personality. You can tell when S/he is going to want something and even be able to guess what that might be before s/he starts to make a fuss. For example, a feed, a change, or whether s/he is just tired, and so on.
S/he can now engage in playtime on a blanket on the floor with some toys and you will also notice that baby is now able to:
- Hold up his/her head at a 90-degree angle
- Is more interested in small toys that s/he can hold in his/her hands and tries to put them in his/her mouth
- Lifts head and chest when laid on tummy and will attempt to move
- Rolls over from tummy to back, and then quickly learn how to roll back to tummy once this is mastered
- Taste tests everything that is close enough to get a grip on (exploring everything orally).
- Salivate as they watch you eat, putting hands to their mouth
- Recognizes food source (bottle, breast, or otherwise) and reacts
- Responds to sound
- Wants more attention from you and will call out and make noises to get attention
- Gets very excited when they s/he sees you, smiling and sometimes giggling when you speak to her/him
- Has a little better hand-eye coordination
- Has distinctive cries for fear, discomfort, pain, and even loneliness
- Can move the head to look 180 degrees around
- Enjoy looking at colourful cloth books.
What to do
Use the timetable below to support their development and avoid developmental delays.
hOW TO SUPPORT Baby's DEVELOPMENTS
Babies are considerably strong and more flexible now. They have better coordination and start using their strength to move their whole body. Give them ‘tummy time’ to strengthen muscles ready for crawling.
Babies can pick things up and inspect them to develop their understanding. Give them access to different experiences and toys to support their independent discovery.
Your baby’s hearing is almost as good as an adult’s and they recognise different noises. Their hearing is now a source of knowledge, helping them to learn about the things around them. Read and sing songs to support this.
Baby’s senses are more developed and heighten their ability to learn.
Heuristic play can greatly support your child’s development, so use this to develop their understanding further.
Gurgling, cooing and making verbal sounds show that they are preparing their vocal cords for speaking and their brain is starting to process the verbal information around them. Continue to talk to them, read and sing to them.
Baby is very sensitive to your mood now, she will copy and react to how you behave towards her. Lots of cuddles, smiles and encouragement will help you raise a happy, confident, social baby.
Your cognition, thought and understanding are all connected to brain development. The toys they play with and your interaction with them will stimulate their thoughts and support healthy brain development.
Everything a baby experiences now leads to knowledge. Toys, books, social interactions and their senses, all lead to valuable learning experiences. Be aware that they can find all the information presented to them tiring.
4 – 6 Months
Continue to use the resources from 0-3 months and the following resources below.
Follow the Sound
Monitor your infant’s hearing development and stimulate their listening skills.
Sound clips library
Stimulate your child’s hearing with these different noises. Comes with accompanying picture cards.
Music and audio stories
If you are short of time, and cannot read or sing to baby yourself, play music or stories in the background for your infant to listen to and support their brain development.
Coloured cards
16 coloured pictures, to focus and strengthen baby’s eye colour receptors. Hold the pictures 18 inches away from them. Alternate with the black and white images.
Rattles
Easy to hold, they come in a variety of shapes, sizes and perform different activities. These are great resources for independent discovery.
Baby's Day Out
As baby is more alert now, sit them up in a pushchair facing outwards to learn more about their world and discover the things around them.
Scents & Fragrances
Baby will start eating solids soon, so prepare for the new tastes by introducing them to new scents and fragrances.
Feely cushions
Babies learn through all their senses. Make some small cushions with different textures that they can feel against their skin.
Food time
Babies start to eat solids from now, so introduce your child to different tastes, even if they don’t eat the food.
Baby Massage
Continue to massage babies, especially their legs, as they will kick vigourously and strengthen them.
Going Up
Babies need to strengthen and straighten their muscles, so that they can stand in preparation for walking.
Row, Row, Row
Physical activities you can with your baby will develop stronger bonds, as well as stronger muscles.
Story Telling
Develop your child’s language skills by telling them stories.
Activity Songs
Talk through your actions and tell your child what you are doing.
Gesturing
Pointing and gesturing are great ways to highlight new things to baby.
Puppet Time
Puppets are a great way to teach social skills.
Dance Time
Dancing with baby around the room develops social bonds.
Social Interactions
Encourage interactions with others to develop social skills
Baby Books
Fabric books and bath books are a great way to get babies interested in books and potentially read later on.
What is it?
Although baby cannot talk he can reach for things he recognises or wants. Test your baby’s knowledge with this activity.
Follow it around 3
This activity is a great way to teach your child new words and give them new knowledge. Cut out the resources from below.
