Your baby’s first developmental landmarks

Newborn milestones

Your baby’s development will zoom by at lightning pace, especially in the first year. It’s wonderful to watch your newborn develop and reach a multitude of memorable milestones. Learn everything about these milestones in The Wonder Weeks app. Every day, your little one learns something new and you’ll be amazed at the skills they pick up. At first, newborns are mainly adjusting to the world outside the womb, although they also reach many milestones in the first two months. Remember that all babies go at their own pace and not all skills and developments manifest themselves at the same time. Every little one is unique!

Milestones for newborns in the first month

Milestones for newborns in the first month

In the first month, your baby will learn to recognize you, your voice and your scent, helping adjust to the strange world outside the womb. Although your baby doesn’t yet understand the words you say, talking to your baby will lay solid foundations for their language development.

Bit by bit, your newborn will see more and learn to focus on certain objects. Babies love patterns and really enjoy following them with their eyes. From the age of four weeks, they will discover how to use their voice in ways other than crying. At this point, they start making their first sounds, especially when they see you.

Newborn milestones in the second month

Newborn milestones in the second month

In their second month of life, your baby’s movements will become much smoother and effective, for example, they will grab for toys or for mum or dad’s hand. One of the most wonderful milestones comes at the age of around six weeks when your newborn smiles for the first time.

When you notice their eyes light up and widen when the corners of the mouth rise up, you know it’s a genuine smile rather than an random reflex. Your newborns first smile is a shining milestone for the photo album, after all, what could be more beautiful than a smiling baby?

Newborn milestones and skills

Milestones and skills following leap 1

Between four to six weeks after their birth, your baby will take leap 1 into the sensory world. In this phase, your baby’s sense will develop rapidly. The leap starts with a fussy phase characterized by the three C’s: crying, clinginess and crankiness. However, after this fussy phase, the skills phase kicks in and you’ll notice that your baby is suddenly more responsive to both you and others. Also, your baby will cry with tears for the first time. Learn all about leap 1 in the Wonder Weeks app.

Milestones and skills following leap 2

At around eight weeks, your baby will take leap 2 into the world of patterns. At this age, your baby will learn a new skill. This will allow them to learn new things that they couldn’t have learned before, even if you’d practiced all day every day with them. Your baby is now capable of recognizing simple patterns. Once again, this leap is accompanied by a fussy phase followed by a skills phase. As well as seeing patterns, your newborn can also hear, smell, taste and feel them. As a result, they will start turning their head towards sounds, scents or sights. By now, your baby will be getting better at holding their head up while awake. This leap is the earliest point at which newborns can do this, although it’s normal if your baby develops this ability later. Your baby is able to ‘hit’ toys, a sign that they are trying to learn to grab. This is one of many other skills that your baby may develop after leap 2. Learn all about leap 2 in the Wonder Weeks app.

 

Side note about newborn milestones

The course of your newborns milestones is unique to them. All babies develop at their own pace. We indicate the earliest possible age for every potential new skill but by far the majority of babies learn these skills a little later – and that is completely normal.