By the beginning of the third month, your little one must have figured out that there is more to life than just crying, eating and sleeping; though he will be doing plenty of the three and less of one – crying. Wondering what are the 3 month old baby development milestones your baby will achieve? Read on.
In this article:
Physical Development Milestones
Cognitive Development Milestones
Hearing & Visual Milestones
Communication Development Milestones
Soical & Emotional Milestones
Emerging Skills
Advanced Skills
Baby Care for Your Three Month Old
What You Can Do As Parents?
When to Be Concerned?
Physical Development Milestones
- Your little one will be able to stand bearing his weight on his feet.
- Can lift his head up 45 degrees during tummy times owing to stronger neck muscles.
- Will sleep relatively less number of times than before.
- His motor skills and hand-eye coordination in particular, will get better.
- Will be able to raise his head and chest and rest on his hands while on his tummy.
- Can hold his head upright when he is supported while sitting.
Cognitive Development Milestones
- He will mimic, chuckle and babble in response to anything you say to him.
- Will read faces from a distance.
- Can recognise voices and turns his head towards the direction it is coming from.
- Will sleep longer hours at a stretch and wake up only once or twice during the night.
Hearing & Visual Milestones
- Your baby will be visually alert as his 3-Dimentional sight has developed.
- Will enjoy looking at brightly coloured toys with sharp contrasting colours.
- His eyes will be well coordinated with a better sense of depth perception.
- Can track movements up to 20 feet.
- Will be more perceptive to even mild sounds and smell.
- Can watch you with attention when you go far away.
- Your baby’s vision at 3 months would have developed enough to differentiate between hues and bold colours.
- Begins to respond more enthusiastically to your presence, voice and smile.
Communication Development Milestones
- As an infant, crying is one of the dominant ways of communication for your little one. Starting the third month however, he won’t be crying as much as he did during his initial two months.
- Will show his ‘social smile’ and express his enthusiasm and joy upon meeting his baby friends.
- Babbles in response to what he hears and tries to mirror it. This is an important aspect of the three month baby development.
- Often uses sounds like ‘ooh’ and ‘aah’ along with vowel notations and cooing voices to communicate with you.
Social & Emotional Milestones
- Will start interacting with siblings. This is an important three month old baby development milestone as it will form the foundation for the beginning of his bond with his brother/sister.
- You will hear your little one laugh or chuckle for the very first time.
- By now, your little one is a full-on social animal and will charm you, your visitors and his friends using his own style of ‘baby talk’ with lots of eye contact, smiles and hand gestures.
- Will enthusiastically respond when he sees you are happy and when you take turns to have ‘conversations’ with him.
- Will not be social or friendly with unfamiliar faces or strangers.
- Shows excitement when he notices other babies and enjoys their company.
Emerging Skills
- Will be able to turn his head 90 degrees.
- Can throw objects and even hit on specific places or things with it.
Advanced Skills
He can roll over to the back without anyone’s help. To get back to the original position though, he will need support. This means you should expect a few cries now and then during the night as and when he gets stuck trying to roll back into position.
Baby Care for Your Three Month Old
- Though he will be sleeping for not less than 4 to 5 hours at a stretch, he may wake up once or twice but soon drift off to sleep on his own most of the time.
- It becomes critical to start taking necessary safety precautions, as your baby will be curious about objects and will put almost everything in sight that he can grab into his mouth. You should therefore make sure you keep sharp and small or tiny objects out of his reach.
- Many important developmental changes like sucking, chewing and drooling will occur now. Since it is an integral part of your baby’s growth and development, just let him be during those moments.
- Spend some time outdoors to give your baby a better and greater experience of his surroundings. Go to the park, beach or any large open spaces, feel the breeze and enjoy the open sky along with him.That’s a great way for you to take a break from your routine too.
What You Can Do as Parents?
- Connect words with gestures while talking to him.
- Say words to your baby even if he doesn’t understand and keep adding new words over time.
- Place him on his tummy and play games or engage in small simple activities that will necessitate movement of his neck muscles.
- This is the right time to create a routine for feeding, sleeping and play time for him. This way, your baby will get used to a schedule and sleep at a predictable time at night.
- Get your baby’s scheduled check up done on time.
When to Be Concerned?
- His head is floppy and he is unable to support it on his own.
- Doesn’t respond to the sight of your face.
- Is unable to grab or hold objects properly.
- Is not kicking his arms and legs with excitement.
- Doesn’t make cooing and babbling sounds.
Note: Each baby is different and therefore tends to grow at a different pace. Chances are that your little one may have crossed certain milestones already, or is probably a little behind on a few others, which is normal. If you still feel there is something of concern, do speak to your paediatrician/registered professional child healthcare provider.
