Activities for Your 3-Month-Old

You're greeted with a happy infant when your 3-month-old wakes in the morning, and you find that your baby is playing more than ever. She is interacting with you all the time, cooing, gurgling, and smiling when she sees your face and hears your voice. Here are some ways to make playtime together even more fun.

Floor time
You're still working on tummy time, so she should be spending a lot of time on the floor working her muscles. Place colorful toys in front of her -- while she can't grab for them yet, she enjoys looking at the bold, bright colors. Toys with music and lights are entertaining, too, but be careful not to overstimulate your baby. She's still very young, so introduce things slowly to her and watch for her reaction.

Check her out
Your baby loves to look at faces, and she may start to be intrigued by mirrors, too. Attach an unbreakable mirror to your baby's crib so she can look at her own face. As the two of you are looking into the mirror, talk to her about her eyes, ears, nose, and mouth, and point to them, too.

Sing and move
Clap her hands together and recite nursery rhymes or sing. Your voice is the most important sound to your baby, and whatever you sing is music to her ears.

Reading rules
If you haven't started reading to her yet, now’s the time. She'll love brightly colored books like the ones that feature babies just like her.

Track the toy
A great activity to help your baby focus her eyes is to lay her on the floor and hold a toy about 10 inches above her head. Move it from side to side and let her follow it with her eyes.

As you and your baby are enjoying the fun and games, she is reaching milestones and accomplishing so much already. Go, baby, go!

Photo by Lubomirkin on Unsplash

Tips for Baby’s First Words

Few baby milestones are as thrilling as your child’s first words. They sound just plain adorable, for one thing. The fact that your little one can talk to you, and that you can better understand his wants and needs, is a huge accomplishment for both of you.  

While every child will learn to speak at his own pace, your baby might babble his first “mama” or “dada” around 6 to 8 months, and by age 1 he may have added a few other words to his list. While your child probably won’t be able to have a full conversation until his second year, it’s not too early to start encouraging language development. These tips will help get your baby talking.

Baby talking rule number 1: Get chatty.

This may seem like a no-brainer, but in the first year of life, children are drawn to their parents’ voices and faces. So simply talking to your baby teaches him new vocabulary and encourages first words. Talk aloud to your little one, even when it seems silly (e.g., “Mommy’s folding the blue socks right now!”). Provide constant narration too when you are out and about in a new environment to introduce him to new words (e.g., “Look at those pretty flowers in the park!”).

Baby talking rule number 2: Talk back.

Aim to respond to whatever your new baby is looking at. Follow your child’s interests and let him be your guide when deciding what to talk about. For example, if your child is staring at a dog and babbling, make this the topic of conversation and repeat the word “dog” over and over while pointing at the pup.

Baby talking rule number 3: Focus on routines and repetition.

Daily activities such as bath time, mealtime, and changing time are ideal opportunities to have the same conversations with your baby each day. During these times, he will begin to pick up on key words and phrases and associate them with the activity.

Baby talking rule number 4: Model speech for your baby.

To help your baby build language skills, speak in slow, short sentences about whatever your child is focusing on and wait for him to try to repeat the word back if he’s ready. Help him recognize objects and words through play ("Here's your ball. Let's hide the ball").

Your baby will be on a roll with his words before you know it! Just remember that some children start talking a little earlier, and others take their time to utter their first words.

Photo by Alyssa Stevenson on Unsplash

Baby Movement Milestones

The first year of your child’s life will be full of baby development achievements. Perhaps the most noticeable change will be the transition from a newborn with limited, jerky movements to a cruising, moving older baby.

Are you wondering what to expect from your baby’s next big move? Here, some of the major infant development milestones of his first 12 months, and when you can (roughly) expect them to happen. 

From 0 to 3 months, your baby may:

  • Raise his head when placed on his stomach
  • Stretch his limbs and kick his legs when lying on his back
  • Open and shut his hands into fists
  • Grip or shake baby hand toys

From 4 to 7 months, your baby may: 

  • Roll back to front and front to back (Baby safety tip: Now that he’s moving side to side, prevent dangerous falls by never leaving him unattended -- even for a second -- on a changing table or other high surface.)
  • Sit in a “tripod” position, supporting his weight on his hands, and later, without help from his hands
  • Be able to stay up in a standing position (with help from you), supporting his weight on his legs
  • Pass a toy from hand to hand
  • Use a raking motion to try to reach objects
From 8 to 12 months, your baby may: 
  • Move himself into a sitting position without support or help
  • Push himself up onto his hands and knees
  • Move from a sitting to crawling position, and, with practice, propel himself around
  • Pull himself up to stand (Baby safety tip: This is the time to double check your baby proofing. Stairs should be gated off, and because baby will likely fall from time to time, consider padding table edges to prevent injury.)
  • Cruise around the room while holding on to furniture

Of course, all children are unique, which means they develop at different speeds. Don’t panic if your baby isn’t reaching milestones exactly on this timetable. But if you are concerned about a possible baby development delay, consider talking to your child’s pediatrician.

Baby Brain Boosters

Before you know it, you’ll be stumped by your child’s math homework. But for now, you’re his best teacher, and just by playing with him and interacting with him, you'll help make him smarter. Introducing new words, sounds, objects, and experiences encourages brain growth at an exponential pace.

If you feel like your cute little baby isn’t absorbing anything you say or do, just wait. In a few weeks, he’ll be wowing you with all his tricks -- things he learned from you!

How does your baby learn?

At birth, the brain is the only organ that is not fully developed; it is a work in progress. Everything that happens to your baby helps form the connections in his brain, so one-on-one interaction and the introduction of new, exciting things is very important to your baby’s brain development.

Introduce your baby to experiences that engage all five senses -- touch, sound, smell, sight, and taste. Simple things such as playing music, gently rubbing your baby’s palm over his dad’s scratchy beard, and even letting him smell your freshly brewed cup of coffee triggers the development of many complex pathways in his little brain.

One of the best parts of being a new mom or dad is watching your child discover the world. It’s a bit of a cliché, but the world is pretty awesome when you look at it through your child’s eyes!

Don’t obsess over reaching milestones

You’ve heard it once, you’ll hear it again, and it’s oh-so-true: All babies are different! Babies develop at different paces, and even if yours doesn’t appear to be gaining new skills, his little baby brain is working overtime!

Between birth and 3 months, your baby will work on motor skills such as better head control and the ability to open and shut his hands, social skills such as smiling, and sensory skills like the ability to track a moving object with his eyes.

Between 4 and 7 months, your baby will gain better control over his body, become more interested in social play, and explore the world with his hands and mouth.

As your baby approaches the 1-year mark, his brain will develop even further, allowing him to sit up and find hidden objects.

All of these milestones occur on a continuum of learning, and there’s a wide range of what’s considered normal. If you’re concerned about your baby’s progress, be sure to talk to your doctor. When there is a delay, early intervention can make a big difference.

Photo by mali desha on Unsplash