Development : Newborn to Six Weeks

Development : Newborn

Gross Motor

When your newborn lies her tummy, you will notice she lies with her arms and legs curled up because of the way she has been lying in the womb. If she was born bottom-first, her legs will not curl up as much. Most newborns lift their heads while they are on their tummies and turn it from side if only for a second. They do this to "gain their balance". If you lie her on her back and pull her gently towards you, her head will fall back behind her body. This is called 'head lag' and is why it's important to support your baby's head when she is being held, fed or bathed.

Fine motor and vision

Fine Motor : Your baby grasps objects that come in contact with the palm of her hand.
Vision : Your baby is able to see from birth. Young babies are short-sighted, so brightness and movement will attract your baby's attention and faces and eyes are the things she focuses on best. Hold your face close to her face, move it slightly from side to side and watch how she follows you with her eyes. Do it any time after birth when she is relaxed and alert.

Hearing and Speech

Hearing : Your baby is able to detect a loud noise and respond with reflex ( a jump) from birth, but you will find her response is not there for every sudden loud noise. When she is sleeping deeply, crying, distracted or feeding, a sudden noise will often make no impression whatsoever. You may find when you try to make her jump by clapping or banging a door there is no response, so don't worry the life out of yourself by continually trying to 'test her hearing'. After a few weeks you will start to notice she does respond to noises such as an adult coughing or sneezing, keys rattling or a dog barking. Newborns respond selectively to different sorts of sounds. A soft noise such as a 'whooshing' , music or a lullaby can soothe and calm your baby while a loud, jarring noise has the reverse effect6. She will also stop crying at times to listen to your voice.

Speech : Until your baby starts to coo and make other noises from about six weeks, crying is her only vocalisation, although not her only form of communication. She does have more subtle ways of communicating such as grasping your finger, staring intently at your face and coming off the breast when she wants to, but crying is the form of communication you're likely to be most aware of in the early weeks. The amount and duration of crying is highly variable between babies. Some babies cry infrequently and only then for an obvious reason, others confuse and bewilder everyone by crying for long periods of time for reasons impossibles to work out. Baby sign language is very popular. It is collection of easy to remember simple gestures (sighs) that babies can learn to use before they can speak. The aim of baby sign language is to be able to communicate in meaningful ways with babies and so find out what is troubling them and fulfill their every need. The companies involved in selling the baby sign language method(s) claim a host of advantages such as IQ enhancement, an ability with languages and reduction of temper tantrums, tear and frustration. The research cited to support the seemingly amazing benefits of baby signing has predominately been conducted by psychologies who have vested commercial interests in the system. But to be fair, there is also plenty of anecdotal praise for baby signing from parents world-wide.

Social behaviour and play

Many of your baby's reflexes are outside her control, but you will notice there are times when her response to things is intentional. Research in the last twenty years shows that newborn babies are capable of responding purposefully and making choices. Responding to your voice and being comforted by rocking, sucking, cuddling or skin-to-skin contact are all very your age babies frequently reject water but drink breastmilk or formula eagerly.

Development : Six Weeks

Gross Motor

By six weeks your baby has noticeably more head control, so you will find you don't have to support her head as much when you lift and hold her.

Hearing and Speech

Hearing : Sudden will make your baby jump, although there are still times when she doesn't respond.
Speech : Between five and eight weeks she will start to make beautiful gurgling, cooing noises when you talk to her. The first responsive noises babies make are magical sounds.

Social behaviour and play

Along with the cooing noises the first smile appears - and what a moment that is! A small number of babies smile as early as ten days. People love to refer to early smiling as "wind". A non-communicative grimace, which is very common for babies to do, especially when they are sleeping, is not a smile (nor is it "wind") ; but when baby looks at you and smiles in a way that is definitely communicative, ignore suggestions of "wind" - it is a smile! 'the average age for the first smile is between five to eight weeks.