As Baby gets bigger and more talented every day, it’s important to remember that every baby develops at their own pace. It’s completely normal for a baby to develop more quickly than the average in some areas, and to take a little longer in others. Baby is only human, after all – they can only learn so many things at a time. If they decide to take some time to really get serious about their fine motor skills, it only makes sense that they might lag for a little while on their language skills. Once they have mastered the skills they have decided they need to master, they will have plenty of time to catch up in other areas. And as will be the case for the next several years, the more interaction with them you have, and the more you let them play, the quicker they will learn.
It’s no good for either you or Baby for you to be stressed about the speed of their development, but that doesn’t mean you can’t help them out a little. Making sure Baby gets plenty of well-supervised tummy time will help to make sure their trunk gains plenty of strength and control that they will need for a whole range of different types of motion, like raising their head, neck, shoulders, and, eventually, sitting up entirely. Free-play time where Baby isn’t strapped into any kind of seat or device gives Baby the chance to stretch and build out all those brand new muscles, too, and to explore all of their admittedly pretty limited options for moving around.
You can encourage other areas of their development a little more actively than just by keeping an eye on them while they roll around on the floor. Their vision is still developing, and while they can see a lot more colors than they could when they were born, they probably still have a preference for high contrasts between colors. This means cloth books or board books in black and white, or with dramatically contrasting colors, could be a big hit right now, as well as good stimulation for their developing vision.
This point, coming up on the 6-week mark, could be around the time when Baby starts to develop a bit more of a regular sleep schedule. This doesn’t mean it’ll be the sleep schedule you were hoping for, but at least it might be a little bit easier to plan around.
Milestones
- Makes noises other than crying: And no, not screaming. Around this time, Baby might start getting ready to start talking! They do this by making funny little noises that definitely aren’t words, but are certainly steps in the right direction.
- Recognizes familiar faces: My, how that vision has improved! Baby is even at the point where they might be able to recognize familiar faces…like yours!
