From this month onwards, your baby’s need for socialization has also emerged. The vital activities that were at the top of the priority list in the past months have now given way to social needs. Starting from this month, you can begin contributing to your baby’s development by acquiring age-appropriate toys.
Vaccines
There are no vaccinations required for your baby at the end of the 3rd month. As with every month, you should consult your doctor this month as well for monthly height-weight tracking, head circumference measurement, and health checks. Although there may be developmental delays in premature babies, if you have a full-term baby and observe any developmental delays, you should share this with your doctor.
Physical Development
From this month, your baby has started to become more active. They can hold their head steady, lift it to observe their surroundings when placed on their stomach. When in a prone position, they can support themselves on their hands, lifting their chest and starting to carry their body. They will no longer enjoy being stationary. When held upright, you may see them trying to stand by pressing their feet to the ground. When lying down, they try to lift themselves when you pull their hands. You can now establish routines such as feeding and sleeping for your baby. If you have a baby who doesn’t get hungry very often, you can extend the feeding time a bit as their stomach capacity can now hold more breast milk or formula. As they don’t need to wake up as frequently as before, they might sleep more uninterruptedly on nights when they go to bed full. If your baby’s night sleep is irregular, putting them to sleep at regular intervals during the day might help. As your baby’s need for play and communication has increased, there might be some decrease in their attachment to sleep and feeding.
Cognitive Development
The part of your baby’s brain that enables it to work faster is developing gradually. Eye coordination and hand skills are strengthening. They will start using their hands more actively. They are aware of their fingers and want to examine them. They want to immediately put their own hand and all other objects they can hold into their mouth. Even during feeding time, when you call them from a distance, they try to look towards the direction of the sound. They distinguish mechanical sounds from real ones, with a greater interest in human voices. When given a rattle-like toy, they try to shake it and make noise. From this month onwards, they will lay the foundations for establishing such cause-effect relationships. They enjoy looking in the mirror and examining themselves. You can start using unbreakable toy mirrors produced for babies. They will enjoy touching and identifying objects of different textures. You can introduce them to toys made from materials like towel, velvet, felt, and plush.
Emotional and Social Development
From this month onwards, your baby may also develop a favorite object. They might become more attached to an item like a toy, pillow, or blanket. Other children attract their attention more than adults. Although they always behave closely to their mother and father, they also want to establish social relationships with other people they like. Similarly, they may react by crying to people they don’t know. When they see their mother or father, they show their excitement, their movements increase. They laugh out loud at people who pay attention to them. You should show love to your baby, touch them, hug them, and have frequent skin-to-skin contact. This helps them relax, feel secure, and become a peaceful baby. Crying periods gradually decrease compared to before. If the season allows, taking your baby outside frequently will be beneficial. Getting fresh air, seeing and recognizing the environment will calm your baby.
Language Development
Talking to them soothes them and prevents them from feeling lonely. Talk to your baby frequently about any topic using simple sentences. Even if they can’t understand the meanings of words, hearing them will make them happy. Especially speaking with changes in your tone of voice will attract their attention more. For example, read them a fairy tale and bring the characters to life with different voice tones. As their brain’s hearing and functions are developing better, they try to talk to you, responding to what you say with meaningless sounds.
→ You can also read our article on 4-Month-Old Baby Development.
