Newborn week 2-4
In the first month, your baby is busy gaining control of his body.
He's losing some of his jerky, spasmodic movements and is beginning
to move his arms and legs in a smoother, more purposeful way.
- He's gaining head control and by about a month old you'll find
him moving his head from side to side in his cot
- When you speak to him in a slow, steady rhythm, his arm and leg
movement is slow and steady. Try speaking faster and watch his
kicking speed up
- Introduce him to a new sound and he'll stop moving and appear
to be listening. After he's heard the same sound two or three
times, he stops reacting. Now try a different sound and watch him
respond again.
Watching the world go by
Your month-old baby can follow a moving object with his eyes. He
likes
- Faces - especially your face or a face which looks like
yours
- Patterns - he may prefer patterned wallpaper or stripey sheets
to anything plain
- Strong colours - particularly black and white.
You can see your baby's preferences by seeing how long he looks at
an object before losing interest.
Dads can come too!
Your baby gets a very different kind of stimulation from his dad
than he does from you. Dads who are involved in day-to-day care
quickly learn to respond to their baby's needs. By two weeks old,
your baby will show a strong preference for his dad's voice over
any other male voice.
Did you know?
Babies don't just look at your face shape - they're much more
interested in your features. They respond more positively to
pictures of faces than to pictures of other objects, but lose
interest if the facial features are jumbled. At birth, your baby
likes to look at the top of your face, particularly your hairline.
By four weeks old, he's more interested in your eyes.
Things to do
- Talk to your baby from different parts of the room. As he looks
for you he begins to connect sight and sound.
- Lie your baby on the floor on his tummy. Get down with him,
show him a colourful toy and say his name. It will encourage him to
lift his head, exercising his neck, back and arm muscles.
- Choose a brightly-coloured toy and encourage him to follow it
with his eyes by moving it slowly from left to right about 15
centimetres from his face.
