Child Development

Birth to 3 months physical development

Babies learn how to control their muscles and movements. Motor control develops from the head, moves down through the arms and the trunk and then to the legs and feet. At first, children's movements are reflexive in nature -- for example, turning their head to the side when you stroke their cheek. As motor development continues, babies will learn to interact with their environment. By one month, a baby can turns her head from side to side when lying on the back or belly, and can move her hands and arms

  * Recognizes parents' voices, from birth      
  * Discovers their own voice
  * Enjoys eye contact, smiles at people and studies faces
  * Cries as a way of communicating needs
  * Coos and gurgles happily when given attention
  * Startles at noise and responds to sounds in time
  * Stretches or moves arms and legs
  * Lifts head when lying on tummy
  * Holds head up to search for sounds and movement
  * Rolls over to one side
  * Discovers feet and hands and holds objects
  * Follow moving objects with their eyes

Emotional and social development birth to 3 months
  * Makes eye contact
  * Cries for help
  * Responds to parents' smiles and voices
  * Begins to develop a social smile
  * Enjoys playing with other people and may cry when play stops
  * Prefers looking at people rather than objects
  * Studies faces
  * Gurgles and coos in response to sounds around her
  * First begins to express anger

  * attention
  * Smiles back when you smile at her. The big smile involves his body -- hands open wide, arms lift up, legs move
  * Can imitate some movements and facial expressions
Communication and intellectual development birth to 3 months
  * Gets startled by sound. Quieted by familiar voices.
  * Cooing and making sounds. Responding
  * Babbling strings of sounds. Vocalizing in response to speech Distinguishes speech from sounds you make
  * Focuses on...