What do parents need to know about baby development at 4 months?

Any mother carefully notices changes in the development of her baby, waits for them and rejoices at the successes.

It cannot be otherwise, because every month is a whole era for such a baby, and a four-month-old baby is not at all like his three-month-old self.

At four months, the newborn is already noticeably stronger and ready to absorb new knowledge and explore the big world.

Social, psychological and physiological development makes great leaps, and significant changes in behavior occur. The baby begins to show interest in the people around him and try to interact with them, and is actively interested in the events happening around him. The proportions of an infant's body change, and every day they become more and more similar to the proportions of an adult.

To assess the level of development of a child, young parents need to know how a child should develop, what a child should look like, and know what he can already do at this age. Indeed, at this stage, many shortcomings can be corrected with properly selected games and special activities.

What should a baby be able to do at four months of age?

The child’s body has become noticeably stronger, and at 4 months, as a rule, the baby has the following set of skills :

• Acquires the ability to independently roll over (read more about when a child begins to roll over) onto his back and back. Lying on his stomach, the child can lift his body, leaning on his palms, and hold in this position for several seconds.
• Lying on his back, the baby can raise his head and shoulders.
• Manages his hands confidently. Able to hold toys for 30 seconds, hold mom while feeding, or grasp a bottle.
• The lacrimal glands have already fully formed, and when the baby cries, tears begin to flow.
• Colic goes away, the functioning of the gastrointestinal tract is normalized.
• Hearing is actively developing, the baby is able to determine the source of sound.
• The eye muscles are strengthened, strabismus and weakness of the eye muscles are a thing of the past.
• When pulling on the arms, the baby tries to sit up.

Attention! It is too early to purposefully sit the baby down; the spine is not yet strong enough and is not ready for such loads. It is very important to wait until the child tries to sit up on his own.

Psycho-emotional development

1. The “revival complex” is easily caused. When he sees his parents or other familiar people, a 4-month-old baby smiles, rejoices, actively moves his arms and legs, and gurgles.
2. Recognizes mother, distinguishes her from the rest.
3. Smiles at his reflection.
4. Babbles. At times you can hear not only individual sounds, but also the syllables “ma”, “pa”, “ba”. This is still an unconscious onomatopoeia, the progenitor of future active speech.
5. Expresses various emotions. It's not just joy and sadness anymore. Anger, resentment, and fear are added.
6. Behavior also becomes more differentiated. If the baby likes the game, he is happy. When it stops she starts crying. Among the toys, he singles out his favorite ones, which he is ready to play with all the time.
7. Easily identifies the source of sound by turning his head towards it. The child begins to perceive music. Reacts well to rhythmic or melodic song.
8. Concentrates, listens at the sound of his name.
9. He begins to feel his body in space and gets acquainted with it. It's funny to watch a baby stare at his hands or feel his feet. This is how children are - learning through play.
10. A baby's vision is almost at the level of an adult. The baby can already distinguish several colors - red, yellow and blue.

There is no need to tire your child with multi-colored toys. A large number of colors and shades strain the organ of vision and create increased stress on the nervous system.

Reflexes

Since the child grows and develops quickly, the primary reflexes of newborns give way to more advanced ones. Among them are :

1. Robinson's grasp reflex. If in the first months of life the reflex was unconditioned, now the child begins to consciously reach for objects. The skill has not disappeared, but has moved to another qualitative level. Previously, the baby’s fist would clench as soon as any object came into his hands, but now the baby chooses what interests him most. By assessing the degree of manifestation of this reflex, a caring mother will be able to predict the quality and speed of development of fine motor skills in the future.
2. Crawling according to the Bauer reflex. By 4 months, this reflex fades away almost completely. If earlier, having felt support at the legs, the baby would push off and try to crawl, but now he strives to crawl on his own.
3. Moro reflex. It does not appear by the age of four months in most children - a sharp sound no longer causes the child to flinch and throw his arms out to the sides with open palms.

Reflexes-irritants, which a child should completely get rid of by 4 months:

1. Perez reflex. Previously, when running fingers with light pressure along the spine, the child arched and screamed.
2. Galant reflex. Irritation of the skin near the spine line will no longer provoke a bend in the back.

At a scheduled appointment, the pediatrician will definitely assess the condition of the above reflexes and, if necessary, refer the baby for a consultation with a neurologist.

Vision

Caring parents of a four-month-old baby notice that the color of the child’s iris changes , and blue eyes at birth become brown, gray, green, etc.

The changes concern not only appearance. A baby's vision approaches that of an adult. Strabismus caused by muscle weakness disappears, synchrony of eyeball movements appears.

The baby already knows how to follow moving objects, move his gaze from one toy to another and focus. The optimal distance for successful viewing is 20–30 cm . The child becomes receptive to colors; at 4 months, yellow and red become favorite, and then blue and green shades.

Important! Don’t overstrain your baby’s eyesight – choose toys that combine no more than 4 colors at the same time.

Hearing

The child's hearing is becoming more and more perfect. The baby is already able to find the source of the sound - he listens, turns his head towards its source and finds it with his eyes.

Musical preferences are also formed. Some prefer slow melodies, others are cheerful and playful, and some babies love exclusively their mother’s lullabies.

It can be noted that the baby’s activity depends on the sound of music - lullabies calm him down, and fast melodies give him vigor, motor activity increases noticeably.

A child at 4 months distinguishes the voices of his parents , and is already able to understand whether the voice is familiar or not.

Important! Talk to your baby, describe everything that comes your way on walks, read books to him and repeat babbling - all this will help your baby start talking much earlier.

Behavior

The fourth month of a baby’s life is characterized by his socialization.

He recognizes his parents even if they are wearing bright clothes, a hat, glasses or makeup.

The child reacts calmly to strangers and may not pay attention.

And on the contrary, he looks at his mother with pleasure, and is very upset when he loses sight of her.

The problems of the first three months are left behind, and the baby becomes much calmer; now it is easier to determine the true cause of his tears and irritability. However, do not relax - from this moment the period of teething begins, characterized by soreness and itching in the gums.

Baby development at 4 months

Now that the baby is 4 months old, parents' lives are becoming a little more orderly. But the baby can present a surprise at any moment! Starting this month, he will improve his motor skills, and in a few months he will be able to pick up things, roll over and sit up on his own. And this is just the beginning: here we will tell you how a child develops at 4 months.

Growth and physical development of a child at 4 months: Everything is going according to plan

A four-month-old baby is usually actively growing (on average, adding 450-570 grams per month). But do not forget that uniformity here is more important than specific weight gain or growth. Most likely, at your pediatrician's appointment, your baby's growth rate will be checked using a special table. At this time, the processes of physical and mental development are actively occurring. Somewhere at this stage, the child learns concepts such as cause and effect, and his actions become more conscious.

Feelings: Looking into the distance

The world around a child literally becomes clearer as his vision improves. At this age, babies usually begin to recognize their mother and other familiar faces from a distance and are good at following moving objects from side to side with their eyes. The child distinguishes colors better and better. For example, you may notice that he likes shades of red and blue. What else does a four-month-old baby just can’t take his eyes off? Push! At this age, the best gift for a child is a mirror made of unbreakable material. In it, he will be able to endlessly examine objects of different shapes and colors, as well as see his own movements.

Not only the child’s vision is improved, but also the brain, hearing, and along with them speech skills. He may try to repeat the sounds and intonations of your speech, as well as certain fragments of words. His crying varies depending on his needs. The sounds a baby makes are similar to babbling, but this babbling is an important basis for real speech.

Movements: Getting ready to roll over

At this stage, the baby's body is focused on learning to control muscles and coordinate movements. If you notice that your baby is increasingly putting various objects into his mouth, this is because his vision is improving. You just need to keep a close eye on what's within its reach. The child already knows how to grab toys and rattles and shake them, and then he will learn to transfer objects from one handle to another.

And very soon this little man will learn to move! While he is training the muscles of his back and chest, he is also learning to support his head while lying on his tummy. It won't be long before he gets strong enough to learn to roll over from one side to the other.

Important developmental milestones in the 4th month

At this stage, the child can usually:

• hold the head independently;
• bring your hands to your mouth and put them in your mouth instead of a pacifier;
• sit with support;
• reaching out to things that interested him and grabbing them.

Mental development: Getting to know the baby better

At 4 months, the baby’s brain is actively developing, he becomes more mobile and is even more interested in everything that happens around him. Often at this age children begin to perceive intonation. A calm, soft voice is reassuring, while a more serious and angry voice makes it clear that something is wrong. When a child babbles to himself or to you, he is also trying to imitate intonation. The child can repeat individual sounds and syllables even before he learns to put them into real words.

What if the baby is uncommunicative and does not show curiosity? It's OK. Sometimes timid babies just need more attention, time and care. Observe your child - if in certain situations he gets tired, nervous or switched off, give him time to get used to new faces or activities.

Mental characteristics

By four months, the child has already successfully established connections with the outside world. He strives for communication - babbling and humming appears, joy from conversations and games.

Speech skills develop quickly, the first sounds appear in the arsenal, the baby tries to imitate the language spoken by the adults next to him.

A reaction to your own name appears. The baby does not yet show obvious joy upon hearing him, but already freezes and listens.

At 4 months, the child reacts very violently to all the events happening around him and is easily overexcited.

The feelings of a four-month-old baby become more and more intense, interest, surprise, curiosity and disappointment appear. His brain is developing rapidly, and his interest in the world around him is becoming stronger.

On our website you can read articles about the development of a child at 1 month, the development of a child at 2 months, the development of a child at 3 months, the development of a child at 5 months.

Nutrition

The main food at 4 months is still breast milk and formula , depending on the type of feeding.

Their consumption is already 800–900 grams per day, feeding occurs every 3–4 hours. A single volume of food consumed is about 130 grams.

At this age, the baby is already ready to try new foods, and if necessary, the pediatrician may prescribe early introduction of complementary foods.

Acceptable foods for a 4 month old baby:

• Milk porridge.
• Cottage cheese.
• Vegetable and fruit puree.
• Juice.

Most often, experts recommend introducing vegetables first into complementary foods - zucchini, broccoli and cauliflower. Then comes the turn of fruits:

• Peaches.
• Bananas.
• Pears.
• Apples.

As for cereals, gluten-free cereals - rice, buckwheat and corn - are an excellent choice for a 4-month-old baby.

Juices and cottage cheese are added next. The juice must be diluted with water, and the cottage cheese must be mixed with 1-2 tablespoons of formula or breast milk.

Important! When introducing complementary foods, remember that this must be done in the first half of the day in order to assess the baby’s reaction to a new product in the diet.

Carefully monitor your baby's skin and stool. Any deviations from the norm are a reason to immediately remove the new product and consult a pediatrician.

Daily routine and daily procedures

In addition to proper development and nutrition, a child at 4 months must learn to adhere to a certain regime: clearly distinguish day from night, as well as sleep, be awake and walk at approximately the same time. Such a schedule does not have to be perfectly time-accurate, but it is still necessary to adhere to its sequence. In addition to sleeping and feeding, the daily routine of a four-month-old baby must include:

1. Walks in the open air. They should be regular regardless of the weather. The only difference is their duration: in the warm season, the baby needs to be outside for at least 3–4 hours, while in the cold season, the time spent outdoors should be reduced to 1–2 hours. Walking is important for a four-month-old baby not only to strengthen his immunity, but also to explore the surrounding space.
2. Developmental activities. A baby at this age really needs communication and games, so you should talk to the child as often as possible, read him short nursery rhymes and sing songs. It is not recommended to hang too many bright, but monotonous rattles over the crib - it is much more useful if such toys are different in shape, color and sounds. Children at this age love to watch the flight of soap bubbles, but you need to be careful that the soap from such balls does not get into the child’s face.
3. Water procedures. Four-month-old babies, as a rule, respond well to bathing, so such procedures should be done daily. For baths, it is advisable to use herbal infusions, pine extracts or sea salt. However, before using these supplements, you should consult your local pediatrician.
4. Gymnastics and massage are the basis for the physical development of the baby. Gymnastics classes are best done in the morning, when the child is most active. It is better to do a massage after taking water procedures before going to bed. In the store you can purchase special baby massage oils that have a calming and relaxing effect on the nervous system, helping the baby to better tune in for a night's rest.

Development at four months does not always clearly correspond to the described standards, since there are a number of reasons why a baby may lag behind his peers in certain indicators.

And if the doctor does not see any serious abnormalities in the mental or physical functioning of the child’s body, there is no need to panic. It is much more important to remember that even an infant is a small person with his own individual qualities and temperament.

Approximate daily routine

A child's daily routine changes slightly at 4 months. The main difference is the reduction in sleep norms from 18 to 16 hours a day .

This increases the intervals of wakefulness, which now last about an hour and a half.

Night sleep lasts up to 10 hours, but during the day the baby sleeps three times for two hours.

An approximate crumb mode looks like this:

1. 06:00–8:00 - rise and first feeding. During this period, all necessary hygiene procedures are carried out - washing, changing a diaper, air baths, etc.
2. 08:00–10:00 - sleep.
3. 10:00–12:00 – feeding, massage, games and communication.
4. 12:00–14:00 – walk and sleep.
5. 14:00–16:00 – feeding and active games.
6. 16:00–18:00 – walk, sleep.
7. 18:00–21:00 – feeding, educational games and bathing the baby.
8. 21:00-00:00 - night sleep.
9. 00:00–06:00 – feeding and night sleep.

It is important to understand that each child is individual, which means that the daily routine should be formed solely based on the characteristics of the baby.

Baby nutrition - what mothers should pay attention to

With mother-supported breastfeeding in the fourth month, the baby continues to receive full breast milk. The number of feedings per day in the on-demand mode can reach up to ten, in the case of the hourly mode - up to 5-6. With good weight gain, taking into account the correct and healthy, full development of the baby, the introduction of complementary foods at this stage is not required. Breast milk, at least until the baby reaches 6 months, will fully satisfy the nutritional needs of his growing body.

Note! The World Health Organization advises breastfeeding mothers to continue breastfeeding throughout the first year of their baby's life.

For bottle-fed babies, the situation is different: by the age of 4 months, their secretion of hydrochloric acid increases, local intestinal immunity is formed and the activity of digestive enzymes increases. By this period, the baby’s body’s needs for proteins, mineral salts and vitamins increase, which cannot be satisfied only with a nutritional formula. Therefore, by 4–5 months, infants on IV can be gradually adapted to eating food with a denser consistency, i.e. introduce the first complementary foods.

What is the best way to start introducing complementary foods?

For the first portion of complementary foods, 0.5 tsp. Vegetable puree or porridge are suitable. The choice of a specific product to try depends on the baby’s well-being and the characteristics of his fragile body.

A new product should be introduced into the baby’s menu mainly in the first half of the day, so that the baby’s reaction can be monitored until the end of the day. If the attempt is successful, the portion is gradually increased from half a teaspoon to a whole one. In 5–7 days, the portion is brought to the age norm of 50–100 g and replaces one of the previous formula feedings. After 10–14 days, you can try adding the following product as complementary food. As a result, by the end of the month the feeding regimen may look something like this:

Care and hygiene

Boys

Mandatory hygiene procedures for a baby at 4 months include:

1. Cleaning ears and nose.
2. Washing.
3. Daily bathing.
4. Treatment of the navel (until the wound is completely healed).

You should dwell in more detail on intimate hygiene. Since the foreskin in boys closes quite tightly, hygiene should concern only the outer part of the genital organ. Underneath it, smegma is produced, a substance that has an antibacterial effect.

Recommendations for intimate hygiene for boys at 4 months look like this:

1. You should not wash the reproductive organ after each urination; wiping with wet wipes will be enough.
2. Do not stretch the foreskin as this may injure the baby.
3. Wash your genitals with soapy water, thoroughly rinsing off the solution. Soap left on delicate skin can cause serious chemical burns.

Girls

Most hygiene procedures do not depend on gender, and girls at 4 months also need cleaning of their ears, nose and daily bathing.

The features relate only to the area of ​​intimate hygiene of the child. A girl should be washed in two cases:

• After every bowel movement.
• During an evening swim.

Washing too frequently will destroy beneficial bacteria living on mucous membranes, which will significantly increase the risk of infectious diseases.

Important! Do not allow soap to get inside the genitals - this will lead to inflammation.

It is recommended to use any hygiene products when washing girls no more than 3 times a week. The rest of the time, use only clean, warm, running water.

You should wash your baby without using washcloths or sponges, with clean hands, moving from the pubis to the butt. This will prevent you from introducing infection into the genitals.

Doctor Komarovsky

Evgeny Komarovsky, a famous pediatrician, notes that boys and girls at 4 months already urgently need to communicate with their families.

They smile (more about when a child starts smiling here), walk around, and even start laughing in response to adults' attention.

Unconditioned reflexes quickly fade away, infant colic disappears due to the development of the digestive tract.

The doctor also recommends encouraging the baby’s individuality as often as possible, since he is already fully aware of himself and distinguishes himself from his environment.

What to do with your baby at home?

The main thing at this age is communication. Mom and dad should talk to the child as much as possible, read fairy tales, and tell stories. Carrying your baby in your arms around the apartment, you can organize a whole excursion for him, paying attention to objects, pronouncing their names and properties, and doing massage or gymnastics - showing parts of your body.

Constant communication with the baby helps the formation of a passive vocabulary. Later it will become an active lexicon.

Rattles are not as interesting to the baby as they were a month ago. Therefore, you can think about purchasing or making your own tactile pads filled with cereals or other small details, an educational rug, or soft books with bright illustrations.

Classes

At 4 months, contact with mother remains of primary importance for the child . Although the baby is not yet able to control his body and speak, tactile sensations and oral communication, conversations with loved ones play a huge role in his development.

Educational games for a four-month-old baby should be dedicated to:

• Development of tactile sensations.
• Development of coordination.
• Sound training.

The massage is carried out in a playful way, combined with rhymes and nursery rhymes. A toy that needs to be brought to the baby and waited until he reaches it will help develop coordination.

Learning sounds can be successfully accomplished by playing “repeat”, which consists of asking the baby questions until he responds with a sound, which the adult must immediately repeat.

It is important to stimulate the child’s interest in the world around him and encourage him to reach for objects that interest him.

Development of auditory concentration.

Where does the sound come from?

In this exercise, the baby learns to turn his head towards an invisible sound source and focus his gaze on it. Take a sounding object - a rustling object, a shuffler, a rattle, a children's musical instrument (you already read what toys a baby needs and how to use them to create a developmental environment in the first part of this article) and start making sounds with it. The baby will turn his head towards the sound. Then walk around the playpen or crib, sounding the toy - the baby follows the moving sound source with his eyes.

After this, tap the toy on the sides of the crib in different places - the child will turn his head towards the sound source.

Sound the toy from different directions, pause, talk to the baby, encourage him to turn his head in different directions.

Always do such exercises, causing turns in different directions - left and right!

Common problems at this age and how to solve them

The most common problems in children at 4 months:

• Teeth are being cut. The child becomes extremely restless, often capricious and does not allow his gums to be examined. You can help your baby by preparing a special toy for him and a local anesthetic that can temporarily relieve irritation.
• Bad dream. The problem usually concerns daytime sleep and can be caused by overexcitement, dry air, inappropriate temperature, etc. Ventilate the room and play calm games with your baby or read a fairy tale to calm him down.
• Feeding problems. The baby bites his mother's breast, assessing her reaction. The problem is solved by silicone nipple covers, sold in pharmacies.
• The baby is often distracted during feeding. You can only wait out this period; after looking around, the baby will return to eating.

Contact your doctor immediately if you notice the following signs:

• Inability to hold head up.
• Lying on his stomach, the child does not try to lift his body.
• Doesn't turn over.
• Doesn't look for the source of sounds.
• Doesn't try to grab toys.
• There are reflexes that should have gone away by this age.

Physiological characteristics of the baby in the fourth month of life

The pace of growth of the baby in the fourth month becomes slower. On average, weight gain is about 700-800 g. The child's height increases by 2-3 cm. The head circumference becomes larger by 10-20 mm.

Interesting fact:

in the fourth month of life, the child’s head no longer seems so large compared to the body. The baby looks more proportional.

By the fourth month of life, a newborn's lungs have grown to approximately 2 times their size at the time of birth. A four-month-old baby has a sufficiently developed pancreas, which allows him to prepare for complementary feeding. Also, at 4 months, the baby already understands what the course of the day is, he will no longer confuse day and night, and will play during the daytime, while sleeping at night.

Another physiological feature of the baby at this time is the strengthening of the hip joints. This prepares his legs for later walking. At 4 months, the first signs are visible that teeth will soon appear. Sometimes pain begins already during this period. However, the eruption of the first teeth usually occurs at 6 months.

In the fourth month of life, the baby must receive all vaccinations. Before this, parents should take preventive actions that will increase the success of the procedure. If your child has a fever or skin rashes, you should consult a doctor.