When does a child begin to develop his first conscious smile: at how many months?

Crying and screaming for every good reason - any toddler can do all this from the first minutes of birth, since at this stage he still has no other means of communicating with you.

And you, as a not yet fully experienced, but already caring mother, may also be offended in response and, no longer able to endure mental suffering, burst into tears together with the “ungrateful” child.

But don’t rush to waste your nerves, it’s better to be patient and wait a little.

Mother Nature decided that your baby will not be able to express joyful feelings right away; he still has to learn this wisdom. And he will do it so quickly that you won’t even have time to look back, because the days are already counting.

Why doesn't a newborn smile?

A newborn baby is different from adults. Among the differences is the absence of familiar emotions. The baby's face does not yet express his feelings (except for discomfort), including no smiles. Their parents will not see their child in the first month of life.

Interesting. In fact, a newborn baby already knows how to smile. But his parents most likely will not see his very first smile (even before birth, in the womb). It is almost impossible to catch her on an ultrasound. True, this is not a full-fledged smile, but simply muscle movements, like moving arms and legs, testing the capabilities of the body.

A child begins to smile “like an adult,” consciously, when his nervous system is fully matured for this. While the baby is not even aware of his emotions, the entire range of experiences for him is reduced to comfort and discomfort. An action similar to a smile is most often first observed in a baby’s sleep. It is not known exactly what it is connected with (there is an assumption that this is done reflexively), but the baby is definitely smiling spontaneously at that moment.

How a skill develops

Baby Istra mixture - nutrition for children up to one year old

On average, it will take a baby from 4 to 8 weeks for the first signs of contentment to appear on his face. Moreover, smiling outside of his sleep is an action that requires a lot of effort for a baby. This is the first awareness of your feeling. The baby feels comfortable, nothing bothers him, and this feeling is transmitted to the outside world through a smile. Moreover, this is expressed not only through a stretched mouth, but also with the eyes - their expression changes too.

When baby smiles for the first time

A baby may have several first smiles, they all differ:

Before birth, unconscious;
After birth, unconscious.

Unconscious smile in a dream

Conscious.
The first one is for parents (usually mothers).

Each of these first smiles has its own interpretation:

A smile that appears in the womb does not express feelings. This action at that moment is on a par with the movements of the arms and legs, this is the work of reflexes.
Reflexive smile of a newborn. Most often appears while the baby is sleeping. It can also occur during waking hours. For example, one couple recently posted a photo online of a happy new dad, a happy mom (still on the surgical table after a cesarean section) and their newborn with a joyful smile. Of course, this could not be a sign of the child's contentment; it was just a coincidence.
A conscious smile already reflects the baby's contentment. For her, the baby needs to “mature” and learn to separate the pleasant from the unpleasant. This is the second stage of establishing communication with the outside world (the first, accessible from childbirth, is crying).
The first smile to mom and, less often, to dad is also conscious, and has a special meaning.

Smile for mom

The baby learns to smile specifically for the person closest to him later, separately. The essence is the same - the baby now not only tells the world about his comfort, he sees the source of this comfort and recognizes it.

Baby smiles at mom

Most often, this source is the mother. She is the one who soothes and treats pain and feeds the baby. The baby gets used to her smell and voice even before he is born. Therefore, for him, she is, in fact, the whole world for now. When a child begins to smile at the center of his world in a special way, this indicates the development of his brain, the acquisition of skills to remember and recognize.

When a conscious smile appears

When a newborn’s first smile appears depends on its type:

Reply. The baby notices something that interests him and does not feel discomfort. The result is a short (up to a few seconds) smile. This skill appears in about a month or two.
Social. You need to wait for it in two or three months. This is not just an expression of experience, but an attempt to interact with the world.

Note! A special game is very useful for the development of a baby. At this age, the baby understands that his smile evokes a response from an adult, and this must be used. It is recommended to play “mirror”: repeat all the actions of the baby. Smiles - you need to smile back, frowns - recreate his facial expression.

Constant. Occurs at 5-6 months. The child smiles at everything: a toy, reflection in the mirror, a game. Everything interests him, everything evokes positive emotions.
Selective. Appears at the age of 5-9 months, addressed only to special individuals: mom, dad, only the closest ones. At the same time, the overall number of smiles decreases. This is normal - the baby learns to separate his friends and strangers.
Humor. The child begins to laugh at the distorted parental voice, grimaces and parodies - proof that he already knows how to separate outright fiction from the serious. The child, of course, will not understand the joke yet - he does not perceive auditory information so well. But laughter from staged comical situations is the first step towards the emergence of humor.

All the above deadlines are strictly individual, like any development. They may “walk” a little in one direction or another. It all depends on two factors:

Brain development. The child begins to consciously smile because he can already concentrate his attention on a certain object or phenomenon for at least a few seconds. When such concentration appears depends on the activity of the brain, the baby’s temperament, and the attention paid to him by the parents.

Mom plays with baby

Personal qualities. If by six months the baby has stopped smiling at everything new, and only the parents deserve his smile, this is a variant of the norm. The baby does not know what to expect from the unknown, whether to fear it or not. Other children, on the contrary, do not reduce the number of smiles. This is also the norm - there are more fearless kids.

Advice. Parents should not worry if their child develops a little outside the standard time frame. Despite the fact that the child is healthy and has no developmental pathologies.

The meaning of a smile

A newborn begins to smile for the first time in the middle of the first month of life. At this moment, the child’s smile is not yet conscious, but is simply an unconscious muscle movement. A mother can replace her baby’s smile already on the 2-3rd day of his life, but this smile still has nothing to do with a conscious one.

With the passage of time and psychological development, the baby's actions and facial expressions acquire a conscious character, stimulating a smooth transition of the newborn from unconscious life to full awareness and submission of his facial expressions and gestures.

Depending on the time of occurrence, the smile of a child in the first year of life can be divided into several types.

First

Most often, such a smile appears in a baby during sleep, but it can also appear during wakefulness. Some mothers also noted that they saw their baby’s first smile already in the maternity hospital, but what happened was not a conscious action of the child, but only a reflexive movement of his muscles.

The older generation even came up with an association according to which the smile of a sleeping baby is a response to the “tender kiss of an angel,” and not an independent action for which a newborn would need to use at least 15 muscles.

Unconscious

A baby can smile unconsciously for the first time even before he is born. At this moment, the muscles of his face spontaneously stretch, acquiring the semblance of a smile. The child can repeat the same movement a few minutes after birth, but his actions will not be conscious and do not carry any meaning for the parents.

For loved ones

At the age of 6-8 weeks, the baby first pleases his mother or another loved one with a short smile that lasts only a few seconds . This happens because the child notices something that interests him or a loved one bending over him and consciously copies his facial expressions. At this moment, nothing bothers the baby, he feels comfortable and tries to respond to the interest shown in him.

In addition to its importance for parents, the first smile copied by a child is considered a sign of his correct psychological development and the initial stage of speech development.

Satisfying needs

This kind of smile appears much later than other types and indicates the good health of the baby who received what he wanted . Such a smile can appear both at the sight of a bottle of food, and in response to a given toy, the appearance of a mother, or a pleasant touch.

Is it possible to speed up the process?

Complementary feeding at 8 months while breastfeeding

You can help your child start smiling faster. To do this, it is recommended to devote more time to him: talking to him, showing him your smile, playing. All this is new information for the brain, developing it. The better the brain is developed, the sooner the baby will smile.

Mirror games are also recommended (how to play them is described above). They are very useful - firstly, they lay the foundation for further development of speech (this is the first stage - the little one learns to do something in order to receive an answer from the outside), and secondly, they develop empathic intelligence. First, the baby learns the whole range of emotions from the outside. Then he will master them at home. Finally, he will get used to the fact that others also feel the same as he does. Thirdly, such a pastime helps the baby form a picture of a safe world in which he can develop calmly.

Do they teach a child to smile?

Smiling is a skill that is already inherent in the baby’s psyche before birth. About the same as crying when there is discomfort, like the desire to repeat and copy the actions of adults. Therefore, there is no need to specifically teach children to smile. All you can do is spend time with them, look for the “key” - what interests the little person the most, what he is ready to follow, what he is ready to do.

Mom talking to child

How to help your son or daughter recognize their parents faster

In order for your daughter or son to begin to quickly identify their parents, you need to listen to the following recommendations:

You should smile at your child more often. He will respond in kind. The more often a mother smiles at her son or daughter, the stronger the psychological connection between them.

Child smiling at mother

A young mother should spend enough time with her baby. This way he will get used to her better.
You should talk to your baby more often. Then he will quickly get used to his mother’s voice and utter his first word earlier.

Important! Even a one-month-old baby needs to be introduced to the objects of the surrounding world and told what they are called. After all, the baby actively explores the world around him. The child's mental development depends on how often parents talk to their baby.

When demonstrating toys, you need to place them as close as possible to children's eyes. Otherwise, it contributes to the formation of strabismus. They also place bright objects at a small distance from the face and change them periodically.
During communication, you need to actively use facial expressions.

Knowing when any child begins to recognize their parents is very important - this indicator indicates the correct development of the baby. If there is anything wrong with this, you should visit your pediatrician. A baby develops correctly only in a family where harmonious relationships reign.

If the child doesn't smile

The timing of the appearance of a smile is strictly individual. You should not assume that if a baby does not smile as often as he would like, he is unhappy. Some are more smiling, some are less, this is normal. All people are different.

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Some children make contact easier. They are not at all afraid of strangers, they are not afraid to break away from their mother and explore this world. As a rule, a smile appears on the face of such babies sooner and more often. There are pitfalls here - such babies develop faster, but at the same time they are more likely to be injured and find themselves in unpleasant situations.

Other babies are more attached to their mother, they are calmer. The smile on their face appears later; the little one gives it only to what he already knows and understands. New faces, objects and even phenomena frighten him, causing not laughter, but crying.

Important! All of the above is the norm. There is no need to force the baby into general frameworks and standards; it is better to give him the opportunity to develop at a comfortable pace. At the same time, monitor his condition, visit a pediatrician and neurologist on time, and follow their recommendations.

Smile and child development

Reflexive smiles simply mean that the baby's facial muscles are working normally. In the first weeks of life, babies try a wide range of expressions. As relationships with family and deeper social connections develop, children begin to smile when they are happy or imitate a parent's smile.

Children who don't smile may have developmental problems.

A smile can also be a reflection of culture and environment. A 2012 study looked at smiling in infants between 6 and 12 weeks of age. The researchers compared children from families with a lot of personal contact with those whose families had little personal contact.

Mothers and babies from both groups smiled at each other for the same amount of time when the babies were 6 weeks old. By 12 weeks, children and mothers from communities with fewer face-to-face interactions smiled less.

This suggests that children perceive smile cues from their family and culture. Children who have more frequent face-to-face interactions will smile more.

When to see a doctor

Even individuality has its limits. Including in terms of the timing of the appearance of smiles. If your baby doesn't smile at one month, that's normal. Dr. Evgeniy Komarovsky gives the first 6 weeks of life to develop this skill.

Komarovsky Evgeniy Olegovich

Other pediatricians call different periods - up to 8 weeks. If the first smile has not lit up the little one’s face before this time, you need to visit a neurologist.

When examined by a specialist, if no problems are identified, the waiting period can be increased up to 4 months, that is, up to approximately 16 weeks of life. Whatever the personality, by this time the absence of a smile is a sign of pathology. In this case, the doctor will prescribe a series of studies and tests. The cause of the problem can be both mental and physical disorders (in brain development). Based on the results of the examination, special medications will be prescribed, and, if necessary, a consultation with a more specialized specialist.

A child’s smile is a sign of a newborn’s maturation, which has a beneficial effect on the baby and his parents. With its help, the former learns to communicate and trust this world, the latter receive a dose of endorphins (this is the reaction an adult body gives at the sight of an infant’s smile). It is important to let your baby master this skill at a pace that is convenient for him, but do not forget to monitor the baby’s condition, consulting a doctor if necessary.

When children identify their mother visually

Daily routine of a 5 month old baby

The vision of an embryo is formed during pregnancy. After birth, the baby's ability to see clearly is weak. During the first weeks, he sees the world around him as if in a fog and visually senses the outlines of objects. He doesn’t care who passed near him: his parents, or maybe a complete stranger.

Note! The baby clearly perceives only those things that are closest to him.

A baby at the age of several weeks is able to recognize:

bright light or its complete absence;
movement of people;
separate closely located objects.

Starting from about three months, the world around us becomes colorful for the baby. This is precisely the time when the child is able to recognize his mother. She is the one who feeds the baby and most often carries him in her arms. Therefore, he detects the mother’s face, facial expressions and smile earlier. This occurs at three months of age. By this time, the baby can clearly distinguish his mother and can smile at her and coo.

At 4-5 months, when the mother appears, the child begins to actively move his arms, legs, and reach for her (provided that she smiles and talks to him). The baby does the same when looking at a stranger.

Baby 5 months old

At six months of age, children clearly distinguish between parents, other family members and strangers. They often avoid the latter: they don’t play, don’t smile, and behave somewhat awkwardly. This is a normal newborn reaction. If parents notice differences in the baby’s behavior, they should urgently contact a pediatrician.

Sometimes a son or daughter does not immediately recognize a loved one when he is on the side. There is no need to be afraid of this. At several months of age, peripheral vision is still quite narrow; the baby is not able to recognize close people from this angle.

It often happens that a son or daughter does not recognize their mother just because she changed her memorable clothes or put on bright jewelry. This is also normal - the child perceives the mother by the presence of certain external signs, if there are no familiar things, then the little one gets lost.