Not sure what your four month old baby should be doing or what you should be
expecting. We'll stay tuned.
As I talk about the developmental milestones that you should be expecting for
your four month old baby. Hi if your new to my channel,
my name's Emma, I'm a paediatric occupational therapist.
Who has had the pleasure of working with parents of newborn children all the way
up to school age for the last 10 years. I'm also a mom to two gorgeous children.
When I became a new parent,
it became very apparent that there was lots of information out there that was
very, very confusing.
And when I spoke to my friends they were often overwhelmed by the amount of
information out there, and they didn't know what tips or strategies to use.
So I wanted to create a channel,
which is based on my clinical experience for the last 10 years as a pediatric
occupational therapist,
and share with you the tips and tricks I've learned along the way,
which will make your life as parents easier and ensure your baby gets the best
start to life. If that's something you're interested in,
make sure you subscribe to my channel and hit that bell button to be notified
when I release a new video every week. And if you've liked this video,
make sure you give me a thumbs up.
So before we dive right in and talk about four month old development,
I just wanted to let you know that there's a free PDF document,
which I've created in the description box below.
Which covers what developmental milestones you should be expecting for your
baby's first year of life.
Which you can print out and have as a reference point to refer to at any point
during your baby's first year of life,
to ensure that you know that they're achieving the milestones.
If at any point you're concerned about your baby's development,
make sure you take them to their doctor or a pediatrician to have a
developmental check.
In regards to gross motor development, at four months of age,
when lying on their back,
your baby will now keep their head in the middle of their body and they'll bring
their hands to the middle of their body, which is really, really exciting.
They now have the core strength to bring their hands to their knees,
and they'll also enjoy kicking their legs.
When on tummy a four month old baby will be able to lift their head anywhere
from 45 to 90 degrees and place weight through their forearms.
And the hands will be open when they're on the ground.
They'll also now have the ability to actually turn their head, to follow a toy.
They now have the ability to roll from their tummy or their back to their side.
And some might even be rolling from their tummy onto their back.
In regards to fine motor skills, your four month old baby when lining
on their back,
will reach out with both hands to grab a toy and they'll grab that toy using
their palm and their fingers, which is called an ulnar palmer grasp.
They can now hold and retain a toy for a period of time.
So they'll grab a rattle and they'll shake it and they drop it by throwing it or
casting it aside. The other thing is that when lying on their back,
they'll start to bring their fingers to the middle of their body,
so the middle and they start to move them. Um,
and the other thing is that when they're grabbing a toy,
they can actually now bring it up to their mouth.
And when they're sucking a toy, they suck the toy and their fingers.
It's not just the toy. So everything's in their mouth at this point.
In regards to social and emotional development,
a four month old will smile spontaneously and enjoys playing with people.
They can also copy some facial expressions. So that's smacking their lips,
poking out their tongue and smiling.
They recognise familiar people and can see at a distance.
In regards to language and communication skills,
a four month old baby will start to babble and they also have different cries to
indicate tiredness, hunger, and pain.
They also might start to laugh for the very first time,
which is extremely exciting. So I'm going to cover sleep.
I know it's not a developmental milestone,
but I think it's really important for our baby's development.
So at four months of age,
they will sleep anywhere from 13 and a half to 15 hours in a 24 hour
period, and they generally have a set bedtime. When they go to bed,
they normally sleep the first five to eight hours before waking for a feed.
And they generally have one to two feeds a night.
They may sleep anywhere from 10 to 12 hours over the night.
A four month old would generally drop their four naps that they have in the day.
And so they'll start to have three and generally they sleep for one sleep cycle.
So that's really common. So catnapping is very,
very common and it's completely normal.
So they'll sleep anywhere from 30 to 45 minutes and they'll be awake anywhere
from two to two and a half hours between naps.
So that's it moms and dads we've covered what you should be expecting for your
baby's development at four months of age.
Remember there's that free PDF document in the description box below,
which you can click on and print out and have it as a reference point through
your baby's first year of life. If you've liked this video,
make sure you give me a thumbs up and subscribe and hit that bell button to be
notified when I release a new video every week. Hopefully I see you next week,
where I share more parenting tips and tricks to make your life as parents easier
and give your child the best start to life.