Have you been wondering what a 4 and 5 month old baby should be able to do,
and what red flags to be on the lookout for? If so, then this video is for you.
Hi I’m Dr. Belousov. I equip parents with knowledge so they
can care for their baby with confidence. These will be some of the best months
for you and your baby. Her personality will emerge more, and she will become more social.
As you and others interact with her, she will smile back and have episodes of laughing.
Your baby is able to communicate her emotions and desires better. She won’t only cry when
she’s hungry or uncomfortable, but also at times when she needs to let you know that she
wants a different toy or a change in activity. You may even find that your baby occasionally
cries when you leave the room or when she is suddenly confronted by a stranger.
Your baby is developing a strong attachment for you and the people who regularly care for her.
She associates you with her own well-being and is able to distinguish you from other people.
Even if she doesn’t cry around strangers, she will carefully study their faces.
Before stranger anxiety really sets in, she will go through a period of smiling
and interacting with most people that she meets. Her personality will be coming out in full bloom,
even people meeting her for the first time will notice many of her unique character traits.
During tummy time you will notice that not only is she lifting her head up higher than
previous months, but she is able to push up on her arms more, arching her back and
lifting her chest higher. The muscles in her neck, back, and core are getting stronger.
She will most likely have mastered the ability to roll from her tummy to her back,
although babies vary in the age when they are able to do so. Most babies roll from the tummy to
the back first because it is easier to go in that direction than to roll from the back to the tummy.
I will have a separate video on tummy time and a video on how to teach your baby to roll.
They will be linked at the end of this video once they're released.
If you are getting value out of this content, go ahead and hit the like button below.
If you are new to my community, click the subscribe button and ring the bell so you get
notified when the next video is released. At this age it will seem like he puts
everything in his mouth as he explores and discovers many new and interesting textures.
Mouthing objects helps prepare your baby for speech development and different textures of food.
While laying on his back, he might start to grab his feet and
toes and may even bring them to his mouth. Your baby's vision will continue to mature.
By this age she will be able to distinguish subtle shades of reds, blues, and yellows.
She will have mastered the ability to follow the path of a moving object with her eyes.
As his hand eye coordination improves, he will do better at grabbing objects and will have a better
aim at hitting the items hanging within his reach. He will reach out for toys and be able to hold
one toy in each hand. Your baby will have a claw like or raking grasp, using the palm and
fingers to hold objects, rather than being able to hold things using just the fingers.
Your baby will bring both hands to the mouth together.
His range of vision has increased to several feet and will continue to expand
until about seven months. Your baby will start to babble,
using many characteristics and rhythms of her native language. Right now it will sound like
gibberish, but if you listen closely you will hear her raise and drop her voice as if she is
making a statement or asking a question. She might repeat one sound for a whole
day or even several days at a stretch before trying another one.
During this period, your baby will start to understand the concept of cause and effect. He
will realize that his rattle makes a noise when it’s shaken. While sitting in a bouncer seat he
will notice that kicking his feet makes it move. Once he understands that he can cause reactions,
he will continue to experiment with other ways to make things happen.
A major discovery that your baby will make towards the end of this age range is that objects continue
to exist even when they are out of sight. What is known as object permanence. She will begin
to realize that the world is more permanent than she originally thought. The toy that you hid under
a blanket did not actually vanish after all. As she observes the coming and going of people and
things around her, she will continue to learn more about object permanence for many months to come.
Your baby will start to have a dramatic change in personality.
Initially she may seem to be a relatively passive baby who is primarily preoccupied
with getting enough food, sleep and affection. But as she learns to use her hands and move
them around more, she will likely become more assertive and attentive to her surroundings.
He will be eager to reach out and touch everything that he sees, and if he can’t manage on his own,
he will demand your help by yelling or crying. So what are the red flags to be
on the lookout for during this age? If your baby does not have good head control.
If your baby does not respond to sounds around her or does not turn her head when you call her name.
If your baby is using only one of his hands to reach for things.
If your baby has difficulty getting objects to his mouth.
If your baby continues to have an eye that crosses or wanders off.
If your baby doesn’t smile at you or others. If your baby shows no affection for the
people who care for him. If your baby can't roll
from her tummy onto the back. Let your doctor know if any of
these are present, so that your baby can be checked for possible delays in development.
If you would like a free download of my baby development checklist, you can get it
through the link in the description below. Also what are the topics that you would
like to see covered in future videos? Enter those in the comment section.
Share this video with those you know who would benefit from this information.
This video is a part of my baby development series. Several of the episodes are linked
above and the others can be found on my Youtube channel Friendly Kid Doc.
I’m looking forward to seeing you in my next video.