The newborn period has passed, but the body of the 3-month-old baby continues its development at a surprisingly high pace. Meet the social 3-month-old baby!
Physical Development
During the third month, the baby must gain one-fourth of her body weight by the end of the second month, which is 1.8 pounds (plus or minus 0.2-0.4 pounds). During this period, the baby’s height will increase by a tenth or 1.2-1.6 inches. Can you imagine such terms of growth of an adult?!
Imagine that in November you will be 10% higher than in October! And in December, you’ll gain 25% of your November weight! It seems impossible outside of fairy tales, the baby is growing before your very eyes. The scientific formulation of this process is: “There is no such period in the development of a human organism when it is growing at such a rate as during the first months of life”. The chest girth of the 3-month-old baby has increased by 0.6-0.8 inches, the same is true on average for the head circumference; the baby’s brain must gain about 0.1 pounds. All the internal organs and systems of organs of the baby are actively developing.
Main Showings of the Three-Month-Old Baby
Height – 22.4-22.7 inches
Weight – 11.1-11.8 pounds
Head circumference – 15-15.4 inches
Chest volume – 14.6-15 inches
Such swift growth of the baby’s organism is not possible without a proper energy supply. During this period, the baby is sleeping 18-20 hours per day and eating every 24 hours about as much of the mother’s breast milk as is approximately one-fifth of its current body weight. In other words, if the baby now weighs 9 pounds, then the amount of breast milk it consumes every day is about 1.8 pounds. But these are the general indicators. The parents shouldn’t worry if their baby is sleeping a bit less. Every child is unique.
During breastfeeding, the mother shouldn’t set any goals. A healthy baby knows, how much breast milk she needs and clearly lets her mother know it. Long-term sleep and liberal feeding are the very sources of energy, which enable the baby to grow at an incredible rate during this stage. If by the end of the third month you haven’t arranged a sleeping and eating schedule, or, in other words, if your baby sleeps and eats too little, you have to visit a specialist – a pediatrician.
What Motor Skills has the Baby Acquired?
The baby easily lifts her head and can hold it upright for several tens of seconds. When the baby is lying on her stomach, she raises her head and chest and holds them for some time in this position. The arms and legs of the baby are relaxed; they are being stretched to the sides.
The baby can waggle her head if someone supports it in a sitting position. Involuntary twitching of muscles now happens more seldom than in the second month. The baby can hold a rattle or another object for a short time, clasping it tightly with its hand. Her fists are partially open and sometimes the baby can thrash the air at random with her arms.
The Skin of a 3-Month-Old Baby
The skin is a shielding block from a huge number of aggressive influences of the environment on a human body, and, at the same time, an important sensor, perceiving different outside signals, and an effective thermoregulator. The baby’s comfort and state of health depend in many respects on the condition of its skin. The skin of infants has a number of age-related qualities, which make it not capable of resisting traumas and infections to the full extent. That is exactly why the mother and father must give particular attention to proper skincare.
Psychical Development
In this stage of development, the little one is much more confidently using its communicative organs than in the second month of life.
The Baby can Catch its Mother’s or Father’s Gaze
So, the visual organ of the baby has considerably developed – the baby can fix its gaze on an unmoving, definitely drawing its attention object up to half a minute, for example, on a bright toy or the face of a parent at the distance of 2 feet from the baby’s eyes. Such visual concentration undoubtedly shows the progress in the baby’s development. There is also progress in the concentration of visual attention on moving objects.
The baby watches the moving objects, shifting with the moderate speed in the field of its vision, very attentively, not only fixing its gaze on them but also helping itself with turns of its head. You can carry out a simple experiment with a bright rattle (choose one the size of a small apple), moving it to the different sides at the distance of 2 feet in front of the face of the baby. You will see, how much the visual skills of your baby have “matured”.
How has Your Baby’s Hearing Developed?
In the third month of life, the baby is actively trying to detect the location of a noisy object. Again, carry out an uncomplicated test. Make some noise with a loud enough rattle for 10 seconds outside of the baby’s field of vision (but no farther than at the distance of 4 feet from it). You will see how the baby lies still for a few seconds (its brain working hard analyzing the situation) and then it will turn its head to the right and to the left, making an attempt to find the object that’s broken the silence.
Besides the rattles and other sources of artificial noise, the baby is interested in human voices. If you talk affectionately to the lying on her back baby, standing near, but outside of her sight, the baby will turn her head in your direction.
With the development of the organs of hearing and vision, the three-month-old baby shows considerable dynamics in the development of the emotional sphere. The baby is more than able to answer with a broad and sincere smile to the affectionate words of an adult to it.
The baby is trying to tell the animate objects from those inanimate ones when they get into her field of vision. Thus, the three-month-old baby will pay much more attention to another child near it than to a familiar rattle, placed at the same distance. The little one will be watching another baby or one of its parents with real interest, showing signs of “contemplation” about the things it’s seen by its behavior.
Such “deep contemplation” usually shows in the stillness of the body and some of the mimic nuances. Sometimes the children at this stage of development are able not only to smile but also laugh spontaneously. Sometimes their laughter is loud and shrieking, sometimes – low and faltering. Of course, the baby’s laugh is magnificent and unforgettable for its mother and father.
Babbling – Connection Check
The single guttural sounds will gradually form babbling. The baby is shouting certain sounds: “uh”, “oh”, “eh”, “ah”. And at the end of the third month, the baby tries to combine them with consonants (“huh”, “heh”, “the”). The babbling is usually quite emotional. Sometimes the baby is cooing, squealing, gurgling, champing. From time to time, it may seem to the parents that the little one is sensing the mood of people close to it.
For example, if one of the parents is upset, the baby may act upset too. The little one can be studying your face for a long time, watching you very intently. The thought process of the baby is also developing at a quick rate. She can sense the atmosphere around her; when she gives signals (for instance, crying) it may seem that she is waiting for a response from the adults; and the baby obviously trusts her mother. The little one has associative thinking activity – after the crying breastfeeding or required help follows.
3-Month-Old Baby Pictures
Check out what a 3-month-old baby looks like.
Born in Belarus, 1985, a pedagogue and family psychologist, mother. Taking part in procedures of social adaptation of the foster children in new families. Since 2015 is a chief editor of the motherhow.com project, selecting the best and up-to-date material for those, who are planning, expecting, and already having babies.