The question of how to develop a child in 3 months, many parents ask. The increased interest in this topic at this time is especially relevant, because the baby finally begins to show emotions and is aware of his physical strength. At this age, there is a sharp jump in everything that the baby learned. This stage is so important that it is worth considering in detail all the changes that occur with the baby at this age.
Features of the period
Some pediatricians consider this age to be borderline-transitional, and some even argue that women should have a gestational age of 12 months, not 9. They explain their theory by saying that only 3 months after birth the baby becomes able to live outside the mother’s womb and gains social qualities.
A child at 3 months old really changes dramatically: he cries less and communicates more, he has infantile colic, he begins to show interest in the world around him, becomes physically stronger and more coordinated, his hearing and vision improve.
Hearing and sight
The first thing that mothers of a 3-month-old baby pay attention to is that he begins to listen to unfamiliar sounds. Not only that, he even turns to the sound source.
The distance from which the baby is able to distinguish sounds is significantly increased: now he hears all sounds that are heard within a radius of three meters from him. At birth, this distance was 2 times less.
A particularly touching discovery for parents is that the development of a three-month-old child has reached the point where he recognizes people close to him. Seeing a familiar face, the baby begins to smile and grimace. The little one is also able to voice his discovery and emotion.
A child at 3 months examines his hands for a long time: he moves his fingers, puts them into fists. Also, the object of attention is the mother's face and chest, spinning toys over the crib.
Large motor skills
Significantly improves the large motor skills of the child. Now it is not so easy to catch him in one position - he is persistently trying to raise his head and body, moves his hands, raising and lowering them.
Lying on his stomach, the baby tries to rise on the handles, while raising his head at an angle of 90 degrees. In this position, he is able to stay for 30-50 seconds. From the reclining position, the child also tends to sit down all the time, and from the position of lying on his stomach or back he manages to roll over to the side.
When the parents carry the crumbs in their hands, he holds the head straight, so it no longer needs to be supported every time, raising his child.
Fine motor skills
Touching at this age becomes the child's interest in toys and the desire to take them in the pen. Someone at this age manages to hold the rattle in his hands and even sends it into his mouth, while someone is only trying to capture it. In both cases, the coordination of the baby’s movements is rapidly improving.
Not only toys become attractive objects for licking at this age. Everything stretches into the mouth that one can reach: diapers, toys, mother's fingers, own clothes.
Research talents are also emerging: the child likes to touch different objects, faces and hair. Touching, he senses an object.
Social development
At this age, the baby sharply socializes and from a detached little man turns into a person with conscious desires, moods and interest in his small world around.
At the age of 3 months, a small child begins to be interested in everything that happens around him: he is attracted by unfamiliar sounds, he begins to monitor the movement of his parents. Kroha likes it when mom or dad carry it around the house and talk about things around.
The inner world of the crumbs is being formed: he no longer just recognizes mom and dad, but tries to attract their attention, bitching with his legs, making faces or agucas. At this age, many children for the first time start touchingly laugh in a voice.
Own speech development
The development of a three-month-old baby and his speech apparatus is directly dependent on hearing. The ability to hear appears from the first days of life and by the age of three months reaches the level that provides rapid progress in speech and generally has a positive effect on the development of the child. At 3 months of life, the baby first begins to laugh out loud, which also reflects the development of hearing and speech devices.
That is why, by the age of three months, the baby begins to actively walk, calming himself and talking to himself. You can even talk to a child, he answers with simple sounds - “aaa”, “uuu”, “yyy”. The child’s 3-month speech skills are such that he can even combine sounds or replace other vowels.
Each of them now has its own intonation fullness. Using the emotional coloring of pronounced vowels, the child expresses his condition: when he is hungry, when something bothers, and when he wants to sleep. Each of these conditions now has its own intonation characteristic, which also reflects the characteristic skills of the child at 3 months.
Self-Service Skills
A child of 3 months, of course, is still helpless, and the word "self-care" here has a somewhat generalized meaning. However, it can reflect the essence of the process, which is the child’s ability to help himself in something.
So, by the age of three months, the baby is able to take the object he needs and bring it to his eyes to better see, or to his mouth to lick. However, taking the same nipple, he will not be able to put it in his mouth the right way the first time, but if he succeeds, then, most likely, by accident.
In addition, the baby is able to maintain a bottle of water itself, as well as his mother's breast during feeding. Also, the child opens his mouth when he realizes that he is trying to give him water to drink from a spoon.
Daily regime
By the age of three months, the daily regimen of the baby is radically changing. Firstly, it is less often applied to the breast - instead of 12 feedings a day after birth, 8 are enough for it. The second qualitative change concerns the duration of night sleep: the baby now has 10-11 hours of rest with two night feedings. The third important point relates to the duration of daytime sleep. After three months, the baby sleeps three times a day for 1.5-2 hours.
In addition, the crumb's sleep becomes stronger, now he does not wake up when trying to put it in his crib. This is due to the fact that now sleep in children begins with a deep phase, rather than a quick one, as it was in the first three months.
Massage
After three months, the baby usually has an increased tone of the arms and legs, so that he begins to better coordinate his movements. However, it turns out this is not always and not at all. How to develop a baby in 3 months with massage? To help him learn to master muscles, neonatologists recommend regularly doing a special massage that improves blood circulation and tactile sensitivity of the baby. Through this procedure, muscle strength also develops.
The massage technology is very simple: it is performed in the form of strokes, light rubbing, circular movements. All manipulations should be carried out very carefully, with a slight pressure. Each procedure is repeated 2-3 times.
The sequence and nature of the action during massage baby:
- We start with pens and legs. Massage is done by stroking and circular movements.
- Upon completion, a series of passive exercises can be performed to develop muscular strength. To do this, it is recommended to breed and cross the arms on the chest of the child. To develop the muscles on the legs, perform sliding foot movements on the table surface - forward and backward.
- The “coup” procedure will help you quickly master your own body. To do this, carefully turn the baby from the abdomen to the back and vice versa, while supporting the pelvis.
- Do not forget about the tummy and back. Massage the tummy in a circular motion with your fingers and fist very carefully. And the back should be stroked with circular and zigzag movements with the fingertips.
- Do not forget about the press. Holding the handles, raise the child’s head and body to a half-sitting position.
- Neonatologists also recommend massaging the baby’s feet, “boxing” the baby’s fists and swinging the children on a massage ball.
How to deal with a child
A prerequisite for the harmonious development of the child are classes with him by his parents. By three months, the baby responds to affection, voice and needs to communicate. How to develop a child in 3 months, how to interest him and teach new skills?
- Show love: hug the baby, kiss his fingers and tummy, blow on the feet. This is a prerequisite for him to feel needed and protected.
- Listen to music with him. Choose classic tunes and a low sound. Clap your hands to the beat of the music.
- Little kids love it when their mother sings songs. Nothing can replace a mother’s tender lullaby.
- Make different sounds and make grimaces - this will encourage the baby to repeat the sounds behind you and develop your speech system.
- Teach your child to find a sound source.
- Develop his olfactory abilities: let's smell a banana, bread, a flower.
- Also work with touch: offer your baby alternately hard and soft objects, light and heavy, prickly and tender.
- Show the little one that there is a rhythm in the conversation: talking to him, stop as if waiting for an answer. Soon, the baby will begin to coo with you.
- Comment on your every action. This will expand his understanding of what this or that movement means.
- Standing near the mirror, show the child where he has the nose and where he is with you.
- Raising or lowering it, comment on it with the words “Up!”, “Down!” etc.
Toys and entertainment
The choice of toys at this age is influenced by the new abilities of the baby. Therefore, if the question arises of how to develop a baby in 3 months with the help of toys, you should focus on what he knows at this age. Recall that the baby became interested in the outside world, learned to take objects with pens, and began to respond to sounds.
In accordance with this, toys on pendants are selected:
- garlands in a stroller, which you can reach with your hand;
- electric cars installed above the bed;
- toys with rubber bands in the car seat.
To stimulate the development of hearing and vision are selected:
- toys with sound and light accompaniment;
- various rustlers, rustles;
- toys with a soft mirror.
The kid at this age learned to roll over to the side - that means you can’t leave him alone even for a minute. It’s time to have a playpen. The child should be interested there, so put toys there that he can only play there.
If there is a need to leave the children's room in order to do household chores, the baby can be taken with you in a portable chair with pendants.
What should alert
The developmental indicators of the child may vary in each case, but at 3 months the child must acquire some skills. If any of the listed skills is missing from the crumbs, it is recommended to consult a local doctor. In some of these cases, you may need to contact a pediatric neurologist and surgeon.
One of the alarming points may be that by the age of three months the baby does not hold the head on its own.
If the three-month-old baby does not follow the toys and does not show interest in them at all, this is a serious reason for going to the doctor.
By the age of three months, the child is already smiling and grimacing. Poor facial expressions and emotionlessness require a visit to a doctor.
Also an important indicator at this age is the baby's ability to control the movements of his arms and legs.
Physical development of a child at the age of three months
As every month to a year, the pediatrician will evaluate the development of the child at 3 months. Height, weight, circumference of the head and abdomen must comply with the standards. The excess of reference indicators, as well as their underestimated values, requires attention.
The table below shows the allowable weight indicators for children of this age. The physical development of the child at 3 months, according to this table, should be characterized by certain weight and height. In particular, the weight for boys is considered normal if it is in the range of 4.9-7 kg. The growth should be from 56.5 to 62 cm.
Height and weight of children at 3 months | Minimum values | Maximum values |
| Weight in kg (boys) | 4.9 | 7.0 |
| Weight in kg (girls) | 4.8 | 6.3 |
| Height in cm (boys) | 56.5 | 62 |
| Height in cm (girls) | 56.2 | 61.8 |
It is worth saying that a newborn baby usually has a small fat layer and is very fragile. A few months after birth, his body is noticeably rounded, so the development of a child of 3 months (photos of children can be seen in the article) is accompanied by the appearance of more rounded shapes.