4 months

Your baby is learning to…

• Explore interesting objects with their mouth
• Recognise their bottle or when it is time to be breastfed
• Respond to interesting noisy toys
• Use verbal and non verbal communication to cause a reaction from their carer
• Grasp and release an object, then regather the object
• Turn take with vocalising
• Hit or kick a noisy toy to make it go again

Exploring

Babies explore their environment through placing objects in their mouth. This allows them to feel the texture, shape and size of an object easily. Make sure that you regularly clean and disinfect your baby’s toys to minimise infection and illness.

Meal Time!

Babies start to recognise routines throughout the day, one of the first generally being when it is time to eat. Talk to your baby about having their bottle or breast feed. Try to make the routine predictable by doing the same thing each time so that baby is able to anticipate what comes next.

Noisy Toys

Babies start to show a great deal of interest in noisy toys. Place a few noisy toys around baby’s play mat to allow them to experience different sounds. If you are able to get a toy that flashes colour or lights at the same time you will also be stimulating their visual development. Baby also learns at this stage to hit or kick a toy that made a noise to make it go again. Help your child practice this through providing toys that rattle, roll, or make a noise when prodded.

Taking Turns

Baby begins to call out to their carer through squeals and babbling. Respond to your baby with encouragement and smiles when they try to communicate with you. Your baby begins to be able to turn-take with their vocalising. You will notice that they begin to respond to words you have said by offering vocalisations themselves. Take turns and create your own conversations with baby to encourage their language development.

Holding My Toys

Baby likes to feel the texture of different types of objects. Offer baby opportunities to experience soft, hard, furry, smooth, rough textures through different objects and toys. Encourage your baby to grasp objects and toys by placing interesting objects around your baby’s play mat, hanging a mobile above the nappy change table, or laying your baby under an activity gym.

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