Newborn babies develop at different paces. In fact, no two babies born at the same time will be on the same level of cognitive or social development at any particular week or month of life. However, general milestones typically become apparent at certain ages. While every parent looks forward to seeing a happy grin in response to cuddling or cooing, you will likely have to wait at a few months before your baby will be able to smile.
Infant Development
The American Pregnancy Association says that infant development is divided into four distinct categories, each of which involves specific milestones that usually take a full year to master on average. These areas of development are language, social, large motor and small motor skills. An infant will demonstrate specific skills within each of area of development in different degrees from month to month, and even week to week.
Practice Smiles
During the first month of life, baby is focused on studying her parent's faces and the sounds they make, and will typically try to mimic these sounds by producing gurgles while experimenting with mouth and lip movements. Chances are, baby will move her lips into a position that resembles a little smile. However, this is more likely to be an accidental smile than a true smile as an emotional response or a reaction to physical stimuli.
Genuine Smiles
By the time the end of the second month rolls around, many infants can offer a smile in response to parental approach or stimulation, which suggests an advance in social interaction skills. In fact, MayoClinic.con says that some newborn babies start to smile as early as the beginning of the second month.
Types of Smiles
Babies smile at different times for different reasons, according to the National Network for Child Care. At first, a soothing sound or the sensation of a full stomach will elicit a smile from baby. However, in accord with the timeline given by MayoClinic.com, the network says that many infants begin to smile deliberately at other people as early as six weeks of age. In addition, the network says that babies smile broadly and even laugh by the age of four months.
Smiling Before Birth
If you have had or plan to have 3-D sonogram images taken, then you may be surprised to see your baby smile before birth. Whether the expressions babies make in utero suggest fetal awareness is a subject of debate, but there does seem to be evidence that fetuses are capable of making faces in the womb. One group of researchers investigating this phenomenon reported in the Aug. 31, 2005, issue of "Journal Obstetrics and Gynaecological Research" that out of 17 fetuses between 20 to 28 weeks of gestation, three blinked their eyes, three others stuck out the tongue and appeared to make tongue clicks, while nine yawned, produced chewing motion and moved their lips. In the same year, another research team reported in the "Journal of Perinatal Medicine" observing similar fetal facial expressions---including smiling--using 4-D ultrasonography.
References
- American Pregnancy Association: First Year Development
- MayoClinic.com: Infant development: Birth to 3 months
- National Network for Child Care: Infant Development
- Pub Med: "Journal Obstetrics and Gynaecological Research"; Real-time 3-D Sonographic Observation of Fetal Facial Expression; Hata T et al.; Aug. 31, 2005
- Pub Med: "Journal of Perinatal Medicine"; The Potential of Four-dimensional (4D) Ultrasonography in the Assessment of Fetal Awareness; Kurjak A; 2005
