What can and should be able to a child at 4 months

It is at 4 months that the baby's actions become conscious, and now every day the child will have more and more new skills and abilities. Of course, parents are interested in knowing what their child should be able to do at 4 months.

A four month old baby is very different from a newborn. By this age, children noticeably mature in comparison with the first months after birth, change externally, physically and psychologically.

Body proportions vary slightly: the difference in the volume of the head and chest, which is striking in the first months of life, gradually decreases, the limbs become longer. Overall, body proportions are slowly approaching those of an adult. In addition, by the age of four months, the baby "eats" the cheeks and turns into a nice plump toddler.

New skills also appear. The kid learns different ways of studying the world around him, begins to actively interact with him, master new actions. All this happens against the background of improving the organs of movement, senses and the nervous system. Let's talk in more detail about what a child should be able to do at 4 months.

Skills of a four month old baby

The child confidently holds the head;
At four months, the grasping reflex fades away, and the grasping becomes conscious. This means that earlier the child reflexively clenched the fist as soon as something touched his palm, but now he squeezes the object with the handle when he wants to take it. Awareness of movements is a big progress in development, because this means that the child is already trying to learn how to control his body, coordinate movements. If we talk about grasping, then for a child this is a new, much more complex chain of nerve impulses, the trigger of which is the child's interest in the object. (About reflexes);
When a child takes an interesting object in his hand, he no longer just holds it, but tries to perform various manipulations, examines, and always pulls it into his mouth. The kid may try to knock with an object, touch the details with his fingers. This is a natural and very important stage of cognition. True, at four months, the coordination of movements is still very far from ideal, especially since the muscles of the hand are still poorly developed, so the child cannot hold anything for a long time. Can take an object of interest, shake it, put it back;
At the age of 4 months, many babies master not only the ability to roll over from back to stomach, but also in the opposite direction. Usually, when a child has a whole set of coups in his arsenal, the parents move the child to the floor to avoid falling. So much the better for the child, because now there is a huge space for development in front of him. With the help of coups, children will learn to move around the room and even get to objects of interest. (We read in detail: When babies start to roll over);

IMPORTANT! At this age, it is important to remember that the baby is learning to roll over, so he cannot be left unattended. If you need to get away for a while, take care of his safety. You can leave your baby in a crib or on a rug on the floor. He can play independently for about 3-4 minutes, for more of his attention is not enough. The rest of the time he really needs his mother's hands and communication with loved ones.

Lying on its back, the four-month-old is trying to raise its head and shoulders, as if trying to sit up. In fact, rarely any of the children sits down from a lying position, mostly children begin to sit down as if from their side, leaning on their hips. Previously, it was believed that at 4 months, the child already needed to sit down. Attempts to rise from a horizontal position only increase the desire to seat the baby as soon as possible. Today, orthopedists categorically do not recommend sitting down children until they begin to sit down themselves, and even more so, it is not necessary to offer the baby soft pillows as support. The seat support at any age must be rigid. (We read the article: When can you start to sit down children);
The child also demonstrates new skills while lying on his tummy. It's about the makings of a crawl. At 4 months old, the child knows how to lift the ass and push off with his legs. Some do crawl on their bellies. By the way, at first, many children find it easier to crawl backwards than forward. You can motivate your baby to crawl with your favorite toys laid out in front of him at an accessible distance. At the same time, the kid must still be able to carry out his plans and reach for the toy, otherwise the interest in such fun will quickly fade away. If a palm is placed under the foot of a crumb lying on its stomach, it will push off from it and slightly crawl forward (when do children begin to crawl?);
Innovations are emerging in the field of vision and hearing. If earlier a child could clearly see objects located within 50-70 cm from him, now he sees well at a distance of 3-3.5 meters. This means that the baby can easily scan the room or enjoy the view from the window. The hearing also becomes more subtle. The child begins to distinguish sounds well, react to the sounds of music, and understand the emotional coloring of sounds. The most pleasant sound for a child, of course, is the mother's voice;
Speech development is very closely related to hearing. From four months, the child already knows how to pronounce syllables, which are often mistaken for the first words. These can be the syllables "pa", "ma", "ba". With the lips, the baby tries to reproduce the articulation of adults. The humming and babbling sounds more and more often. Especially a lot of kids "talk" when they are in a good mood. At this stage, emotional communication between an adult and a child is very important. At 4 months, children are already able to initiate this communication themselves, calling their mother to contact with the help of smiles and their own "words";
Social development also does not stand still. The main figures in a baby's life are undoubtedly the parents. By the age of four months, the child is already beginning to distinguish "friends" and "strangers." Moreover, even quite close relatives can fall into the category of "strangers" if the baby rarely sees them. Usually, the toddler expresses his preferences by the fact that in the presence of a stranger or unfamiliar person, the baby shows anxiety, cries, and strains with his whole body. By and large, a child at this age admits into his circle of attachments only those whom he sees every day or at least every other day. The fact is that memorization and long-term memory in a little man is not very well developed, so for him there is only what he sees at the moment. Therefore, relatives who appear in front of the child episodically are perceived as new people each time;
At 4 months, babies are already well aware of all the manipulations that parents perform with them. The child can take and "give" the mother a diaper or a hat. Such actions should be encouraged as they are helpful in further developing self-care skills.

Detailed article: Development (physical and mental) of a child at 4 months

Deviation from development norms

First of all, it is worth recalling that all children are individual. Each of them has its own pace of development, which determines the physical and emotional activity of the baby.

However, if the lag behind peers becomes more significant, parents should show the baby to specialists. The lack of more than half of the skills listed above should be a justified cause for concern of adults. The alarm should be sounded if by the age of four months the baby:

does not show physical activity;
does not hold the head on its own;
does not hum;
does not respond to his name and extraneous sounds;
smiles rarely and completely unconsciously;
does not try to roll over;
completely indifferent to toys.

At least one of these symptoms is a reason for contacting a pediatrician. The doctor can immediately exclude difficult diagnoses, send for additional examination or prescribe treatment. Fortunately, most problems at this age are successfully compensated for if parents are engaged in adjusting the development of their baby.

In this article, we looked at what a baby should be able to do at 4 months. This set of skills is conditional for 4 months, since each child has certain "skills" in accordance with his own pace of development. There are still many new discoveries and accomplishments ahead, so it is better not to rush things and enjoy the gradual maturation with the baby.