3 Month Developmental Milestones: What is Normal

0:00 - Not sure what your three-month old baby should be doing or what developmental milestones you should be expecting? Well this video is for you. By the end of this video, you'll know the developmental milestones that you can expect by three months of age. For the best information on parenting advice and childhood development, which will make your life as parents easier and give your child the best start to life, subscribe to my channel and hit that bell button to be notified when I release a video on a Monday.

0:30 Hi, if a you're new to my channel my name is Emma. I'm a pediatric occupational therapist who has worked with parents of newborn children all the way up to school-aged children for the last 10 years. I'm also a mom to one cheeky three-year-old and a very adventurous one-year-old. So today we're gonna dive right in and talk about three-month-old development. But before we do if you're concerned about your child's development at all, take them to their pediatrician or their doctor, he can complete a developmental check.

0:57 So in regards to gross motor milestones, when your baby's three months of age and they're lying on their back, they should be able to keep their head in the middle of their body while they're watching your face or a stationary toy. Then as the toy starts to move around their head, their heads will naturally follow. They also enjoy stretching out their legs, and kicking them when they're on their back. When lying on their tummy, a bab should be able to lift their head anywhere from 45 to 90 degrees, and their elbows should be in line with or slightly in front of their shoulders.

1:28 They also enjoy kicking and stretching their legs when they're in this position. Three months old will be able to roll from their side to their back and when they're supported in sitting, a three-month-old will be able to hold their head upright with less head bobbing. A three-month-old would also push down on their legs when their feet are flat against the surface. A three-month-old baby is aware of their hands and now has the ability to control them.

1:51 They will actively open and close their hands and they'll reach out with their arms to bite toys or your face. Their hands are mostly open, and their thumbs which were indwelling are now out. They can bring their hands together, and they're now starting to bring their hands to their mouth to suck. They can now hold on to a toy which has been placed in their hands, but they cannot actively let go of that toy, which sometimes is quite difficult when they grab onto your hair.

2:20 Just a quick tip with that, if they've grabbed onto a hair or a toy, just bend their hands at the wrist and their hands will automatically open and release your hair. Three-month-olds will turn their heads towards a sound or a noise or a voice and they're extremely interested in faces. When you talk to you baby, you'll notice that they start to go quiet and they might smile at you or coo. You'll also notice that your baby now uses different cries to indicate that they're hungry, in pain, or tired.

2:51 Your baby also uses facial expressions and body gestures to try and convey a message to you. Your baby might even start to laugh at three months of age. Now I'm also gonna cover sleep. I know it's not a developmental milestone, but it's extremely important for your baby's development in general. So I'm just gonna come asleep, so that you know it as well. And you'll be able to ensure your baby's getting enough sleep in their day to achieve their developmental milestones.

3:20 So in regards to a three-month-old baby, they will sleep anywhere from 14 to 15 hours in a 24-hour period. And there's no such thing as a sleep schedule at this age. What I can guarantee is that your baby will be awake anywhere from 45 minutes to 120 minutes and then after that, they will need a nap. And their naps a generally one sleep cycle, so it might range from 30 to 45 minutes. After this period of time, your baby will wake up and they may need your help to resettle them.

3:54 Three-month-olds have multiple naps throughout the day, anywhere between four and five naps per day, and at this age, three-month-olds are actually not able to settle themselves to sleep, so they will need your help by rocking, using a dummy, or singing them to sleep. Some babies might sleep for the first four to five hours before waking for a night feed, and then they might wake two to three times through the night for a feed. Or you might be extremely lucky and have a baby that sleeps through the night.

4:26 So that's the three-month-old developmental milestones. Make sure you click on that PDF document below to get developmental milestones from zero to 12 months of age, which you can print out and put on your fridge and refer to at any point during your child's first year of life. If you've liked this video, hit that Like button and subscribe to my channel. Also, feel free to share this video with any other moms and dads. Tune in next week as I talk about more parenting tips and tricks which will make your life as parents easier and give your child the best start to life.

4:59 (happy music)