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2–6 Months: Growing & Learning TogetherYoung Babies: 2-6 Months

Introduction

Your young baby is becoming more interested in the people and activities around them!

Learn about things that you can do – like singing and reading, getting face-to-face, taking turns during play, and going new places – to support your young baby’s cognitive, physical, emotional and social development.

Communication

Young babies communicate in many ways. Your baby will still communicate with you by crying. However, their cries will become easier to understand. Between 2–6 months, your baby will also move from cooing and gurgling to babbling. Continue to talk and interact with your baby as much as possible. This will help to build the brain connections they need for speech and language development.

Here are some things you can do:

  • Engage: Watch, listen and respond to your baby’s cues.
  • Get face-to-face: Talk, sing, smile and make faces together.
  • Tune in: Some babies need energetic conversations to engage with you. Others will respond more to gentler tones. Some babies need both. Find what works for your baby.
  • Play with language: Use finger games, nursery rhymes and songs with actions to help your baby understand words.
  • Read: Start looking at books with your baby from birth and read with them every day. Point to and talk about the pictures in children’s books. Choose books that are safe to chew. If your baby wants to flip the pages or play with the book, let them. You can also read anything that interests you out loud—even the newspaper sounds interesting to a baby.

Learn more about using the Talk Box to help with your baby’s speech and language development.

Emotions

By 6 months of age, your baby starts to show more emotions with their face, body, voice and actions. It becomes easier to tell when they’re happy or sad. They also have different cries to express their needs. Sometimes your baby may become overwhelmed with things that usually make them feel good. They’ll need your love and comfort to help them calm themselves. This will help them feel safe and secure to play and discover as they grow.

Young baby lying on their back while parent smiles and hold their hands.

Play

Play builds healthy bodies and healthy minds. As your baby grows and develops new skills and abilities, the way you play with them will change. By copying and taking turns during play, you’ll help your baby learn:

  • to copy you and take turns
  • to control their movements
  • about the objects around them

Your baby will start to reach for and hold toys. They’ll also play with objects with their mouth. It’s a good time to play when they’re smiling, cooing and looking interested. If your baby pulls away, looks frustrated or cries, they may be telling you they need to change activities or sleep.

By 3 months, your baby will become more interested in the people and activities around them. They’ll start to follow moving objects by turning their head. As your baby gets used to their surroundings and their daily routines, they’ll begin to show that they recognize you and others by making sounds, reaching for you and becoming excited. Learn more about playing with your baby.

During play time, give your baby tummy time many times every day. Put a clean, flat blanket on the floor with some toys appropriate for your baby’s age. Give them a chance to play on their tummy and side while awake. Supervise your baby at all times and join their play to make it more fun. This will help your baby’s development as they play by reaching for and grasping toys, pushing up on their hands, and rolling.

Things to think about:

  • Reduce sitting time: Try not to let your baby sit in a stroller or high chair for more than 1 hour at a time.
  • Back to sleep, tummy to play: Always supervise your baby during tummy time. The positions suggested for tummy time are not safe for sleeping. Turn your baby onto their back right away if they fall asleep during tummy time.
  • Prevent choking: If your baby can pick something up, they can put it into their mouth. If it can fit through a toilet paper roll, it’s too small for your baby and they may choke on it.

Your baby loves to play with you

Play, talk and sing together. Go outside and enjoy exploring new things with them.

Interacting with others

You can help your baby build relationships with others by taking them to new places and meeting new people. This will help them learn to play and interact with others. As your baby gets older, they’ll also learn from other people. It may take some adjusting to accept the way that other people interact with or care for your baby. As long as they’re providing safe and nurturing care, it’s okay. If you’re not comfortable with the care being provided, talk with them about your concerns.

Babies this age are very portable—you can take them with you when you go out. Your baby will learn from these new experiences. It usually works best if you can plan your activities around your baby’s usual feeding and sleeping times to keep their routine.

Three young babies holding their heads up and lying on their tummies on a mat in a gymnasium while three parents supervise.Parent lying on couch, holding and smiling at young baby, who is climbing onto parent's chest.

Growing and learning across the ages