Baby may still be pretty small when you look at them next to, say, an elephant, or the Grand Canyon, or even yourself, but compared to when they were born, Baby is massive. By this point, Baby is about twice the size they were when they were born.
It’s lucky for you that it’s around this point that their growth rate starts to slow down a little – if they kept growing at this rate, you’d end up spending all of their childhood in and out of stores, buying new clothes – at least until they were too tall to fit through doorways.
Now that they isn’t going to be quite so busy growing up a storm, though, Baby is probably going to have to find some new hobbies to fill their time with. These hobbies may include grabbing things, throwing things, grabbing things which they then throw, and growing in tooth upon tooth upon tooth, until their little smile is filled in with pearly whites.
They are also just about due for another check-up, if they hasn’t had it already. At Baby’s 4-month check-up, their healthcare provider will weigh and measure them, give them their next round of vaccination shots, and answer any questions you may have about Baby’s growth. Since you’re getting closer to the time to start introducing solids, it might be a good time to ask the pediatrician any questions you might have about that, even though they are still on the younger side, and there’s a good chance you might not need that information for a few more weeks. Still, it’s good to know, just in case Baby decides tomorrow is a good day to grab your spoon out of your hand and drag themself into the world of solid foods.
Baby continues to develop in a number of exciting ways, ranging from the physical, to the social, to the mental, and beyond. They definitely know who you are at this point, and may show it – though it usually takes a bit longer, like closer to the six-month mark, some babies begin to show the first signs of separation anxiety around this time. Whether they get fussy or not though when you leave, it’s clear that Baby is taking a great liking to the folks they spend a lot of time with.
Baby is also getting closer and closer to full-blown talking, as they continue to expand the menu of noises that they are able to make.
Milestones
- Recognizes familiar people, even at a distance: My, how that eyesight has come along! At first, Baby could only see an arm’s length (their arm) in front of them, but by now, they are even able to recognize familiar faces across a room.
- Rolling from front to back: It’s easy to overlook how important of a milestone this is – after all, the barrel roll isn’t an overly common dance move. Not anymore, anyway. Rolling over front to back, though, shows a great deal of physical development, and gets Baby closer to being able to roll over back to front. It’s at that point where it no longer matters if they wind up rolling away from lying on their back while sleeping.
- Pushes self up on elbows from stomach: Drop and give me…one! This ‘baby push-up’ isn’t quite the start of motion, but it gets Baby closer to the day when they will start putting one hand in front of the other, and actually get somewhere.
