A four-month-old baby has such determination and perseverance that an adult can envy – it is during this period that the child already holds his head well and tries to make the first attempts to crawl. From four months the baby can already be planted a little – this process pretty much pleases the child. However, you should not get carried away, it is not time to fully sit and may even be harmful to the spine due to the immaturity of the articular apparatus. Pulling up the handles to a sitting position and slowly lowering afterwards is a good part of the gymnastic complex for kids of this age.
Physical development
In the fourth month of life, the child’s weight increases by approximately 600-750 grams, and height by 2-2.5 cm. During this period, the baby’s body is already noticeably stronger, since the muscular system is actively developing.
At the end of the fourth month, the child is already deftly manipulating his head, in particular, he can hold it for a long time, lying on his tummy. If the baby is lying on his back, then at this age he can usually easily raise his head, touching his chin to his chest, looking at his feet.
In the fourth month of life, the baby is already learning to roll over from his stomach to his back and vice versa. In addition, lying on his stomach, such a baby is able to already rest on the forearms of both hands so that he can transfer the weight of his body to one hand when the other needs to grasp something.
Concentration and movements
During the fourth month, the coordination of movements with the hands is significantly improved, and in general, the hands are in the center of attention of the child. The baby can deliberately reduce them to the middle, closely watching his movements with his eyes. Also, the child already captures the toy well, experiments with it in his hand, then taking it, then letting it in, again closely following the process.
It may also seem that the baby already at four months really wants a bicycle, since the mobility of the legs also increases. Active movements, similar to torsion of bicycle pedals, become almost the most favorite exercise, and if the baby is placed vertically with an apron for the feet, then it can bend and unbend the legs, as if dancing.
At four months, babies can also already make the first attempts to crawl. They are still unsuccessful and somewhat similar to trying to swim in the air, but with them the baby already actively signals a desire to move independently and can emotionally express dissatisfaction with unsuccessful attempts.
Language and emotions
A variety of noises and sounds are increasingly interested in the baby. In the fourth month, the child is already trying to reproduce the most interesting for himself and remember his results and subsequently reproduce them. Music also attracts a lot of attention and helps to concentrate the baby, so it can be used to calm down.
Gradually, blurred sounds turn into clear vowels. From a four-month-old baby you can already hear “e”, “s”, “a”, “ha” and others. Also at this age, loud laughter is new. It arises as a reaction to tickling and other interactions with the child, as well as to visual images that the child liked.
It is important at this age not to limit the volume of perception of the baby – the baby should be shown as many new things as possible, giving time to see them, for example, during a walk to allow to consider a new flower, branch, etc.
A smile remains the main indicator of the emotional state of the child. With its help, the baby shows pleasure, happiness and love for everyone who cares about him. It is worth actively talking with a baby of this age, praising for achievements and cominical as much as possible.
Vision and color perception
In the fourth month, the movements of the child’s eyeballs are coordinated, and the eyes should no longer mow. At the end of the month, the child already distinguishes colors well, respectively, can enjoy the colors and show sympathy for certain shades.
The range of vision increases to 20-30 cm. At this distance, the child already grabs objects, can follow them with a look in different directions: right, left, up and down.
Sleep of a child at four months
At the first signs of the “sleep code”, the child should be placed in the crib. The desire to sleep in children is mostly noticeable due to yawning, rubbing the eyes and refusing to play. However, some children, on the contrary, become excessively active when tired, can rhythmically turn their heads, suck their thumbs or whim. In any case, knowing this “code” of your child should not delay sleep.
Actually, the dream of four months is already deeper, continuous and lasts 10-11 hours. In addition to the main night, the baby has two or three periods of daytime sleep: one in the morning and two in the afternoon. It is advisable to teach the child to sleep at the same time every day, but at what time to invest depends on individual biorhythms, so you should monitor the activity of the child.
First tooth
Irritability, restlessness, intense biting of everything that enters the mouth, diarrhea, rhinitis, slightly elevated temperature in a four-month-old child may indicate eruption of the first teeth. As a rule, the two lower central incisors appear first, but one should not be considered a deviation from the norm if the child initially erupted other teeth.
Not necessarily all these symptoms will be at the same time, usually when teething the child is worried about some of them, there are also cases when the first teeth appear without any discomfort. It depends on the number of teeth that erupt, and on the formation of the central and peripheral nervous system, and on the state of reactivity of the body, and on the type of body structure of the baby.
At the site of tooth eruption, the gums are reddened and swollen, the baby rubs this area annoyedly. To alleviate the condition, it is worth purchasing a special rodent with water filling. It is first put in the refrigerator, and then given to the baby – the cold reduces pain, itching and soothes the gums. Also popular and effective are various gels with anesthesin, which anesthetize the gums and soothe irritation.
Medical support
When examining a four-month-old baby, the pediatrician usually pays attention to the sufficiency of preventive measures against rickets and anemia and may recommend additional procedures or vitamins or trace elements for this. Also, the doctor will advise how best to prepare the child for the next revaccination of DTP and polio.
At four months, the child is already beginning to actively form habits, so it is important to adhere to a certain daily regimen, in particular, nutrition and monitor the order of introduction of new products. Also during this period, it is possible to diversify the child’s toys by adding those that develop the psycho-emotional sphere. By the way, it is better to consult with your pediatrician about them, since search engines, forums and thematic mother-parent groups offer a variety, among which you can choose until the child himself can point out the toy of interest to him.
Natalia Kuzio
