All babies are unique little beings, each with their own personalities and developmental profile. At ECAS, we know that developmental milestones come in a broad range, and not all skills occur at the same time for all babies. The good news is, for all but a few babies, these skills all eventually emerge without additional support.

The skills below are to be used as guidelines only. If your baby is not reaching these milestones by the end of the third month, it should not cause you concern. Just use your instincts! Call your pediatrician and he/she will refer you to your local early intervention team.

Your baby should be able to do the following by the end of the 3rd month:

• Cooing and making soft sounds
• Cries beginning to take on specific meaning, i.e. hunger, anger, pain, boredom
• Looks in your eyes and enjoys looking at faces when being held
• Likes black and white patterns

• Moves arms and legs in excitement when looking at objects
• Holds a light toy briefly when it is placed in hand
• Swipes at object but no real control to touch them yet
• Can pick up head while laying on the tummy with weight on forearms and can turn head from side to side

• Brings hand to mouth and can sometimes find thumb
• While laying on back, can follow moving objects with eyes and head
• Reacts to sounds by startling, blinking, stopping movement, calming
• Brings hands together while laying on back

• Your baby does not react to loud noises
• Your baby does not look at you in your eyes often
• Your baby is not able to follow moving objects with eyes and head
• Your baby does not smile purposefully

• Your baby is unable to move eyes in all directions, i.e. side to side and up and down
• Your baby cannot hold head up when on tummy or in a supported sitting position
• Your baby keeps head tilted to one side or looks to one side more than the other