Your baby, 4 months 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 and older

At this point, your baby can recognize familiar faces. He can distinguish his mom from his dad and knows who they are. Many babies have favorite toys and you may have found a book or song that your baby seems to like the best. By now, he probably likes to play with toys on a mat or blanket on the foor. Exersaucers are good choices for baby to play in. Steer clear of baby walkers. They are dangerous and should not be used.

It is important to respond quickly and calmly to your crying baby. When you respond quickly, your baby will develop a sense of security and develop trust in you. You will have to do less to soothe a distressed baby if you respond quickly. Many people are under the impression that they will spoil their baby if they respond to every whimper and whine. This is not true. You can spoil a child, but not a baby. A baby of this age can not be disciplined and is not able to understand your commands. Continue to be loving and gentle to foster a good relationship.

Your baby can most likely roll from side to side and possibly from her tummy to her back. Be careful not to leave her unattended-she may roll off and get seriously injured. Babies should be placed on their tummies to develop strength and muscles needed for sitting, crawling and walking. Encourage your baby to roll over and help her sit up with support. It is much more interesting to sit up and look at things vs. laying down and staring at the ceiling. At this age, your baby is probably grasping objects and putting them straight into his mouth. Make sure all of his toys are safe and clean.

Your baby may begin to get upset if you take a toy away or stop playing with her. She coos, babbles, smiles and laughs when you interact with her. She may be able to click her tongue and cough by now. Playing with your baby is important for development. Continue to read, sing, play and play games with your little learner. Talk to your baby in regular words-do not use baby talk because it does not sound clear to your baby and may confuse him. Praise your baby for jobs well done! Introduce your baby to new sights, smells, sounds and textures often. This is how he will learn the most about this new exciting world around him!

Around four months of age, your doctor may give the go ahead on solid foods. You will know if your baby is ready. He should sit well with support and be able to hold his head steady. If she is still pushing the food out of her mouth with her tongue, she may not be quite ready to start solids. Start with cereal and then try fruits and vegetables. When using a highchair, make sure that it is safe. Your high chair should not have any broken pieces and should be sturdy. Always use the seat belt and lock the tray on snuggly. Make sure you watch your baby closely while he is in the highchair. Do not feed your baby directly from the jar, unless you are certain he will eat all of it. Just because your baby is consuming solids does not mean she doesn't still need formula or breatmilk-she does!!

Developmental Milestones 4 Months Old

Physical

• Your baby's stomach has grown larger, so he does not need to feed as often
• Rolls over
• When laid on stomach, your baby will lift his stomach and shoulders high offf the ground
• Your baby's tongue-thrust reflex is fading, and your baby may be ready to start solid foods now
• Can reach out and grab objects-he still may miss his mark on the first try
• You will notice alot of drool-some babies start teething around this time

Intellectual

• Feedings can get difficult as your baby likes to see what is going on at mealtime
• Your baby is easily distractable
• Once the baby grasps ahold of an object, he will put it straight to his mouth
• Your baby likes a vairety of toys and objects-give her different toys with different responses
• Babies begin to understand cause and effect
• Begins to understand all basic sounds of language
• Begins to develop the ability to make vocal sounds-`ma-ma` `da-da`-although he does not connect sound to parent
• Color differences are clearer and your baby probably prefers bright primary colors
• Can laugh out loud and squeal in delight

Emotional

• Likes to be interacted with-play with your baby as often as possible
• Some babies like to play alone at this time
• May participate in back and forth imitation games-imitate your child's faces and sounds
• Your baby will respond to your voice and gestures by kicking legs or waving arms
• Baby will show you when she is no longer interested

Age Appropriate Toys

• Bright colored books
• Posters
• Activity gyms and play mats
• Musical toys
• Lighted toys
• Mirrors
• Teething rings
• Plastic toys to chew on
• Toys to grasp
• Brightly colored soft blocks
• Stuffed toys

Comments:

Comments 76-100 of about 13379 for month 4
Previous 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 Next

BYU-Mommy - Wednesday, 4 Nov
I feel like I have the most difficult child in the world. He will NOT take a bottle at all. He wakes up a million times at night and despite my best efforts, refuses to take to any sort of schedule. I'm so sick of it. DH can't do anything to help me because the baby refuses to accept food from anyone else. I might as well be doing it all alone. Never a day off. I let him scream for over an hour and he still won't go to sleep. His needs are met. I've cut out caffeine and dairy. What else am I supposed to do? Seriously? Sorry for ranting but I'm really upset by this. Never getting more than 3 hours of sleep at a time is killing me.

glowingmommy2be - Wednesday, 4 Nov
firefighterwife- my lo will go down about 8 whether I feed him or not. I have found that if I give him 4-8oz of formula before bed he sleeps alot longer, maybe try that? I don't know, but I don't feed him on a schedule either, he is fed on demand and kinda makes his own schedule. good luck, as far as the swing thing goes you might try to target what about it satisfies her, just the motion? maybe you could try to hold her and sway to get her back to sleep and put her back down in the crib. hope this helps, and good luck

firefighterwife - Wednesday, 4 Nov
Hey Ladies, my daughter is 4 1/2 months old. She was sleeping 9-10 hours at night in a row and then the last month has decided to wake up for a midnight feeding. I try to get her to stay up later but she is insistant on going to bed at 7 pm. I normally feed her again at 12am (if I don't she cries until I do!). Then she'll go right back to sleep until 4am at which time I don't feed her again but normally put her in her swing to go back to bed for another 3-4 hours. Any advice??? I have to break her of both the midnight feeding and the morning swing routine. But, at least she is sleeping in her crib and not in our bed!

lucijas77 - Wednesday, 4 Nov
is my baby too skinny? she is 14 lbs 3.7 oz , will be 5 months in 4 days, don't know her lenght,this is from emergency room, she has 102.5 for past 3 days

kellyjk612 - Wednesday, 4 Nov
Good morning ladies! If you don't mind and have a minute, please vote for my little guy in this photo contest! Feel free to enter your little one too and let me know so I can vote!! http://lnk.gaphotocontest.com/lt?id=jchcf-bibcdi-effbjffc&_erl=referid=WlcmKobe%5Ep=1886183%5Ex=.jpg thanks :)

phatbaby57 - Wednesday, 4 Nov
oops i posted this in the wrong month, so if you have no idea what i'm talking about go to 5 months foroum.

phatbaby57 - Wednesday, 4 Nov
I use 7th generation on my fat legged little man. If there is a leak 99% of the time it's up the back. He's in a size 3. Also, on the food weigh in my ped said to start with white, clear, and yellow and work through the rainbow from green to purple. I'm not sure if any of it really matters as long as you go slow enough to see a reaction if there is one. Also asked about fruit vs. veggies and my ped said it didn't really make a difference since I'm ebf b/c breastmilk is already sweet. I'm thinking about starting with pears. I plan to make my own food as well.

desiree79 - Tuesday, 3 Nov
Hey everyone, my son is 4 mths old and I am still breastfeeding him.. He has quite bad ezcema and I am wondering if anyone has any advice of what I should or should not be eating etc to help him... My poor little man...

desiree79 - Tuesday, 3 Nov
Insomnia, my son got that from his needles too.. I am pretty sure it is perfectly normal as I remember it happening to both my girls too... (:

lucijas77 - Tuesday, 3 Nov
oliversmama, that must be cute to see him drinking from a bottle on his own

cinnabar6 - Tuesday, 3 Nov
Nice call on the $.99 shipping.

cantwait123 - Tuesday, 3 Nov
I don't usually put anything other than baby stuff up here but I know lots of you are looking for work (be in per diam, full time, or part time). Im working through an agency that finds jobs for SLP,Occupational Therapy, Physical Therapy, Special Education, School Psychology, and Nursing. They specialize in pediatrics, especially school and EI. They're great at helping people find jobs, mentoring, continuing ed, high salaries, etc. They are nationwide. If anyone is interested in finding out more, please let me know asap. I get a bonus for everyone i recommend. Send me a message if you want more info. Thanks all!

cantwait123 - Tuesday, 3 Nov
Btw, Kohls is having 99 cent shipping for 3 days so I ordered the sleep sack y'all recommended.

cinnabar6 - Tuesday, 3 Nov
MieKitty - Here's the sleep sack I have that's from Kohl's: http://www.kohls.com/kohlsStore/landingpages/carters/newbornneutral/PRD~513782/Carters+Rubber+Duck+Sleep+Bag.jsp It is in fact Carter. Kohl's website also has the armless Halo Sleep Sack. I used those after the swaddle, but now that it's getting colder at night, I use the Carter brand because of the longsleeves. I LOVE it. Gives me peace of mind. I put a sleeper on underneath.

coolmomma - Tuesday, 3 Nov
PLEASE PLEASE LOOK AT THIS LINK AND PLEASE FORWARD ONTO ANYONE U KNOW AND PASTE ONTO ALL YOUR NETWORK SITES.....THE MORE IT GETS VIEWED, THE HIGHER IT GOES UP IN SEARCH ENGINES AND THE PERSON / PEOPLE WHO DID THIS MIGHT SEE IT AND FEEL THE NEED TO HAND MADDY BACK. WE ALL NEED TO DO THIS TO HELP GERRY AND KATE FIND THEI......R LITTLE GIRL. WHATEVER YOUR OPINION, THERE IS STILL A CHILD MISSING AND WE NEED TO DO OUR BIT TO HELP. CAN U IMAGINE LIFE WITHOUT UR CHILD???? OF COURSE NOT. AND THIS IS THE PAIN KATE AND GERRY LIVE EVERY MINUTE OF EVERYDAY. LETS FIND SEAN AND AMALIES SISTER MADDY, AND BRING HER HOME WHERE SHE BELONGS. X0X0X0X0X0X0X0XRead moreFind Madeleine Source: www.findmadeleine.com

hchina - Monday, 2 Nov
insomnia- perfectly normal according to my dr.

teacherpam - Monday, 2 Nov
Insomnia, Zoe hasn't had that with any of her vaccines before, but it doesn't sound like it's causing discomfort. You could always call to check with the nurses line at your pediatrician just to be sure.

Insomnia - Monday, 2 Nov
Hi everyone, had a question about vaccines, in case this happened to anyone else. My son got his 4-month vaccines on Wednesday. The next day, I noticed a red, pimple-like bump on his leg where they did 1 of the injections. (It looked a little swollen around the injection site) At the moment, the bump still sort of looks like a pimple, not red or swollen though, and the swelling went down by Friday... but when i touch it, the pimple part feels hard. Is it a small infection? Is it relatively normal? He seems perfectly fine, and when I press on it, it doesn't seem to hurt him. Any idea what it could be?

Savvy - Monday, 2 Nov
Hi Guys, my LO will be 4mths on Nov-06. I started some rice cereal from yesterday. I noticed she trew up after eating it yesterday after her lunch and supper time. Today I gave her some at lunch time in her bottle and again she trew up quiet a bit until like 4:00 today. Did anyone else's baby trow up after eating or drinking rice cereal? pls help. thanks.

oliversmama - Monday, 2 Nov
lucijas77, yes, Oliver has been holding his bottle since three months old. Sometimes after a few minutes he'll drop it and needs help, but he likes to grab it and hold it on his own. I still sit by him and keep an eye on him and talk to him while he drinks. His first morning bottle I always hold the whole time though after he just wakes up. Lol...the other day we were leaving and I put him in his carseat and set his bottle in the carseat with him to feed him on the way and I turned around to do something and when I looked at him, he had picked it up on his own and was holding it drinking from it! So cute... :-)

MieKitty - Monday, 2 Nov
Cinnabar, thank u so much! I think I'll look at khol's first. I'm so sorry to hear that story about their LOs first halloween... could have had an allergic reaction or choked on the material >_<. I won't be shopping at babysrus as well!!

cinnabar6 - Monday, 2 Nov
BabiesRUs has sleep sacks, although I hate to recommend that company given the previous post. You can also go to the Halo Sleep Sack website. They have armless ones, but Kohls has the longsleeve ones (I believe they're Carter brand)

glowingmommy2be - Monday, 2 Nov
oh and, I know i'm already friends with several of you on facebook, but if anyone else wants to add me it's Haely Ordoyne with the Kansas Wesleyan Network. Love to keep up with friends :)

glowingmommy2be - Monday, 2 Nov
Lucijas- my dr. said to start cereal at 4 months, orange veggies at 5, a sippy cup at 6, fruits and other veggies at 6, and then meats at 8 months. I don't have the paper describing the reasons, but that's what we're going by.

ckeeg - Monday, 2 Nov
We never swaddled Kierra she likes to sleep with her hands above her head (like me when I was a baby)~She just started rubbing her eyes when she gets sleepy ~ My 17 month old does it as well so I don't think it is an eye problem. I didn't start cereal yet (but she is 4 months today). She holds her toes and rocks from side to side but no rolling over yet. However, if I hold her hands she sits up and pushes up to standing on her own ~ I don't have to pull her up. She is so cute -- I added pictures to my page of her (sheets 5 - 7) :)

More comments: Previous 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 Next Latest comments from all months More months: 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 and older