Exploring
From grabbing at dangling objects, to holding her milk bottle with both hands, your baby is discovering how to use her hands and fingers.
Your baby was born with many natural reflex reactions, one of which was to clench her fingers into a tight fist. It’s known as the ‘grasp reflex’, and it’s not something a very small baby can control.
Mastering the grasp reflex
From now on, your baby’s natural grasp reflex begins to lessen, giving her a little more control of her hand and finger movements. Your baby’s now exploring objects by grasping and shaking them with her hands rather than the tried and tested “sucking” approach, which she has used up until now.
Another exciting change for your baby is her ability to see further and focus better, so the world is becoming more and more fun and colourful.
If you’ve got long hair or glasses, you’ll probably notice that your baby starts to grab at them. And, from 4 months, she can focus as far as her toes – so she’ll suddenly develop a real interest in grabbing her feet and putting them into her mouth, if and when she can!
Use feeding time to help with your baby’s development too.
Let her grasp her bottle with both hands – it’ll give her a little more hands on experience and give you some freedom to prepare the family meal.
