Your 2 month old baby's development

Advice on your two month old baby's physical, cognitive, intellectual and emotional development.

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Baby development > Your 2 month old baby's development

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Over the next month you are likely to see huge progress in your baby's physical and social development as she begins to coordinate her senses. As your baby learns more about the world, she is better equipped to interact with it and will begin to develop a little personality of her own.

You may notice that your baby's body clock begins to fall into circadian rhythm and she may start to sleep for longer periods at a time. By establishing a bedtime routine you may find your baby is more willing to drop off during the evening and may sleep for up to 6 hours at a time.

Physical development

Your baby is becoming stronger every day as her muscles become more developed. She may now be able to hold her head up comfortably when lying on her stomach and happily move it from side to side as she visually explores the world around her. You may notice that she begins to try to lift her chest of the floor - this is helping her prepare for crawling.

When lying on her back your baby may now be able to lift her head off the ground for a few moments and may be able to support her own head for short periods when sitting upright. She will also begin to 'train' her muscles for rolling over and comfortably move from her back to her side and from side to back.

Your baby will be able to exert more control over her limbs and may begin to 'cycle' her arms and legs when excited. She may also begin to 'coo' more frequently and start to laugh and smile while she is playing.

Development of the senses

Vision - Your baby's eye sight is becoming clearer and she is more able to coordinate her eye movements. She may now be able to focus on smaller objects and to track a near moving object. Her hand-eye coordination will still be developing so although she may now try to grab objects of interest, she is likely to often miss. You can help her to develop this skill by slowly moving a toy in an arc near her face, she will begin to learn where to direct her movements in order to catch it. Your baby may begin to smile and laugh when she sees you; babies are often very in tune with their parents moods (as you are with theirs) and they love to be given lots of undivided attention to practice their new happy face.

Hearing - Your baby's sound localisation may become more refined this month as she becomes more interested in the origin of sounds. When she hears an interesting noise she may quieten until she decides where it is coming from,. Unlike adults who can localise sounds instantaneously, babies take a few seconds to do this and often have a little ponder before they turn their head. You may notice that your baby is better able to localise sounds to the front and side compared to those coming from behind.

Touch - Your baby may discover her hands this month and may begin to find comfort in sucking her fingers. If you place a toy in her hand she is likely to grab hold of it but may have difficulty letting it go. She may try and explore it with her mouth but have difficulty keeping it there - soft toys are always the best idea for a little one so as to avoid injury.