The question of moms and dads: "When will the baby start smiling?"

2024 Author: Priscilla Miln | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 00:21

The smile of a small child is always a small holiday for his mom, dad, grandparents. And what can we say about the first smile - it is like a gift from heaven, a reward for sleepless nights and hard parental work. When will the baby start smiling? Why doesn't he do this when the neighbor's kid of the same age gives everyone a smile? These questions are asked by many new parents. We will try to answer them in our article.

A child's smile is not only a pleasant event in the life of a family, but also an indicator of normal mental, physical and mental development, the beginning of the baby's socialization. Therefore, the moment when the child begins to smile consciously, a kind of next step in the long road of his development.

"My baby started smiling at the hospital!" many mothers say. Don't take their words to heart. What they calla smile, just a grimace, an unconscious contraction of certain muscles that looks like a smile.

When answering the question of the appearance of the first conscious smile in a baby, the pediatrician will tell worried parents about the age of 1.5-2 months. This smile is addressed, as a rule, to the mother (or the person replacing her). Here, a lot depends on the environment of the crumbs: if from the very first days caring parents next to the baby, who communicate with him all the time, often pick him up, maintain eye and voice contact, he will begin to smile as early as 6 weeks. If the child is given less attention, this will happen only by two months or a little later. Therefore, do not be upset if your child does not smile in a month, there is nothing wrong with that. You just have to wait.

When a child begins to smile, we can talk about the formation of the so-called revitalization complex in him. This is an emotional-motor reaction of the baby in response to the appearance or appeal to him of an adult. This complex begins its formation already at the age of three weeks from birth: the child freezes and looks intently when an adult talks to him. Later, by two months, this reaction develops into a smile, cooing and physical activity when communicating with an adult. The peak of the formation of the revitalization complex is four months of age. Later, laughter appears, but the smile is less and less given to strangers, even if they affectionately speak to the baby, often he will even cry in such cases.

By how many months the babysmiles, one can to some extent judge the atmosphere in the family, the mother’s attitude towards him, her emotional state. Even if you think that the child does not understand anything, talk to him, so you will speed up his speech and psycho-emotional development: he will start to walk, smile earlier.

Experts say that boys are less likely to make eye contact and start smiling later than girls of the same age. Therefore, if your son is growing up, devote more time to communicating with him.

The period when a child begins to smile can be decisive in the development of his relationship with his father. The baby begins to send signals, and if the father answers him with facial expressions and voice, a special emotional connection will be established between them, even if it was not there before.

The day your child starts smiling is the beginning of a long but interesting process in his life - socialization.