What should my daughter be doing at 4 months

Some parents choose to begin solids at the 4-month mark, but check with your doctor first. Plus, those solids will only be for practice, not for nutrition. All that food will help to keep baby at a healthy weight and height. For girls, that should be somewhere between 10 and 19 pounds and between 22 and Boys will likely be weighing in somewhere between 11 and 20 pounds and measuring between 23 and 27 inches.

Get ready for baby's 4-month well-baby visit — along with a chance to learn his latest weight, length and head circumference. Your baby's working on lots of new physical skills — from grabbing toys to doing his imitation of a turtle on its back. He may find and be totally mesmerized by his feet — such fun toys, always available and tasty too! If you put him on his tummy, he'll work on pushing up his head and chest, as well as flipping over onto his back, where he'll begin to lift his head and shoulders if you gently pull him up.

As long as he has good neck control, try propping him in a seated position. If he slumps down or slips sideways, it's too soon. Otherwise, you can assume he's comfortable and ready and he'll probably enjoy the change of scene. If he does start fussing — or slip-sliding away — pick him up and try again another time.

Family members and even baby himself should wash his hands or, in the case of your baby, have them washed frequently: before eating or preparing food, after using the bathroom or changing a diaper, after coming in from outside, after playing with or caring for pets and so on.

An assortment of 15 to 20 plants should do the trick in a 2,square-foot house. Rather than scattering single plants around, create group displays in each room for maximum air-cleaning effect. The best antitoxin and nontoxic choices according to NASA: spider plants, philodendrons and rubber plants. To keep your baby safe from leaves that he can nibble on or pots he can topple, put plants out of reach or block them with a child's safety gate.

Your smartphone carries germs. Even if you wash your hands religiously, you still transfer bacteria and dirt to your phone when you use it. Worse yet, 1 in 6 phones were contaminated with E. And since babies explore with their mouths, why take the risk? Best not to give your baby your phone unless you've thoroughly sanitized it, and even then, it's better yet to skip using it as a toy or distraction entirely. Your baby's preferred view: a human face.

He's not picky about whose face it is, though, so grab a mirror, and offer your baby a chance to gaze at his own! What to Expect follows strict reporting guidelines and uses only credible sources, such as peer-reviewed studies, academic research institutions and highly respected health organizations. Learn how we keep our content accurate and up-to-date by reading our medical review and editorial policy.

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This educational content is not medical or diagnostic advice. Use of this site is subject to our terms of use and privacy policy. Registry Builder New. Plenty of parents consider the next few months to be the golden age of babyhood, and for good reason. Medically Reviewed by Lauren Crosby, M.

Medical Review Policy All What to Expect content that addresses health or safety is medically reviewed by a team of vetted health professionals. Your 4-Month-Old Baby. Here's what you have to look forward to with your 4-month-old baby.

Your 4-month-old baby's development. Between 12 and 15 months, toddlers learn a lot about their world by shaking and banging things and putting them together in piles or towers then knocking them apart. Your toddler may start to drink from a cup and continue to improve in self feeding by picking up different types and textures of food.

By 18 months, most toddlers have a lot more control over their hand and arm movements and may try to help you dress them. Your toddler may attempt skills such as using a pencil or spoon, or drinking from a cup. They will also gain more control of the movements needed for those skills that will enable them to start picking up very small objects, such as small stones or parts of toys.

It is very important to watch what your toddler picks up in case they try to swallow it or put it in their ear or nose. At 12 months, your toddler will have well developed emotional attachments to people and start to show them affection. Usually at about 14 months, they will start to feel separation anxiety when they are fearful of being separated from you.

Your toddler will start to understand how others feel — for example, by looking sad if someone near them appears sad or is crying. Your toddler may begin to become self-aware and show signs of embarrassment if people are watching them.

There may be 1 or 2 words at about 12 months, increasing to 6 or more words by 18 months. Between 15 and 18 months, toddlers are able to recognise their own names.

By 18 months, they can understand and follow simple instructions such as fetching something from another room without needing to be prompted by gestures. Read about helping your toddler talk and speech development in children. To help your toddler develop in this period and reach the milestones in the normal range, you can:. Read about play and exercise.

At 18 months, they should receive the measles, mumps, rubella, and chickenpox varicella MMRV vaccination, the diphtheria, tetanus, whooping cough pertussis vaccination and the Hib Haemophilus influenzae type b vaccine. Find out more about the Australian vaccination program. Learn more here about the development and quality assurance of healthdirect content. Learn about the developmental milestones to observe for your 8 to 12 month old child. Read more on Starting Blocks website.

Get trusted information about your childs developmental milestones from 4 to 8 months. Get trusted information about your childs developmental milestones from birth to 5 years. Babies develop through relationships and play. Developmental milestones track changes in babies as they learn to move, see, hear, communicate and interact. Get this as a PDF. Enter email to download and get news and resources in your inbox. Share this on social. Family Resource Center Guides. Guide Complete Guide to Developmental Milestones A guide to normal childhood development that can help you recognize when your child might need professional attention.

What's In This Guide? Thanks to the American Academy of Pediatrics for this content.