In the first month, your baby is busy gaining control of his body. He's losing some of his jerky, spasmodic movements and is beginning to move his arms and legs in a smoother, more purposeful way.

• He's gaining head control and by about a month old you'll find him moving his head from side to side in his cot
• When you speak to him in a slow, steady rhythm, his arm and leg movement is slow and steady. Try speaking faster and watch his kicking speed up
• Introduce him to a new sound and he'll stop moving and appear to be listening. After he's heard the same sound two or three times, he stops reacting. Now try a different sound and watch him respond again.

Watching the world go by

Your month-old baby can follow a moving object with his eyes. He likes

• Faces – especially your face or a face which looks like yours
• Patterns – he may prefer patterned wallpaper or stripey sheets to anything plain
• Strong colours – particularly black and white.

You can see your baby’s preferences by seeing how long he looks at an object before losing interest.

Dads can come too!

Your baby gets a very different kind of stimulation from his dad than he does from you. Dads who are involved in day-to-day care quickly learn to respond to their baby's needs. By two weeks old, your baby will show a strong preference for his dad's voice over any other male voice.

Did you know?

Babies don't just look at your face shape – they're much more interested in your features. They respond more positively to pictures of faces than to pictures of other objects, but lose interest if the facial features are jumbled. At birth, your baby likes to look at the top of your face, particularly your hairline. By four weeks old, he's more interested in your eyes.

Things to do

• Talk to your baby from different parts of the room. As he looks for you he begins to connect sight and sound.
• Lie your baby on the floor on his tummy. Get down with him, show him a colourful toy and say his name. It will encourage him to lift his head, exercising his neck, back and arm muscles.
• Choose a brightly-coloured toy and encourage him to follow it with his eyes by moving it slowly from left to right about 15 centimetres from his face.
  

Week 1Week 4 - 8

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• Week 2 - 4
• Week 4 - 8
• Week 8 - 12
• Month 3 - 6

• Month 6 - 9
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• Month 12 - 15
• Month 15 - 18
• Month 18 - Year 2.5