What babies can do at 3 months. What a child should be able to do at three months: features of the development of an infant. Nutritional features of the baby

01.04.2019

The question of how to develop a child at 3 months is asked by many parents. The increased interest in this topic at this time is especially relevant, because the baby is finally starting to show emotions and is aware of his physical strength. At this age there is sudden jump in everything that the baby has learned. This stage is so important that it is worth considering in detail all the changes that occur with the baby at this age.

Period Features

Some pediatricians consider this age to be borderline transitional, and some even argue that the gestational age for women should be 12 months, not 9. They explain their theory by the fact that only 3 months after birth, the baby becomes capable of living outside mother's womb and acquires social qualities.

A child at 3 months really changes dramatically: he cries less and communicates more, he has infantile colic, he begins to show interest in the world around him, physically becomes stronger and more coordinated, his hearing and vision improve.

Hearing and vision

The first thing that mothers of a 3-month-old baby pay attention to is that he begins to listen to unfamiliar sounds. Not only that, he even turns to

The distance from which the baby is able to distinguish sounds significantly increases: now he hears all the sounds heard within a radius of three meters from him. At birth, this distance was 2 times less.

A particularly touching discovery for parents is that the development of three month old baby reached the point where he recognizes people close to him. Seeing a familiar face, the baby begins to smile and grimace. The little one is also able to indicate his discovery and emotion with his voice.

A child at 3 months examines his hands for a long time: moves his fingers, folds them into fists. Also, the mother's face and breasts, rotating toys above the crib become the object of attention.

Gross motor skills

Significantly improved gross motor skills child. Now it is not so easy to catch him in one position - he persistently tries to raise his head and body, moves his arms, raising and lowering them.

Lying on his stomach, the baby tries to rise on the handles, while raising his head at an angle of 90 degrees. In this position, he is able to stay for 30-50 seconds. From a reclining position, the child also tends to sit down all the time, and from a position lying on his stomach or back, he manages to roll over onto his side.

When the parents carry the baby in their arms, he keeps the head straight, so it no longer needs to be supported every time he picks up his child.

fine motor skills

Touching at this age becomes the child's interest in toys and the desire to take them in a pen. Someone at this age manages to hold a rattle in his hands and even puts it in his mouth, while someone is just trying to capture it. In both cases, the coordination of the infant's movements is rapidly improving.

Not only toys become attractive objects for licking at this age. Everything that can be reached reaches into the mouth: diapers, toys, mother's fingers, own clothes.

Investigative talents are also manifested: the child likes to touch miscellaneous items, face and hair. Touching, he feels the object.

social development

At this age, the baby sharply socializes and turns from a detached little man into a person with conscious desires, whims and interest in his small world around him.

At 3 months of age Small child begins to be interested in everything that happens around him: he is attracted to unfamiliar sounds, he begins to follow the movement of his parents. The baby likes it when mom or dad wears it around the house and talks about things around them.

Formed inner world crumbs: he no longer just recognizes mom and dad, but tries to attract their attention, kicking his legs, making faces or cooing. At this age, many children begin to laugh out loud for the first time.

Development of own speech

Development three month old baby and its directly dependent on hearing. The ability to hear appears from the first days of life and by three months reaches a level that ensures rapid progress in speech and, in general, has positive influence on the development of the child. At 3 months of life, the baby for the first time begins to laugh out loud, which also reflects the development of the auditory and speech apparatus.

That is why by the age of three months the baby begins to actively walk, calming himself and talking to himself. You can even talk to a child, he answers with simple sounds - “aaa”, “uuu”, “yyy”. The speech skills of a child at 3 months are such that he can even combine sounds or replace them with other vowels.

Each of them now has its own intonation fullness. With the help of the emotional coloring of the pronounced vowels, the child expresses his state: when he is hungry, when something worries, and when Each of these states now has its own intonational characteristic, which also reflects the child’s characteristic skills at 3 months.

Self-care skills

A child at 3 months is certainly still helpless, and the word "self-care" here has a somewhat generalized meaning. However, it is able to reflect the essence of the process, which consists in the ability of the child to help himself in something.

So, by three months, the baby is able to take the object he needs and bring it to his eyes to better examine, or to his mouth to lick. However, taking the same nipple, he will not be able to place it in his mouth in the right way the first time, and if he succeeds, then most likely by accident.

In addition, the baby is able to support a bottle of water himself, as well as his mother's breast during feeding. Also, the child opens his mouth when he realizes that he is trying to drink some water from a spoon.

Daily regime

By the age of three months, the baby changes dramatically. Firstly, it is less often applied to the breast - instead of 12 feedings a day after birth, 8 are enough for him. Second qualitative change regarding the duration of night sleep: the baby now has 10-11 hours of rest with two nightly feedings. The third important point refers to the duration of daytime sleep. After three months, the child sleeps three times a day for 1.5-2 hours.

In addition, the baby’s sleep becomes stronger, now he does not wake up when you try to shift him to his crib. This is due to the fact that now sleep in children begins with a deep phase, and not fast, as it was in the first three months.

Massage

After three months, the baby usually disappears increased tone arms and legs, thanks to which he begins to better coordinate his movements. However, this does not always work and not for everyone. How to develop a child at 3 months with massage? To help him learn to control the muscles, neonatologists recommend regularly doing a special massage that improves blood circulation and tactile sensitivity of the baby. This procedure also develops muscle strength.

The massage technology is very simple: it is performed in the form of strokes, light rubbing, circular movements. All manipulations should be carried out very carefully, with light pressure. Each procedure is repeated 2-3 times.

The sequence and nature of the actions during the massage of the baby:

We start with the arms and legs. Massage is carried out by stroking and circular movements.
Upon completion, you can perform a series of passive exercises to develop muscle strength. To do this, it is recommended to breed and cross the arms on the chest of the child. To develop the muscles on the legs, perform sliding movements of the foot on the surface of the table - forward and backward.
Master faster own body the "coup" procedure will help. To do this, you need to carefully turn the baby from the stomach to the back and vice versa, while supporting the pelvis.
Do not forget about the tummy and back. Massaging the tummy in a circular motion fingers and fist very carefully. And the back should be stroked in circular and zigzag movements with the fingertips.
Let's not forget the press. Holding the handles, raise the head and torso of the child to a semi-sitting position.
Also, neonatologists recommend massaging the baby’s feet, “boxing” the child’s fists and rocking the children on a massage ball.

How to deal with a child

Condition harmonious development child are the lessons with him of his parents. By three months, the baby responds to affection, voice and needs to communicate. How to develop a child at 3 months old, how to interest him and teach him new skills?

Show love: hug the baby, kiss his fingers and tummy, blow on his feet. This necessary condition to make him feel needed and protected.
Listen to music with him. Choose classic melodies and quiet sound. Clap your hands to the beat of the music.
Little children love it when their mother sings songs to them. Nothing can replace a tender lullaby performed by a mother.
Make different sounds and build grimaces - this will encourage the baby to repeat the sounds after you and develop his speech apparatus.
Teach your child to find the source of the sound.
Develop his olfactory abilities: let's smell banana, bread, flower.
Also work with touch: offer the baby alternately hard and soft objects, light and heavy, prickly and delicate.
Show the baby that there is a rhythm in the conversation: when communicating with him, stop, as if waiting for an answer. Soon the baby will start cooing with you.

2 voice, average rating: 4.00 out of 5

Congratulations, your baby is already three months old. For that a short time children have learned a lot, since the development of a child at 3 months is very rapid. Adaptation period to new conditions after intrauterine life ended successfully and the baby is ready to learn the world and parents, in turn, are obliged to help in this.

Changes in the physiology of the baby

The physiological changes of the child are visible to the naked eye, the baby is gaining weight intensively, looks round, cute folds appear on the legs and arms. The changes apply to all areas, which will be discussed in more detail later.

Height and weight

Before the child reaches one year old, parents are required to visit a pediatrician monthly with preventive visits and to measure the anthropometric data of the child. This is your third visit, as exciting as the previous two. Parents worry about whether the growth and weight indicators correspond to the norms, whether the child is actively gaining weight, whether the baby receives enough milk.

It’s worth mentioning right away that these norms are rather arbitrary, since all newborns add in different ways, not according to plan, depending on physiological characteristics, type of nutrition and genetic predisposition. Also, do not forget that premature babies are at risk and develop with a delay, and, consequently, they gain weight worse. However, there is a table with normative values for assessing the development of a child:

Vision

Compared to the age of two months, the baby's vision has developed noticeably. You can watch how children follow the toy in their hand with pleasure, carefully studying the object. This indicates that there is an active development object perception, namely, the baby begins to realize that the subject is not a continuation mother's hand, and a whole range of different properties, this is what a child should do at 3 months. Do not be surprised if the baby immediately wants to lick or try to bite the object, as he subconsciously wants to get more information about it.

Try not to allow children at this age to watch TV, especially before bed. This adversely affects both vision and mental development children.

Hearing

Significant changes have also affected the hearing of the baby. He is able to separate pleasant and unpleasant sounds, distinguishes foreign and native voices. And the most familiar and native voice of the mother will make her head turn in her direction, and the toothless mouth of the child will blur into a smile. That is why it is so important to communicate as much as possible with children, and especially to sing melodious songs to them, turn on quiet music.

Also, with regards to hearing, children at the age of three months can easily distinguish sounds of interest from the background, and also determine the source that emits them.

Reflexes at three months

At the age of three months, the baby is not yet able to control his movements to the end; some reflexes and instincts still help him in this.

For example, the Moro reflex is one of the reflexes aimed at self-preservation and developed to protect the baby from falling, for example, from the sofa. It is expressed in throwing up the arms and spreading the fingers while laying on the back or when you lift the baby's legs above the surface.

But the most important and pronounced reflexes are sucking reflex and the crawling reflex, although children at the age of three months do not possess crawling skills, just as they do not know how to get up.

How diet and sleep are changing

Fortunately for the mother, a certain daily routine begins to appear in the family. Three-month-olds still spend most of their time doing two things - eating and sleeping. But with the second, some certainty looms, the baby sleeps more at night than during the day, and the hours of sleep and wakefulness become, more or less, the same from day to day.

Features of the sleep of a child of 3 months

As for the question of how much three-month-old children should sleep - this figure is still high, 16-17 hours a day is considered the norm. Moreover, more than half of sleep (9-10 hours) should fall at night, and the rest should be distributed over 3-4 hours. daytime rest, at least two - during a walk. If the baby does not fall asleep well, becomes nervous, often screams like a cut, but at the same time rubs his eyes, then, firstly, review your menu, you may have eaten something that causes the baby discomfort during digestion, or maybe it’s just uncomfortable for him to sleep in clothes. Secondly, try to walk more on fresh air so that the baby can sleep while walking, read children's books to your child and do not forget about the beneficial effect of music on the development of the child.

Nuances of nutrition

Nutrition of children is one of the most worrying issues for parents, since the baby is not able to tell if he is hungry or full. Nothing changes here, as in the previous two months of the baby's life: if the baby is on breastfeeding- it should be fed on demand, but if the child is an artificial one, then it is worth following the recommendations of the manufacturers of a particular mixture. It is very important to choose the right product. When choosing mixtures, be guided by product reviews, price, quality, composition, and whether it is suitable for the age of the child. After feeding, after 30-40 minutes, you can offer your baby to drink.

Your primary task, when breastfeeding, is to maintain lactation for as long as possible, constantly putting the baby to the breast. Even though the baby is excessively restless during breastfeeding or the absence of hot flashes, try not to panic and refuse to supplement the baby with formula. Remember that this critical period you just need to survive, and it can last only a few days. Pediatricians recommend postponing all household chores as much as possible, entrusting them to your assistants, and devoting yourself to your baby and improving breastfeeding, preventing early introduction complementary foods and the transition to artificial feeding.

Development of the psyche and emotional sphere

The main achievement in emotional development- this is a smile, the baby gradually learns to show his positive emotions, the joy of being warm and dry, that his beloved mother is near when the baby wakes up. Now, your boy or girl will give you more than 70 types of smiles and, believe me, over time you will be able to distinguish them. Crying now becomes an indicator of physical ailment or psychological discomfort.

What could be better than a smile? Of course, laughter, it is this skill that your child will master by his three months. Children's laughter- sincere, boisterous, how much pleasure he gives to newly-made parents.

At the same time, during negative emotions, the baby is able to express his indignation with a loud cry, thereby signaling to his mother that he needs her help.

But the cry of a 3-month-old baby does not always indicate that something has happened, it also happens that children are simply capricious, and at this age they already know what it is. The cause of whims can be banal boredom. In this case, calm your child by taking him in your arms, sing a song or tell your favorite nursery rhyme.

Few people would think that you can have a dialogue with a 3-month-old baby? Yes, it is quite possible, because at this age the child begins to walk. And if you coo to him in response, your communication will grow into a real "discussion" filled with emotions and pleasant feelings. It's funny that during "communication" the baby usually uses the whole body, actively waving his arms and legs.

What new skills does a baby have at 3 months

The main skills of three-month-old children include the following:

Rolls over from back to tummy
Raising the head and shoulders with support on the forearm

Also, by 12 weeks, the baby makes a grand discovery, he has two wonderful arms and two legs. After that, his limbs, moreover, both upper and lower, will be very frequent guests in his mouth. And the baby's hands will train dexterity, trying to hit the toys located above the crib or stroller. You will not have time to look back, as you will see that your child takes toys on his own.

Some babies as young as 3 months old are able to roll over by bending their legs, pushing off with their arms and legs, for example, from the side of the crib. Delight is caused by the ball located in the legs of the child, which is so fun to kick with the legs, and it's fun for parents to watch it.

After getting to know the arms and legs, the baby discovers for himself and the rest of his and your body. Already at the age of three months, tell and show the child where his and your nose, eyes, and mouth are. You can start applying the first thing in your life speech therapy exercise- sticking out the tongue and puffing out the cheeks. These movements are very important for early development speech activity.

What to do if the child is behind in development

At the age of three months, most of the newborn's reflexes disappear. But the presence of the reflexes described below indicates problems and should cause a visit to the pediatrician:

search reflex - the child opens his mouth and turns his head, reacting to stroking the corner of the lips
proboscis reflex - when you touch upper lip, the child pulls out the lips with a tube
Babkin's reflex - when a finger is applied to the palm of a child, the mouth opens and the head moves forward.

In some cases, you need to contact more narrow specialists, for example, to be examined by a neurologist or surgeon who prescribes treatment.

It is also worth worrying if a child at three months does not hold his head well, suddenly stops cooing and gurgling, tries to stand on his toes when you hold him in an upright position or stands on the bridge, leaning on the back of his head.

Home Early Development Methods

Watching your child grow and develop is a pleasure. If a child develops quickly, then your pride in him has no limits. But if the baby begins to lag behind the children of your friends in some indicators, then even the most good parents start to panic and look for omissions in development. In order to prevent such situations, you should be engaged in the development of your child, and educational games will help in this. Gymnastics must be performed only during the wakefulness of the baby, when he is in good location spirit. Actions should be smooth, not hurting the child.

What can you do at home to help your baby develop harmoniously, master necessary skills and keep up with his peers? Pediatricians recommend using the proposed methods by performing a set of simple exercises.

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First of all, perform standard exercises for newborns, its variations can be seen on Internet forums, on videos of professional children's masseurs. By three months, you can diversify the exercise a little to stimulate the coup. A child on a bed or on a changing table, lying on his back, you lift his right leg and gently move it to the left, as if trying to throw it over the body. Thus, you create an impulse for turning over, teaching the baby to move independently.

As early as a few days after a successful self-roll, the child may begin to try to sit up on his own. But sitting should not be encouraged, as the child's bone tissue is still developing. There is certain stages and stages of physical development little man and there is no need to rush things.

Another exercise is aimed at teaching the baby to raise his head. To do this, you will need a few toys or bright pictures, and ideally - a specialized developmental mat. Lay the baby on his tummy, spreading his toys in front of him or placing a baby mirror in front of his face. The little one will be happy to study himself, lying on his stomach and will try to tear his head off the surface.

Educational sessions 3 months of age

Watching your child grow and develop is a pleasure. If a child develops quickly, then your pride in him has no limits. But if the baby begins to lag behind the children of your friends in some indicators, then even the best parents begin to panic and look for omissions in development. In order to prevent such situations, you should be engaged in the development of your child, and educational games will help in this. Gymnastics must be performed only during the wakefulness of the baby, when he is in a good mood. All actions should be smooth, not causing pain to the child.

Learn to keep your eyes on

The exercise is aimed at inducing to focus the gaze on moving and stationary objects. You will need bright object, for example, a red balloon. Move it in different directions, but not too fast, giving the child the opportunity to focus on it, while saying “Where is our ball? Here he is. Where is the ball now? etc.". Toys suitable for exercise sound effects. They involve not only visual perception but also audio.

During the lesson, do not interfere with the feeling of the object or attempts, do not prohibit tasting it. Let the baby take the toy in his hands, feel it, it’s good if the object is textured, and the shape is varied every time. If the child hums, pronounces the sounds “agu”, “a-a-”, “oh-oh”, “abu”, etc. Be sure to repeat them after your child. This will give the child self-confidence.

Peekaboo"

This game is loved by all children, without exception. Cover your head with an opaque scarf and ask the baby the question “Where is mom?” Then throw off the handkerchief with the words "Here she is!". The meaning of the game is for the child to understand that the mother has not gone anywhere, she just temporarily became invisible because of the scarf. Then repeat the same manipulations with the child, throw a cloth over the child’s head and ask: “Where is my Tanya?”, Then cheerfully “find” the child. This game brings a lot of fun to both adults and children.

The development of the movements of the child

The following exercise is aimed at developing muscle activity in a child at 3 months and getting rid of infantile hypertonicity. Lay the child on the back, and place his beloved on the side of the baby bright toy. The child will certainly want to take possession of it as quickly as possible, and you help him gently roll over from his back to his tummy.

Game "Funny Hoops"

For the lesson you will need a hoop and bells or bells. First, attach the bells to the hoop, then place them above the baby's crib at a height that he can reach them. The child will certainly be interested in the unusual sound made by the hoop, and very soon he himself will grab the bells with his fingers.

And in order for the child's palm to open, a kneading massage is needed, which any adult can do in a cozy home environment. Vary your exercise with lyric song in my mother's performance.

Exercise "We feed the geese"

From the 100th day of life, the baby is able to raise his head while lying on his stomach. To stimulate this skill, raise a favorite toy in front of the face just above eye level, forcing the child to follow it, lifting his head from the surface. But it is important to understand that the neck muscles of a newborn are extremely weak, so the main thing is not to overdo it and not exceed the exercise time, it is recommended to do it for no more than one minute.

There is nothing more interesting and touching than watching the development and growth of children. The development of a child at 3 months is rapid and every new day brings something new. Your task is to be there, surrounding your child with care, love and care. And yet, you can help the baby, now knowing how to develop his skills and abilities, doing massages and doing simple exercises.

Your baby is learning new things every day to help him develop certain skills, parents need to know how the baby is developing at three months. With this information, you will be able not only to monitor the growth rate of the baby, but also adjust the diet and sleep patterns, as well as consolidate the acquired skills. Mental and physical development A 3 month old baby is active during this period, and your task is to guide him and help him as much as possible.

Reflexes, movements and psychology

Physical and psychological development three-month-old children is in full swing, babies are actively learning to control their limbs, developing acquired skills. Every day, the baby makes discoveries in the abilities of his body:

at three months of life, the baby should be able to hold his head while in the arms of an adult for about 30 seconds;
muscles develop, the baby already knows how to raise his hands, lying on his back;
at three months, the baby should be able to raise his head while lying on his back;
in the position on the stomach, it rises, leaning on the elbows or forearms, and holds the head for a relatively long time;
if you hold the baby under the armpits, he will rest against hard surface straightening the knees;
some children by the end of the third month of life quite successfully master turns on their side;
the activity of children in the third month increases, the baby meaningfully makes movements with arms and legs, arches and improves his skills every day;
grasping reflex actively develops in skills, and the baby squeezes everything that comes to his hand in his fists;
three month old baby must be able to build logical connections, he understands that if you push an object hanging above him, he should begin to swing;
coordination of movements improves markedly, and, taking a rattle in his hand, the baby can bring it to his mouth or, stretching it out in his hand, look at it;
a three-month-old baby makes conscious movements and watches this with interest;
by the end of the third month of life should be gone;
congenital reflexes develop into conscious movements.

sense organs

The development of a child at 3 months relies mainly on muscle work, vision and hearing. By this age, the child should already be able to distinguish sounds well, recognize the voices of loved ones. His vision is normalized and now he clearly sees objects located nearby and can focus his eyes on them for up to half a minute.

Vision

A three-month-old baby can focus on objects and faces, if you call him, he will look at you for about 10 seconds. Compared to the previous period of development, now the baby can follow the toy that you move in space for a longer time and should be able to concentrate on nearby objects. Strengthening and training of muscles is in full swing.

With the help of vision, a child in the third month begins to consciously and actively learn about the surrounding objects and himself. So, he can look at his hands with interest, move them, push and analyze what is happening. If you turn on a mobile over the crib, the baby will be interested in watching the movement of its parts.

At three months, the information received by the child with the help of the eyes is analyzed and remembered by him. He may already recognize the face of people close to him in the photographs. He wants to study the world around him, and he is interested in everything that happens around him, being in a crib, swing, stroller or in your arms.

Hearing

An infant at three months of age should be able to determine the direction from which the sound comes and turns to its source. Children of this age are already beginning to distinguish melodies and rhythm, so you can sing songs to the baby and read poetry. Infants do not like sharp sounds, and therefore now the baby may cry and be frightened when he hears them.

For infants It is very important to constantly hear someone, so talk to your baby non-stop, describing everything that happens to you. And even if the baby should not be able to understand the meaning of words, your monologues will favorably affect the child’s speech in the future.

Dream

As a rule, in the third month of life, babies already have a daily routine. Children of this age sleep 16-17 hours, daytime sleep takes place in 4 stages, lasting from one and a half to two hours.

Emotions

Babies at this age become more sociable. Three-month-old babies are very happy when loved ones play with them and spend a lot of time. Yes, and any parent likes to deal with the baby, when, finally, he sees the emotional return of the child. Primitive games such as peek-a-boo or grimacing and grimacing will give great pleasure to both parties.

At the age of three months, the baby is already fully aware that positive emotions are expressed by smiling and laughing, and negative ones by crying, and actively uses these tools in his daily life.

Since the child is tired of constantly lying in the crib, he may begin to act up from boredom, such a “fake” cry, however, is easily distinguished by sound from the real one, caused by real discomfort or pain.

Such already quite meaningful management of one's emotions and communication with other people through them is called the “revitalization complex”, and its manifestation marks the transition of the baby to a new stage of development. The behavior of children can now be subjected to mild adjustment by the parents.

Speech

At the age of three months, children begin to actively “walk”: pronounce in different variations syllables with vowel sounds both abruptly and melodiously stretching them out. At the same time, the baby listens with interest to his own voice. If adults pronounce vowels, deliberately stretching them, the baby will try to repeat the movements of the lips.

Weight and height

In the third month of life, the child continues to grow at an incredible pace. During this period, he will again add about 800 grams and grow by 2.5 cm. At the same time, the boy and girl will differ slightly according to these data. For the stronger sex, according to standards, weight can range from 5.5 to 6 kg, height is 59-62 cm, and head circumference and chest reaches 41 cm. In girls, these data are slightly lower - weight 4.8 - 5.6 kg, height 58-60 cm, and head and chest circumference - 40 cm.

Feeding

The number of feedings is gradually reduced and reaches 6-7 times a day, and the breaks between them are growing. The baby now eats a large amount of milk, and it is enough for the child not to ask for food for 3-3.5 hours. If you have a well-organized feeding regimen, now you can feed your baby and go out on business, leaving the baby to dad or loved ones.

A three-month-old baby should eat 800-850 ml of milk per day or artificial mixture, which for one feeding will be 120-140 ml. Based on the child's health, the pediatrician may allow you to introduce complementary foods for the baby. As a rule, the first in the menu of babies is included fruit puree and juices.

The introduction of fruits into complementary foods should be gradual. The doctor recommends that you give your baby juice or puree after one of the daily feedings starting with one drop. If there is no negative reaction in the form of stool problems or skin rashes, increase the dose every day. Master new fruits in turn and carefully monitor whether an allergy occurs on the child's body.

What should be paid special attention to in the third month?

Since at this age the lacrimal glands begin to work normally in children, it is necessary daily care behind the skin around the eyes, wipe these areas before going to bed with cotton pads soaked in water.
At the age of three months, children need vitamin D in the body, the child's skeleton is actively growing, and this vitamin is necessary for the formation of bone tissue. Your pediatrician will prescribe drops for you and indicate the dosage you need if he has not prescribed them before.
Train your baby's muscles regularly; If you are doing your baby's daily skin care routine with oils, you can gently massage his muscles.
Since the activity of the baby is increasing every day, and he already knows how to turn on his side, do not leave him alone in those places from which he can fall - on the sofa, bed or changing table. Even when the baby is sleeping, check the nursery regularly and see if he is pressed against the railing of the crib or tangled in the blanket.
Continue to develop the baby's grasping reflex and eyes, and change the baby's rattles and hanging mobiles from time to time.
Bathe your baby daily water procedures delight children of this age.
Care skin infants with shampoo and foam should occur no more than twice a week.
Walk with the baby more time on the street, but protect it from hypothermia and direct sunlight.
The kid is getting interesting toys making different sounds.
Give the baby different objects to the touch in his hands, he will touch them and study them with his hands and eyes.
Train your baby's articulation, motivate him to repeat different combinations of sounds after you, imitate the sounds of animals.
Since at three months of age the baby constantly grabs objects and can pull them into his mouth, exercise regularly. hygiene care for his toys.

With the advent of a baby, young inexperienced parents have a lot of new worries and troubles, so often new moms and dads resort to special literature and advice from older comrades to solve incomprehensible issues. The development of a child at 3 months is quite active, so this time should be used as efficiently as possible, because right now the basic skills and habits are being laid.

Physiological changes

In the very first months of life, newborns develop very intensively, changes affect all organs and systems of the body. During this month, the child will grow by about 2-3 cm, and the head will acquire a more proportional size in relation to the body.

Actively progressing digestive system, the stomach by this time increases at least twice, so the newborn needs more breast milk. In addition to the mother's breast, a child of this age does not need additional food, the only supplement allowed for 3 months of life is vitamin D prescribed by a pediatrician, which prevents the development of rickets. Gaining weight on early stages should be given increased attention, because in given period there is a high probability of overfeeding the baby, especially for babies who are on artificial feeding. The optimal weight gain for 3 months is 600-800 grams, however, it should be noted that this average, and it may vary depending on the characteristics of the organism.

By 3 months, coordination of movements is being established, the child already consciously takes toys with his hands, can clap his hands or reach for his face. Most newborns are able to roll over onto their side or tummy by the end of 3 months. The most active children may attempt to pull themselves up with their hands and rise a little. The task of parents this stage- help the baby perform the desired action, however, it is impossible to lean the newborn on the legs or abruptly let go of the hands, since the ligaments of the limbs are not yet fully developed, therefore they are not able to withstand the weight of the baby.

Psychological development

Every day of life, newborns develop new skills and abilities, children spend less time in a dream, and more and more learn about the world. During this period, many babies tend to be in the arms of mom and dad as often as possible, as this allows them to see more interesting things around.

A child at 3 months easily perceives sounds and freely distinguishes native voices. He already turns his head, having heard his name, he can focus his eyes on small elements and follow moving objects. This is a good time to introduce him to soft music, such as classical music or nursery rhymes. You can use a crib mobile, which will give mom a little more free time. Spinning rattles and toys, together with light music, will occupy the baby for a while, and gradually the child will fall asleep on his own with the help of such a simple device.

Even without being able to speak, at this age the child gives signals to parents, with the help of which one can understand his condition. During 3 months, by crying the child, it is already possible to distinguish the cause of his discomfort:

slight sobs, gradually gaining momentum and eventually turning into a loud cry, most often mean that the child is hungry;
crying in a dream, during which the baby is spinning or rubbing his hands, is a sign of lack of sleep, in which case it is best to create silence in the room and rock the child;
piercing and sharp crying, most likely symbolizes pain. The third month of a newborn's life is accompanied by colic and otitis media, therefore, first of all, attention should be paid to the baby's ears and tummy;
evening crying, starting at the same time, may indicate intracranial pressure. The solution to this problem is the use of a pacifier, which will remove discomfort and comfort the newborn.

Being in good mood, a three-month-old baby will actively walk and laugh. Every day, the sounds uttered by the baby become more distinct and varied, strengthen speech activity a newborn at this time is possible with the help of songs and poems. By the way, soon the baby will begin to distinguish phrases already familiar to him, about which he will inform you with a joyful exclamation, and having learned to speak, he may surprise you with an independent repetition of the studied material.

What to do with baby

A child at 3 months is quite active and mobile, tends to turn around, move his arms and legs, so this time is the most suitable for active games. Of course, the baby still does not know how to crawl or sit, therefore active classes with it should be as follows:

study of hanging toys- by hanging several different rattles or soft animals in the arena, you will give the baby the opportunity to independently carry out gymnastic exercises. The child himself will try to get objects first with his arms, then with his legs, which will significantly strengthen his muscles;
morning exercises - after the morning bath procedures, a little gymnastics will be useful. Gentle flexion and extension of the arms and legs promotes the development of ligaments, and turning movements of the torso from the back to the tummy will help the baby learn to roll over without your help. When conducting gymnastic exercises one should take into account such an indicator as the weight of a child at 3 months, since cardinal deviations from the norm require special classes;
massage - light stroking of the back and neck area will avoid muscle stagnation, and light massaging of the knee and elbow joints increase muscle elasticity;
outdoor walks - take the baby for a walk as often as possible, children of the 3rd month of life are very interested in observing the outside world, for example, animals, plants, etc. To make the baby more interesting, slightly raise the back of the bed or take the child in your arms more often, giving him the maximum outlook;
fitball exercises - a soft elastic ball for physical activities allows you to coordinate the movements of the child, while it is considered an excellent prevention of intestinal colic.

At three months, the baby takes pleasure in new games and activities. This is a good period for the development of tactile sensations, which will help homemade toys. Offer your newborn some soft objects different texture, for example, velvet soft toy, a harsh kitchen glove and a ball of thick thread - touching different surfaces, the child develops hand motor skills. Also popular are soft cubes with a rattle inside. Take a few ordinary cubes and one with a rattle, show the baby the difference between them. Soon the baby himself will find a rattling object from the mass of the rest.

At three months, the baby will be happy to meet other children, they, of course, will not be able to play together, but they will get a lot of new experiences. If you have pets at home, do not limit their communication with the child, of course, under your strict control.

Since the baby of the third month is able to distinguish sounds and familiar objects, it will be interesting for him to observe himself. To do this, hang a safe mirror in the arena, the baby will definitely appreciate this innovation.

Try to introduce your child to different styles music, turn on rhythmic songs during wakefulness and accompany them with clapping your hands, as well as light dance moves. Before going to bed, it is better to put on calm music, and soon the child will distinguish the relationship between the rhythm of the music and subsequent actions.

Such simple exercises help the correct and active development babies of the third month, besides, children who receive a lot of attention from their parents grow up smart, develop faster than their peers and get sick less often.

Ekaterina Rakitina

Dr. Dietrich Bonhoeffer Klinikum, Germany

Reading time: 4 minutes

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Last update articles: 27.05.2018

Behind three months of the life of your beloved crumbs, it would seem that a very short period, but how many interesting things have happened to him. After all, the development of the baby in the first months of his life, walks by leaps and bounds. His behavior, facial expressions and physical abilities are changing right before our eyes, yesterday he could not focus a meaningful look on you, and today he is already giving you his long-awaited smile and laughter. And a little more time will pass and he will delight you with the first steps and babble.

Age three months, considered turning point in a child's life. Work it gastrointestinal tract getting better, the colic that has been tormenting until now gradually disappears, and the pain goes away along with the whims. This time can be safely called the golden period, it is active, cheerful and ready for new discoveries and achievements.

Many unconditioned reflexes, with which nature generously endowed the newborn and still very developed at the age of one month, as a rule, disappear. And they are replaced by acquired skills and abilities, the number of which increases every month.

Emotional and mental sphere

After the adaptation of the newborn to the new world around him, unknown to him, has passed, he begins to actively get to know him, especially since he has more time for this, since the intervals between sleep have increased. The favorite toy of the child at this age is himself, the baby discovers his arms and legs, begins to examine them with curiosity, taste them, feel his face, examine his nose, mouth, eyes, and does it with great pleasure.

A great joy for him is the discovery in the field of view, the faces of his parents, which he has already begun to recognize. To a smile and a familiar, native voice of mom or dad, your child responds with a “complex of revival” and joyful cooing.

Vision and hearing

Upon reaching three months old, go out to new stage development, hearing and vision of the baby. The child is able to follow with his eyes a moving toy, examine with interest and evaluate the distance to it. Can focus on an object for a long time, looking at a chandelier under the ceiling or a pattern on the wallpaper. It closely follows the faces of relatives, reacts to changes in facial expressions and smiles, and even tries to repeat facial expressions.

The development of the child's auditory centers also continues to improve, he tries to turn his head towards the source of the sound, and when he hears his mother's voice, he reacts to it, blurring in a smile, and answers by babbling something in his own language.

Several simple games– exercises to train visual and auditory skills:

Holding the toy at a distance of 25-30 cm from the child's eyes, let him focus on it, move it in different directions, making sure that he follows the object with his eyes. This exercise develops eye muscles and eye focus.
Rattles, or rustling and jingling toys, make sounds with different sides from the baby, while asking him "Where does it ring?". The child learns to catch the source of the sound by turning his head in its direction.
Turn on music for a few minutes for your baby and soon, you will be surprised how different his reaction to different works is.

Speech

In the fourth month of life, many babies begin or actively continue to develop the skill of cooing, in the form of lingering sounds “gaaa”, “boo”, “guuu”, this is one of the stages in the formation of his speech. With each passing day, the syllables that the baby utters become clearer and more diverse, new sounds and intonations appear. Your task is to maintain a dialogue, answer the baby to his “words” in his own language, smile and you will see genuine joy in your attention, in his eyes.

Try to constantly talk to your baby, commenting on everything you do. Read themed rhymes and nursery rhymes, for example, when washing or dressing him, and this simple habit will help your baby develop further speech skills quickly and actively.

To attract attention

Another new stage in the development of the baby is a protest against loneliness. If the mother disappears from view for a long time, the baby will show her indignation with loud screams and crying, demanding her to pay attention to him and take her in her arms.

Smile and laugh

At this stage of development, a conscious, sincere smile, a harbinger of future laughter, increasingly appears on the baby's face. And after just a couple of weeks, happy parents a real miracle awaits - a bursting and happy laughter, your beloved child.

In the first six months of life, laughter in a child is caused mainly tactile sensations: tickling, playing "patties" or "goat", biting fingers on small legs. Parents themselves must determine what entertains your baby the most and stimulate his fun in every possible way, because everyone knows perfectly well what benefits it brings.

Lack of laughter, at the age of three months, is by no means a deviation, it's just that your child is a little more restrained, and parents need to have a little patience, for which you will certainly receive a long-awaited reward.

Physical development

From birth to three months, the weight of the child increases by an average of one and a half kilograms, and height by 4-8 cm. His face is rounded, the body becomes stronger and plumper, wrinkles appear on the legs and arms. Compared to a month old baby, he has already learned how to do quite a few difficult things for his tender age.

A three-month-old baby lies perfectly on his stomach, knows how to raise his head quite confidently and tries to keep it in this state, leaning on his forearms. This position allows the baby to better see the world around him.

To help him develop this skill, it is necessary to lay the baby on his stomach several times a day to strengthen the muscles of the back and arms, good incentive to hold the baby in this position, there will be a colored developmental rug with hanging toys.

Many babies at the age of three months are already beginning to master the first independent movement skill - turning over. The baby makes its first coups from the back to the side, and then to the tummy, if this has not happened to your child yet, do not worry, he will definitely master this skill within fourth month development.

You can push your baby to this with the help of simple games and exercises:

Having laid the baby on a free hard surface, put a bright toy next to him, alternately from each side, his interest in it will push him to try to roll over in order to take possession of the object. If he fails, you can help him a little by supporting him under the back.
From the position - lying on your back, put the child's leg in opposite side and rest your knee on the surface on which it lies. This position will be very uncomfortable for him, and he will try to correct this by rolling over on his stomach as soon as possible.

Massage and gymnastics will also be a good help in mastering the skills of a coup. Strengthen the muscles of the back, arms, neck and abdomen, do simple exercises with the baby and very soon you will see a positive trend.

It is better to entrust massage to a professional, but if you feel the potential to do it yourself, you can find on the Internet a large number of video on this topic.

Once the baby has mastered the rollover skill, it will no longer be possible to stop him, he will strive to roll over wherever you put him. Therefore, for safety reasons, never leave your child in places where they could fall, such as on a changing table or bed.

Grasping movements

Almost all newborns have hypertonicity of the arms and legs, but by the age of three months it gradually disappears, the babies open their fists and learn to coordinate the movements of their little fingers.

Most children of this age, with great interest, try to grab the rattles or mobile hanging above the crib and stroller. The most talented of them are able to hold a toy placed in his hand for a short time, offer it to the baby, stimulating him to make grasping movements. For such fun, choose light rattles with large patterns, without sharp corners, on a long, comfortable handle.

Sitting and standing skills

In the fourth month of a child's development, his legs also become stronger. If, supporting the baby under the armpits, let him rest his feet on a hard surface, he will straighten them and be able to “stand” like this for about a minute, but you should not get carried away with such exercises, because of the load on the fragile musculoskeletal system.

Pulling the baby lying on his back by the handles, you will find that he willingly rises behind them, trying to sit down, this is the beginning of the development of such a skill as sitting. However, this by no means means that three month old baby you can already sit down, remember that his spine and back muscles are still absolutely not ready for this.

Prepare your baby physically, do massage and gymnastics to strengthen his back and legs, videos on this topic can be found on the Internet, and after three months your child will delight you by getting up in his crib on his own.

Each parent decides for himself when and what to do with his child and what skills need to be developed in the first place. It is important to always support the desire for new achievements in the baby, praise and encourage him, and positive results will not make you wait long.

And do not forget that all children are different, and each toddler develops in his own way, based on his physical data, temperament and living conditions. The main thing is that you are next to him, and gently and unobtrusively, in game form, help him in this, and he feels your warmth, love and care.