Adaptive Skills Really Start To Emerge

Your baby is 13 weeks old today!  Last week, we talked about your baby holds and looks at an object or toy (typically a rattle or small toy).  This week, there is another new development in your baby’s fine motor skills and that is, while he is laying on his back and holding a toy, your baby is able to bring his free hand to the middle of his body (midline).  You will observe more consistency in your baby’s earlier developments.  You will also notice that your baby’s skills become more complex as the weeks go on.

In your baby’s first and second months, developments in his social interaction included looking and responding to your voice and tracking you with his eyes.  This week, you will see him smile socially.  Whether you are out and about or at home and interacting with your baby he will smile at you as a way to show that he is pleased with all the stimulation.  Another development in your baby’s social interaction skills is that he is learning to distinguish you as his parent apart from other caregivers and people in his life.

Along with your baby’s fine motor and social interaction skills improving this week, his adaptive skills are progressing as well.  When your baby cries, you are now familiar with what he wants.  He still cries when he is hungry, but now he is able to wait a little before being fed.  That’s definitely advancement as your baby’s cry was once very demanding and there was no way he would wait for a feeding!  When my daughter was this age, I figured out her cries.  In the beginning, I always thought she was hungry so I’d feed her.  And once she settled into a routine I realized that sometimes she wasn’t hungry, but instead she was sleepy!  In the upcoming weeks, you will see more gains in your baby’s adaptive skills.