Early childhood development (ECD) is a complex theory that explains how a baby learns and how the brain advances through stages of abilities from birth to 5 years of age. One part of this theory is baby development during the first year of life. As your child’s parent, you are their most important teacher. As teachers, we support the children’s development as they advance their abilities. This blog focuses on the modern teaching approach in ECE, called the whole-child approach, where teaching encompasses the development of all aspects of the child’s learning: physical, cognitive, language, and social-emotional abilities.
Abilities & Preferences
Abilities are skills a child has or is developing, and preference means their likes or dislikes. Infants develop abilities and preferences at their own pace, also called developmental milestones or skills. Many abilities overlap with one another, making it difficult to separate them. It is important to remember that children develop a wide range of abilities at different rates. Any child could be above the typical age in one ability and below the typical age in another.

This blog focuses on how children engage and interact with toys and the abilities necessary for that interaction. We do not provide medical advice, medical conditions, child health suggestions, or disease control.
Table of contents
Baby Development: 4 through 7 months
Infants from 4 through 7 months include a wide range of skills and a greater ability to use their bodies. Infants seem to be busy every waking moment as they manipulate and mouth toys that come into their hands. They talk constantly, making vowel and consonant sounds in greater variety and complexity. They initiate social interactions by responding to facial expressions, gestures, and the comings and goings of everyone in their world. Infants at this stage are both self-contained and sociable. They move easily from spontaneous, self-initiated activity to social activities initiated by others.

Physical Development
From birth, infants learn through reflexive behaviors. The following reflexes in infants four thru seven months are changing:
- Blinking reflexes are well-established
- Sucking reflex becomes voluntary (most infants will stop using a pacifier)
- Moral reflex disappears
- Parachute reflex appears toward the end of this stage. (when held in a prone horizontal position and lowered suddenly as the infant throws its arms out in a protective measure)
- Swallowing reflux appears. This is a more complex form of swallowing that involves tongue movement against the roof of the mouth. This allows infants to move solids from the front of the mouth to the back for swallowing.
Your infant is developing their Pincer Grip. This is an important milestone when they use their fingers and thumbs to pick up objects.
Infants will soon develop the ability to grasp objects with one hand and transfer them to the other hand. This is known as Palmar Grasp.
Your baby will continue to develop hand-eye coordination. They will discover new ways to interact with objects, such as shaking and pounding. The baby will put everything in its mouth. The baby can hold its bottle and sit alone without support, holding its head up, back straight, and arms propped forward.
During Tummy Time, your baby will learn to pull themselves up into a crawling position by leaning on their hands for support. They may rock back and forth but won’t generally move forward. They will also lift their head when placed on their back and move by reaching, wriggling, and rolling. Initially, rolling over will be from front to back, and later on, it will be from back to front.
As your infant becomes more mobile, it may accidentally start scooting backward when placed on its stomach. Soon, it will begin to crawl forward. Many infants will start out with the Army Crawl, where they are moving forward while flat on the floor. The baby will also enjoy standing in a standing position, especially on someone’s lap and jumping in place.
Teething typically begins during this stage, and your baby’s gums may become red and swollen. The upper and lower incisors will come in first, and you may notice increased chewing, drooling, biting, and mouthing of objects.

Cognitive Development
Infants exhibit various behaviors that can informally test their hearing ability. For instance, they may turn their head forward and locate familiar voices and sounds. Additionally, they show interest in small objects and reach for them by using their eyes and hand coordination. Infants also imitate different actions, such as pat-a-cake, waving bye-bye, and playing peek-a-boo.
As infants develop, they acquire Depth Perception and start to show fear when they are in high places like changing tables or stairs. They look over the side of cribs or high chairs to find items that have dropped and delight in repeatedly throwing objects for their caregiver to retrieve.
Infants begin to understand that objects continue to exist even when they cannot see them. This is called Object Permanence. They search for hidden toys or food behind screens or under clothes.
At this age, infants start to show specific actions indicating their needs, such as closing their mouths when they are finished eating or pushing away a bottle when they are done. It is beneficial for the infant’s development to encourage them to hold their own bottle by placing their hands on it and providing support until they can hold the bottle on their own.
Infants explore objects in various ways, such as visually turning them around, feeling all surfaces, banging, and shaking. They can pick up inverted objects and recognize their cup even in a different position. However, infants cannot deal with more than one toy at a time and may either ignore the second toy or drop the current one to focus on the new toy.
Infants can reach accurately with either hand and play with small toys such as rattles or blocks. They enjoy banging objects together and playing with spoons and tables. Infants continue to put everything in their mouths as a way of exploring their surroundings.
Finally, infants establish a full attachment to their mother or caregiver, which coincides with their growing understanding of object permanence.

Language Development
During their infancy, babies start responding to their own name and simple requests like “eat” or “wave bye-bye.” They can even imitate some nonspeech words like coughing, tongue clicking, or lip smacking. As they grow, babies acquire a full range of vowels and some consonants like R, S, Z, TH, and W, and they are able to recognize different emotions like anger, playfulness, and sadness by variations in tone of voice.
Babies also start expressing their emotions by making different sounds like cooing, crying, or even laughing. They may talk to their toys and babble by repeating the same syllable over and over again, like “ba ba ba”. It’s adorable!
As you know, different noises can cause babies to react in different ways. When they hear noises like a vacuum cleaner, phone ringing, or dog barking, they may cry, whimper, or seek reassurance from their parent or caregiver. It’s important to be there for them and make them feel safe and secure.

Social-Emotional Development
Infants from 4 through 7 months start to observe their surroundings and take pleasure in people and activities. They also develop a sense of individuality as a separate person from others. As a result, they become more outgoing and sociable, and they may smile, coo, and reach out to others. Infants can differentiate between strangers, caretakers, parents, and siblings, and they respond differently to each one. They can also respond appropriately to facial expressions such as frowns and smiles, and they may imitate facial expressions, actions, and sounds.
Initially, infants may be friendly towards strangers, but they may later become apprehensive about being approached by or left with strangers. This is known as Stranger Anxiety or separation anxiety. Infants enjoy being held and cuddled, and they may indicate their desire to be picked up by raising their arms. If their physical and emotional needs are met consistently, they can establish a trusting relationship with their parents and caregivers.
By six months of age, babies will start to show a preference for their primary caregiver and may become upset if a toy or other object is taken away from them. They seek attention through body movements, verbalizations, or both and may laugh out loud.

Baby Developmental Alerts
Please take a look at Young Baby Development Alerts!
If the young infant lacks these abilities, it might indicate that further evaluation is necessary.

Toy Safety
Toy safety is essential because small objects should not be around young infants and young children. These first three months are a great way for first-time parents to create a dedicated, safe place and play area. In my next post, we will explore baby development for babies 4 through 7 months of age. We will see that infants are now pulling themselves up to stand and speaking their parent’s names (mama, papa).
Conclusion
As we have seen, baby development for babies four through seven months will start with eating new foods, speaking their first word, and developing a strong attachment to family members. They are further developing their fine motor skills and recognizing familiar faces. This is an exciting time when vowel sounds are becoming defined, and they will be pronouncing words in a few short months. This is a good time to support them through fears and emotions and a good idea to develop a nightly bedtime routine. Nevertheless, remember that every baby grows at their own rate and may excel in one area and seem behind in another.
Links For Your Reference:
- Essential Toy Safety for Infants, Toddlers, and Preschoolers.
- Whole Child Education: What is the Approach to Teaching?
- Developmentally Appropriate Toys: What and Why Are They Important?
- American Academy of Pediatrics
I value your input and comments tremendously. If there is anything else I should include in this blog post, please let me know!
Lisa Lisa
Tuesday 26th of November 2024
This is such a great article. I like how you posted the baby development alert list; many parents should have that on hand to make sure their little one is developing accordingly to their age. These are great tips , Thank you!
Jediael
Friday 5th of April 2024
Very helpful article; especially as a first-time parent. Thanks for sharing!
maddie L.
Thursday 4th of April 2024
Love this information! Super helpful! Thank you for sharing!
Beth
Thursday 4th of April 2024
What a lovely post with great information. Thank you so much for sharing!
Olga
Wednesday 3rd of April 2024
4 to 7 months is a great period for babies. I love Army Crawl; it is so cute!