Early Childhood Development
Early childhood development (ECD) is a complex theory that explains how a child learns and how the brain advances through stages of abilities from birth to 5 years of age. Young baby development is one part of this theory. 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. Young 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.

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
Young Baby Development: 1 thru 3 months
As a parent or caregiver, you must be curious about the significant developmental milestones your one-month-to-three-month-old baby may soon achieve. Infants grow rapidly, and their body systems become more stabilized. Their breathing patterns, heart rate, and temperature become more regular. Infants also develop better motor skills as their strength and voluntary muscle control improve.
As young babies are awake for longer stretches, they become more socially aware and responsive to their environment. At birth, their eyes explore and gradually establish trust and emotional attachment to their caregivers and parents. Although crying remains a primary way of communicating and gaining adult attention, infants gradually develop more complex communication skills. They find pleasure in imitating the speech sounds and gestures of others.
Learning occurs continuously as infants explore and gather information about their new and unfamiliar environment. However, physical, cognitive, and social-emotional development are closely related and almost impossible to differentiate during these early months.

Physical Development
During the first three months of baby’s development, young infant reflexes continue to change from those seen in the newborn development:
- Tonic neck and Stepping reflexes change
- Rooting and Sucking reflexes become well-developed.
- Swallowing reflex and tongue movements are still immature, resulting in drooling and the inability to move food to the back of the mouth.
- Moro reflex, or Startle reflex, reduces
- Grasp reflex gradually diminishes
- Lando reflex appears near the middle of this stage. When held in a prone face-down position, the baby’s head is held upright, and the legs are fully extended.
In the first months of life, young infants have equal muscle tone and development. As the child’s development progresses, muscle strength and control continue to improve, and early movements become smoother and more purposeful. By two months, the baby’s neck strength starts to show increased strength. Many three-month-old babies can sit upright.
Tummy Time
Tummy Time is important because it helps prevent flat spots on the back of the head, strengthens neck and shoulder muscles, improves head control, and improves your baby’s movement, prompting them to use muscles to move. Senses that were fuzzy during the first month, like vision and hearing clarity, are sharpening.

Cognitive Development
Cognitive milestones involve memory, reasoning, and problem-solving abilities. Young infants exhibit a variety of visual and auditory abilities. For instance, they can focus on and track a moving object held 12 inches (30.5 centimeters) away from them both vertically and horizontally across a 180° pathway. Moreover, they tend to gaze towards the direction of disappeared objects.
Infants also exhibit some degree of recognition of size, color, and shape of objects in their environment. They can recognize familiar objects like their own bottle even when it is turned around and presents a different shape. However, they do not search for a toy hidden under a blanket or a bottle that falls out of the crib.
Young infants spend much time observing their hands and moving their eyes between objects. They are developing their hand-eye coordination and are especially interested in small objects they can try to grab. Infants often follow their hand movements and switch their gaze between their hands and the object they are trying to reach. Additionally, they try to imitate adult gestures such as waving or patting. They can hit an object on either side of them with some degree of accuracy. Once the young infant can reach out and grasp objects, the next baby milestones are to shake, rattle, and even throw them. You can aid in developing these skills by placing colorful toys within your baby’s reach during tummy time or while you sit with them on your lap.
Infants can locate the direction of a sound source by looking towards it. They can match sound and rhymes with movement by jiggling or moving in time with music, singing, or chanting. They can also differentiate their parents’ voices and faces from those of strangers when other cues, such as touch or smell, are present.
Infants tend to repeat the arm or leg movements that initiated the motion of their toys to keep them in motion. As baby’s movements improve, they begin to put objects in their mouths.

Language Development
Young infant language milestones depend on receptive, expressive, and nonverbal communication. During face-to-face interactions and eye contact with a caregiver, infants use facial expressions and body language, vocalize, and coordinate their movements to communicate.
Young infants may respond to the sound of your voice or smile with coos and single vowel sounds like (ah, eh, or uh), and they may even imitate their own sounds and vowel sounds produced by others. Cooing usually involves vowel sounds like “ahh” and “ooh,” while babbling is the addition of consonants to vowels, such as “bababa, dadada.” However, babbling for many infants begins at six to nine months old.
At this stage, young infants often show their first smile, and express joy by laughing out loud.

Social-Emotional Development
In young infant development, the baby can imitate, maintain, terminate, and avoid interactions. For example, the infant can turn towards or away from a person or situation. The infant also reacts differently to various variations in adult voices. For instance, they may frown or appear anxious if voices are loud, angry, or unfamiliar. The baby enjoys being held and cuddled at times other than feeding and bedtime, building a strong attachment to their caregiver. When awake, they make cooing, gurgling, and squealing sounds. Additionally, the young infant smiles in response to a friendly face or voice. However, it’s believed that smiles occurring during sleep are reflexive.
Infants can entertain themselves in the first couple of months by playing with their fingers, hands, and toes. They enjoy familiar routines such as being bathed and changing their diapers. Infants enjoy play time that involves tickling, laughing, and giggling and tend to cry less. They recognize and reach out to familiar faces and objects, such as their father or a bottle, and react by waving their arms and squealing excitedly. They also stop crying when the parent or caregiver comes near.

Young Baby Developmental Alerts
Please take a look at Young Baby Developmental Alerts!
If the baby 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 child development for infants 4 through 7 months of age. We will see that infants are now mouthing toys and refining fine motor skills.
Conclusion
When your baby hits the three-month mark, they’re likely more alert to the world around them. After all, your baby has officially completed their “fourth trimester,” a term used to describe the first three months immediately following birth, where a baby’s care tends to be very similar to their experience in the womb. (There’s lots of swaddling and shushing and feeding.) Nevertheless, remember that every baby grows at its own rate, and babies don’t need to reach each milestone precisely in three months.
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 & Why Are They Important?
- Newborn Toys and Activities: Birth to 1 month
- 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! Until my next post, Keep Everything Simple. Talk with you soon!
SONIA SEIVWRIGHT
Saturday 18th of January 2025
From toys to simple interactions, everyday moments can make a big difference to physical and cognitive development. As a parent, it’s exciting and reassuring to have these tips on hand during this stage. Thanks for sharing this valuable and inspiring resource – a must-read for anyone with tiny humans!
Emily
Friday 17th of January 2025
I loved learning about this short but precious newborn stage! They're changing so much during this time, it seems.
Michelle
Friday 17th of January 2025
I remember when my niece was this small and how these first few months were so special. They grow and change so much in this newborn stage.
Bedabrata Chakraborty
Thursday 9th of January 2025
Age-appropriate toys do play a crucial role in a baby's early development. They help enhance motor skills, stimulate curiosity, and encourage learning in a fun and engaging way, fostering overall growth
Emily
Wednesday 8th of January 2025
One of my favourite topics to study in university for my psych program was child development! Babies are so interesting at these ages are progress so rapidly.