Baby Care Knowledgebase Guide for First-Time Parents 
Now you are slowly entering a period where you can understand your baby’s feelings and how he is feeling. From this month on, you will observe that your baby takes his hand to his mouth more often and his saliva increases.
From this period, your baby’s hand-eye coordination will begin to develop. Shows interest in entities and objects that enter the field of vision. Responds to different facial expressions. When you smile at him, he smiles at you. He starts reaching for things more easily and takes them to his mouth. He starts laughing out loud and makes different sounds. When placed on the stomach, it raises the head 90 degrees. He stretches out his arms when he wants to be picked up.
How to Support Your Baby’s Development
In terms of your baby’s development, bring him in contact with different tissues. For example, you can massage with a velvet glove or wear a satin scarf over your body. You can hand over an object that is soft and does not harm it. Toys and fabrics in different textures contribute to the development of intelligence by creating new neurons in your baby’s brain. Put objects around him from different directions but that he can still reach and grab.
Talk to your baby a lot during this period. For example, while looking out the window, cooking, changing diapers, talk to him at every opportunity. Speak with intonation instead of a monotonous tone while speaking.
My Baby Puts Everything in His/Her Mouth
Babies love to bring their hands to their mouths more often, especially from 3-4 months old. This is one of their ways to learn about their surroundings. In this way, they use all 3 senses (touch, smell, taste). Trying to take their hands out of their mouths can negatively affect their eating behavior in the future.
As babies bring their hands to their mouths, some parents try to prevent this by using words such as “don’t, don’t put your hand to your mouth, no”, but the most effective tool for babies to explore the environment in their first 12 months is their mouth. This is why babies suck, bite, or lick whatever they can get their hands on. This is both a natural and a developmental process and should not be hindered as much as possible.
Since they have not yet mastered the use of their fingers, they make many discoveries with their mouths. This period usually lasts up to 24 months, while in some it can last up to 36 months. In addition, babies use their mouth and jaw muscles while gnawing these objects, and thanks to these exercises, they first start to make sounds and then start to speak. When they are hungry, they may bring the objects around them to their mouths more often. In addition, their tendency to take objects in their mouths increases during teething periods.
Attention: The objects that your baby puts in his mouth should be large enough not to go into his throat and should not have small pieces suitable for tearing off. It shouldn’t be so hard that it hurts. In addition, it is very important to regularly clean the toys, pacifiers and other objects that he takes in his mouth.
Benefits: It is a part of the emotional and psychological development of the baby. Sometimes it can become more frequent in emotionally disruptive situations. It helps to develop the immune system.
Click here to read our article on the development of five-months-old babies.
