10 Developmental Milestones of a 4 Month Old Baby

Reaching the 4 month milestone mark is exciting for babies and their parents. Your little one is becoming more aware of their surroundings at this age. They quickly develop motor skills, particularly in fortifying their limbs to toss and sit. They can also recognise and remember people and sounds, which leads to social interaction.

Read along to know how those achievements would relate to amendments in the child while making plans for the right way to help the child grow.

By four months old, most babies meet certain developmental milestones. The baby can usually lift his head without any support, showing improvement in his neck muscles. Many start rolling from their stomachs to their back and can squat and prop themselves up on their elbows when on their stomachs.

They show improvement in their fine visuomotor coordination, trying to successfully reach for and hold some toys that are brought to their mouths. In general, all this time is very favourable for movement and exploration.

Physical Development Milestone for a 4 Month Old:

• They can steadily hate when held.
• They bring their mitts towards their jaws. 
• They can elevate onto elbows and forearms while facing down.
• They may be capable of turning over onto their back.
• They can remain sitting in a prop and maintain their head vertically aligned.
• Their arms and legs might start to move and kick.

Visual Milestones:

At four months, babies begin to exhibit impressive visual skills as their eyesight develops. Here are a few critical visual milestones:

• Recognising Familiar Faces: Babies can recognise and react to familiar faces by this age. When family members are within focus, they get animated.
• Improved Colour Vision: The four-month-old’s sense of colours is more advanced than a newborn's, and they can see basic bright colours above ordinary ones.
• Focusing on Nearby Objects: Babies can focus on objects that are 8 to 12 inches away, the typical distance during feeding or playtime. 
• Interest in Patterns: Babies at this age are drawn to high-contrast patterns like colourful designs.

Hearing Milestones:

The hearing milestones in this age include crying or otherwise indicating that the baby has heard a sound and or can recognise some familiar voices.

• Recognising Voices: By reaching four months, infants can differentiate between the‘ familiar’ and ‘unfamiliar’ voices’ as they hear. 
• Reacting to Music: The child may smile or settle when playing music. They love the rhythmic sounds and may even wave their arms and legs.

Smell Milestones:

All infants by the age of 4 months are beginning to use their sense of odour as a medium to discover the surroundings. 

• Reaction to New Smells: As part of encouraging or discouraging their action, if the baby is exposed to new or intense smells, they may show interest or displeasure.
• Preference for Scent: At this age, babies are most often said to prefer their parent's or primary caregiver’s scent.

Touch Milestones:

The touch milestones of this period address babies' sensitivity to handling and manipulating objects to explore their environment. 

• Responding to Gentle Touch: Babies react to gentle touch, such as stroking or cuddling, which can calm and comfort them. 
• Grasping and Holding Objects: Babies gain better hand control and can hold onto toys or objects.

4 Month Old Baby Sleeping Patterns:

• Longer Nighttime Sleep: At four months, babies often begin sleeping for longer stretches at night, typically 6-8 hours, helping establish a more predictable sleep routine.
• Daytime Napping Patterns: Babies develop a more regular nap schedule, with two to three naps, usually 30 minutes to 2 hours each.
  Self-Soothing Techniques: Some babies begin self-soothing by sucking their thumb or holding a comfort object, helping them settle themselves back to sleep if they wake up.

Feeding Milestones for a 4 Month Old:

• Showing Hunger Cues: Babies become more adept at signalling hunger through actions like opening their mouths or making sucking motions.
• More Efficient Feeding: Babies begin to feed more efficiently, reducing the time needed for each feeding session. This reflects growing control and coordination during feedings.
• Interest in Watching Others Eat: At four months, babies may start watching others eat with curiosity, though they are not yet ready for solid foods. 
• Beginning to Self-Regulate Intake: Babies can signal when they are full by turning away or losing interest in feeding.

Cognitive Milestones for a 4 Month Old:

• Object Exploration: As the child grows, the child is attracted to and touches things. Little hands bring whatever is attractive to the mouth to grasp different shapes.
• Recognising Patterns and Routines: At this age babies can identify the cycles of the day and look forward to events such as meals or bedtime. 
• Interest in Surroundings: Four month olds are more interested in their surroundings and turn their attention to new objects and people.
• Tracking Movement: Babies become better at the path of a moving object with their eyes. This suggests that a sense of depth perception is developing within them.
• Attention Span Increases: They can also enjoy toys or activities for an extended period compared to other days as their attention span is short.

Social Milestones for a 4 Month Old:

• Expressing Emotions: By four months from the age of four, babies can use their facial expressions and sounds to show a variety of moods.
• Seeking Attention: Before other new skills, babies may begin to do actions with their hands, make sounds to have others look at them or put their arms out. 
• Comfort from Caregivers: Crying babies look around for familiar people away from them and try to place themselves or be placed in such people’s arms.
• Movement and Interplay: Infants are fascinated with easy social games such as peekaboo or clapping games that promote involvement and exposure to social contexts.

What to Expect:

• Laughing and Giggling:  At this level, babies become prone to responding to various forms of stimuli, such as laughing out or giggling.
• Increases Responsiveness: Peaking Babies seem to become more interested in sounds; by doing so, they turn their heads toward the sound.
• Expressing Needs Through Sounds: In the cooing or fussing, the babies also modulate their voice or tone to express different needs for attention.

1. Playing with Rattles

2. Moving Toy

3. Peekaboo

4. Babbling

5. Texture Exploration

6. Sound Exploration

7. Mirror Play

1. Engage in Tummy Time

2. Encourage Reaching and Grasping

3. Introduce Sensory Experiences

4. Promote Social Interaction

5. Exploration

6. Sleep Patterns

Difficulty Feeding:

Breathing Issues:

Sleep Concerns:

Vaccination Questions: