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What does your baby know how to do by the end of the first month?
Last reviewed: 08.07.2025
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By the end of the first month of life, the baby's blood circulation, breathing, and digestion processes are already well regulated. It has a whole set of reflexes: sucking, protective, orienting, grasping, and some others.
The child's movements are still chaotic, impulsive and uncontrollable. But the more he has the opportunity to move freely, the better - this contributes to the development of motor and intellectual skills.
By the end of the first month of life, the child sees bright and large objects quite well, and can follow with his eyes what is moving, although he is not yet able to focus both eyes on any one object.
The child distinguishes sounds well by tone and timbre. He is able to distinguish the voices of his parents, distinguishing them from the voices of other people.
He has a fairly well-developed sense of smell, and he can tell by the smell when his mother is approaching him.
Taste buds are also developed, and the child gradually develops taste preferences.
By the end of the first month of life, the baby's sense of touch is developed. He really likes it when you stroke his back, arms and legs. He already likes massage.
There is no need to talk about speech at this age, but the child already understands the intonations of adults. Research has shown that early experience is very important for the development of the child's brain. Therefore, when you work with your child: bathe, walk, feed, swaddle, talk to him. If you want your child to be a polyglot, then talk to him in different languages. Moreover, it is important that each of the adults speaks the same language with him. Let's say, mom - in Russian, dad - in Ukrainian, grandma - in English, grandpa - in French, etc. From the very first days, it is necessary to make the world around him interesting to the child. For this purpose, you can hang moving and sounding objects over his crib that make pleasant quiet sounds when moving: ringing metal tubes, spinning toys (mobiles), carousels with colorful toys and music that sounds when spinning, etc. These objects should be in close proximity to the child. Considering that he moves his arms and legs chaotically, he will be able to touch them. As a result, the child will quickly realize that his touching of the object is associated with the appearance of a pleasant ringing or melody.
At the end of the first month of life, you can tell whether your child is a "lark" or a "night owl": like adults, "lark" children wake up early and fall asleep early, while "night owls" should not be disturbed early in the morning. They wake up later, but also "walk" until late.