Milestones of a Newborn Baby

It's been 30 days since your baby was born, and now it's time to assess the progress of their first month of life and ensure they are developing properly. What are the milestones for a 1-month infant?

Developmental milestones for infants

Every child is unique, and the milestones of a newborn can vary. However, there are established ranges within which deviations from the norm might signal potential issues. To help parents identify and address any concerns early on, it's important to be aware of these norms. Let's take a closer look at them.

Physical development

To understand a baby's developmental milestones by month in the first month, parents should monitor the baby's physical parameters, including height, weight, and head and chest circumference.

1 month	Lower limit	Upper limit
Boys weight, pounds	7,9	11,2
Girls weight, pounds	7,9	10,4
Boys height, inches	20,2	22,2
Girls height, inches	19,8	22,1
Head circumference of boys, inches	14	14,2
Head circumference of girls, inches	13,8	15
Boys chest circumference, inches	13,4	15,3
Girls chest circumference, inches	13,4	15

According to the World Health Organization (WHO):

1 month	Lower limit	Upper limit
Boys weight, pounds	7,5	12,8
Girls weight, pounds	7,1	12,1
Boys height, inches	20	23,1
Girls height, inches	19,6	22,7
Head circumference of boys, inches	13,7	15,6
Head circumference of girls, inches	13,5	15,3

Weight can be measured using special baby scales. If those aren't available, you can approximate the baby's weight by weighing yourself while holding the baby and then subtracting your own weight. Keep in mind that this method has an error margin of 100-300 grams.

Other measurements are taken using a flexible measuring tape:

• To measure height, lay the baby flat and start the tape at the head, ensuring that the nearest leg is as straight as possible. If you need assistance, ask someone you trust for help.

• Measure head circumference while the baby lies down by placing the tape under the most prominent part of the back of the head and closing it at the level of the eyebrows.

• Measure chest circumference at the level of the shoulder blades from the back and the nipples from the front.

By the 30th day after birth, your baby will show interest in bright objects, such as hanging toys on a mobile or a rattle in their mother's hand. They will follow these objects for about 5–10 seconds. Fixed objects will generate less interest, but they will eagerly gaze at their parents' faces, a cat, or a soft toy placed within half a meter.

The baby will react to loud sounds even if they're out of their line of sight, flinching or blinking. This indicates brain development as the baby learns to make initial decisions.

Visual and auditory abilities improve daily, and the baby will display more reactions, including the first signs of emotions and smiles directed at their parents.

The physical 1-month developmental milestones of babies include:

• The ability to hold their head up, which will fully develop by the end of the second month.

• Turning their head to one side while lying on their back.

• Attempts to roll over from their tummy to one side.

• Making cooing sounds, distinct from crying.

The baby is actively gaining weight, resembling the cherubic infants seen in glossy photos, with round cheeks and a gentle pink skin tone. Most transient conditions of the neonatal period, such as postpartum edema, jaundice, acne, and erythema, have disappeared. The umbilical wound has also healed.

One milestone of a newborn baby is: a baby typically sleeps for 15.5 to 18 hours a day, with 6–8 hours of daytime sleep and 8–10 hours at night. The ideal sleep-wake rhythm for a 1-1.5-month-old includes periods of wakefulness lasting 1 hour to 1 hour and 15 minutes, including feeding, getting ready for bed, and falling asleep.

Infantile colic may appear during this stage, which can be alleviated with over-the-counter gas relief medications. This can be a challenging phase, but it's important to navigate it with patience and care.

Also: Co-Sleeping with Baby: Advice for Parents

Social development

A baby is capable of perceiving not only overt emotions like aggression and tension but also subtler emotions like irritation, discomfort, and frustration. They will immediately "mirror" these emotions by expressing themselves through crying or smiling.

Experienced mothers who are familiar with the developmental milestones of a one-month-old baby can discern nuances in their baby's crying, helping them pinpoint the baby's needs accurately—whether the baby is tired, scared, cold, or experiencing other discomforts. Smiles, on the other hand, are a more straightforward indicator of a baby's comfort, often occurring during or after bathing, feeding, or even after bowel movements. Babies also smile in response to their parents' smiles.

During the first month of life milestones of a newborn baby include the beginning of the foundations of speech development. They may produce a limited range of sounds in response to adult conversations. Although the repertoire of sounds is small, they will gradually acquire distinct ones like "a," "kh," and "ah."

Imitation is another form of infant interaction with others. A baby is sensitive to their mother's mood, smiling in response and mimicking her facial expressions.

Also: How to Calm a Crying Baby: 10 Tips

Tips for parents

To assess your child's reflexes, follow the steps in the table below. Understanding these reflexes can help you gauge the progress of your baby's developmental milestones each month.

Action	Reflex	Purpose
Touch the child's hand – he will reflexively grab your finger.	Grasping	This reflex is a harbinger of the baby's ability to hold a toy, a spoon, a cup in a pen. It will develop in a few months.
Stroke the baby's cheek – he will turn his head in this direction.	Searching	Such a skill helps to see the source of food, namely, to accurately navigate and grab the nipple of mother's breast.
Swipe your finger near the baby's mouth – he will make movements resembling sucking.	Sucking	The reflex helps the child quickly start eating as soon as its source (breast, nipple) is near the mouth.
Press your finger on the soles of a child's foot, and the toes will bend in an attempt to grab the pressing object. And if you stroke the sole of the foot and slightly press on the heel, the toes will splay out.	Babinski's reflex	This skill will help the child walk on different surfaces – from flat planes to sloping, bumpy, with pits and hills. The foot of a little man must adapt to the surface on which he walks.
Raise the baby in your arms so that his legs touch the bed or table. He will imitate walking.	Walking reflex	Leg movements, resembling walking, are laid down at an unconditional level. On this basis, a baby will make his first steps at the end of the first year of life.