Turning one month old is an important and exciting milestone for your newborn. Learn common 1-month baby milestones so that you know what to expect and can monitor how your baby is developing.
During your baby’s first month of life, you will notice them becoming more alert and engaged with you and the world around them. These changes may seem subtle at first. Your newborn may look at your face more or stop crying when you speak. As you are reading, keep in mind that every baby develops at their own pace, and these one-month milestones simply serve as helpful guidelines for growth and development.
- Physical Development
- Sensory Milestones
- Communication Milestones
- Feeding and Sleep Milestones
- Supporting 1-Month Growth
- Additional Support
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Physical Development Milestones
The average newborn gains 2 pounds during their first month. They also begin to develop strength and coordination, especially in their legs, hands, neck, and shoulders. This allows them to begin holding themselves up slightly and experimenting with their hands.
You may see your baby exploring their newly found physicality by making tight fists or slightly lifting their head during tummy time. These milestones for newborns at 1-month are foundational skills for future movements like rolling, sitting, and crawling.
Movement and Reflexes
Newborns often move their arms and legs in jerky motions. Movements will become smoother as babies gain more control over their bodies, but developmental reflexes such as rooting will last several more months. Reflexes are involuntary responses and key neurological baby developmental milestones. You can expect to see these developmental milestones of babies at 0-1 months.
- Startle Reflex: Sometimes called the Moro reflex, the startle response happens when a newborn is scared or surprised by something unexpected such as a loud sound or abrupt handling. The reflex causes infants to quickly extend their arms and legs and then bring them in close to their bodies. They may also throw their head back, arch their back, and cry. This response usually begins to disappear after about two months.
- Rooting Reflex: This essential reflex helps newborns find the nipple or bottle when they begin feeding. If they feel something on their cheek while cradled, they will turn their head from side to side to find the food source. This reflex lasts about four months.
- Sucking Reflex: Sucking is another essential reflex for newborns to be able to feed. It allows them to extract milk from a breast or a bottle. This reflex never really goes away, but it will become more controlled as your baby grows.
- Self-Soothing Attempts: Trying to self-soothe is one of the most vital one-month-old milestones. It can look like rooting during non-feeding times or thumb-sucking. However, it’s normal for these early self-soothing attempts to be unsuccessful. The more you establish routines with your newborn, the more likely they will learn to self-soothe as they grow older.
Head Control
An important and exciting 1-month-infant milestone is developing neck strength which is the precursor to head control. To support this growth, you can start tummy time within days of bringing your newborn home. This activity helps babies learn to lift their heads briefly, building strength in their neck and shoulders. They may even slightly move their head from side to side while holding it up a little.
While head control is still very limited at one month, these early movements are an essential part of motor development. Be sure to still support your 1-month-old’s head when you are holding them or they are sitting up.
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Sensory Development Milestones
A baby’s senses of vision, hearing, smell, and touch begin to develop rapidly in the first month. You will notice your child looking around more or following you with their eyes. They may even cross their eyes sometimes or blink when an overhead light turns on. Engaging these senses at the right times helps build your baby’s connection to their environment and caregivers.
Sensory milestones at 1-month-old:
- Improved vision: Baby recognizes the faces of their primary caregivers and reacts to bright lights.
- Fully developed hearing: A 1-month-old’s hearing should be fully developed.
- Sound recognition: Baby recognizes some sounds including their primary caregivers’ voices.
- Smell preferences: Baby avoids bitter and acidic smells and recognizes the smell of breastmilk.
- Touch preferences: Baby prefers soft materials and gentle handling.
Vision
What is a milestone 1-month-old babies should have with their eyesight? 1-month-old babies can focus on objects 8–12 inches away. Hold your baby about 10 inches from your face so that they can fully see you. 1-month-olds also prefer high-contrast patterns like black-and-white images and toys. Finally, visual tracking begins during this stage, laying the foundation for future eye coordination.
Hearing
Babies recognize familiar voices, particularly their parents, and react to sudden sounds with a startle reflex or by turning their face toward the sound. Talk and sing to your baby as much as you can during waking hours. These interactions stimulate auditory development.
Smell and Touch
Babies recognize their caregiver’s scent, which provides comfort and familiarity. They also prefer soft, gentle touches, which help strengthen the bond between parent and baby. Touch them gently on the legs or arms and talk to them in a calm voice before picking them up to avoid startling them.
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Social and Communication Milestones
Within the first month, newborns immediately begin learning social cues and different ways to express themselves. Early forms of interaction include crying, mimicking facial expressions, and eye contact. These milestones are building blocks for communication and long-term emotional bonding. As newborns and parents or caretakers get to know each other, these forms of communication create a unique language that they share as the baby grows. Some of these behaviors and milestones you’ll notice include:
- Eye contact: Baby will focus on your face when you are near them.
- Voice recognition: Baby reacts to the sound of your voice because they recognize it.
- Facial expressions: Baby begins experimenting with moving different parts of their face.
- Crying: Baby has different cries to express different needs which we’ll explore below.
Crying as Communication
If your child is crying a lot, this is because crying is a baby’s primary way of expressing needs such as hunger, discomfort, or fatigue. The way a cry sounds may indicate what the specific need is, and over time you will learn to hear the differences in your baby’s cries.
For example, mild crying on and off is usually a sign of tiredness or a dirty diaper whereas crying that increases steadily in volume is usually a sign of hunger. High-pitched crying or shrieking could be a sign of pain.
Early Social Engagement
Your 1-month-old can now recognize your face and likely the faces of other primary caregivers. They may make eye contact with you and experiment with facial movements which include raising or furrowing their eyebrows. They will often try to mimic the facial expressions of their parents.
When your baby is looking at you, engage with them by smiling or sticking your tongue out and see if they try to copy you. These moments help nurture social bonds.
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1 Month Feeding and Sleep Developmental Milestones
A 1-month-old baby is still a newborn and parents are still developing routines to meet their babies’ needs. It's essential to strike a balance between following your baby’s hunger and tiredness cues and establishing a rhythm.
On average, a 1-month-old will eat 8-12 times a day and sleep for 14-17 hours, but do not expect them to follow a schedule yet. However, you may start implementing routines such as tummy time when they wake up in the morning and singing them quiet lullabies before bed in the evening.
Feeding
Feeding your baby will become a frequent part of your day in the first month as 1-month-old babies feed every 2 to 3 hours. They often show they are hungry with cues like rooting or sucking motions. If your baby regularly sleeps for more than 3 hours at a time, talk to your doctor about whether you need to wake them up for feedings. Consistent feeding supports healthy growth and strengthens the parent-baby bond.
An individual feeding session may last up to 20 minutes. Consider a nursing pillow to make feedings comfortable and safe for you and your baby. Whether breastfeeding or bottle feeding, learning how to use a nursing pillow properly benefits you and your partner.
Sleeping
At one month, babies sleep for approximately 14-17 hours a day, often in short intervals without a set schedule. One nap may be 30 minutes long while another could last several hours. Expect them to still wake up often in the middle of the night for the next few months. Developing a routine and creating a calming environment with a bassinet or crib will support your baby adapting to a nightly sleep pattern.
You can try to create a calming environment in your baby’s room to help them rest:
- Familiarize yourself with your baby’s wake windows.
- Adjust the sleeping environment by keeping the room dark at night.
- Only use quiet voices at night.
- Put toys away before bed.
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Supporting Your Baby’s 1-Month Developmental Milestones
It’s normal for new parents to worry about their infant's 1 month developmental milestones. Establishing routines that include interactive play and social bonding every day will help foster healthy physical growth, sensory development, and communication skills. Interacting with your baby can also ensure they hit important newborn intellectual development milestones from birth to 1 month by providing age-appropriate mental stimulation through toys and props.
Encourage Physical Growth
Want to encourage the development of physical one-month infant milestones? Daily supervised tummy time is the best way for your newborn to strengthen neck and upper body muscles and prepare for future motor skills. Does your baby seem to dislike or resist tummy time? A gentle head support like the Boppy Tummy Time Prop can make tummy time safer and more fun for you and your baby!
Stimulate Sensory Development
Many excellent products are on the market to support sensory-related 1-month baby milestones. These include stuffed animals made with high-contrast colors, night lights, and enrichment toys, and they make great gifts for new parents. While educational toys are great, don’t forget to also incorporate soothing sounds with your voice and gentle human touch to help your baby build a wide range of sensory awareness.
Build Social and Emotional Bonds
When possible, interact with your baby while you are 8-12 inches away so they can focus on your face. Try different forms of interacting such as maintaining eye contact, mimicking the baby’s facial expressions, and talking during daily routines to foster connection. Providing a nurturing and secure environment for your baby to feel safe and loved will help ensure proper physical, intellectual, and emotional development.
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When to Contact Your Physician
All babies should visit the doctor for a routine check-up when they are 1-month-old. The physician can tell you whether your baby’s weight and size are within a normal range and assess other aspects of development such as body movements and reactions to external stimuli. Regular check-ups are essential for tracking their baby’s progress and addressing any concerns early.
Caring for a newborn can be challenging and stressful. However, every parent wants the best for their new child and for them to grow up happy and healthy. If your 1-month-old shows any of the following signs, seek medical advice:
- Stiffness: Baby rarely moves their arms or legs or movements seem excessively stiff.
- Not latching well: Baby struggles to nurse or nurses very slowly.
- No response to bright light: Baby doesn’t blink or react to bright light.
- No response to loud sounds: Baby doesn’t startle or react to loud noises.
Encourage 1-Month-Old Milestones with the Boppy Tummy Time Pillow
The newborn milestones your 1-month-old reaches may seem small, but each one is a building block for their growth and development. By nurturing your baby’s physical, sensory, and social milestones with interactive activities like tummy time, you can look forward to exciting achievements in the months ahead.
The Boppy Tummy Time Prop Pillow is a supportive tool to help your baby develop strength and coordination while making playtime engaging and enjoyable with attached toys. As you navigate this journey, trust Boppy to provide thoughtfully designed products, from nursing pillows and pregnancy pillows to baby carriers and playtime essentials, to support every stage of your parenting experience.