When Do Babies Start Reaching For Things?
From the time that babies are born, they love to play and interact with their loved ones. While they’re very young, their abilities during playtime are limited. But as they grow older, they gain better use of their hands and feet by playing and exercising.
Babies follow a natural progression of skill advancement before they can start reaching for things. As the old saying goes, “You must learn to crawl before you can walk,” but of course, there are always exceptions to this rule. If you want to learn more about when your baby should start reaching for things, continue reading.
What Age Do Babies Start Reaching For Things?
Before your baby can start reaching for things, they will need to work up to the skill. This is usually done through playtime and baby exercises! Once your baby starts reaching for items, they can start working on other important tasks! Here is the normal, natural progression of your baby’s skills:
Reaching: Babies begin truly noticing the objects around them at approximately three months of age. At this point, their curiosity gets the best of them, and they start reaching out to grab them! This is around the same time that they will start reaching for you.
Batting: This is a normal movement that most babies experience. They begin swinging at nearby objects, but the motion isn’t smooth yet as their fine motor skills are not fully developed.
Bringing hands to the midline: Babies will start bringing their hands to the middle of their body before they begin grabbing items. This can result in hands and feet being brought to their mouth!
Opening palms: As your baby gets older, their once-clenched fists will start to open and relax. This happens around four or five months of age and is the pathway to them eventually grabbing items!
Grabbing: Once their hands are open, they can start grabbing items. This usually happens around 5 or 6 months old.
Transferring objects: After perfecting the skill of picking up objects, most babies by the age of 6 months can switch items between their hands and usually perfect this skill by age nine months.
Shaking and banging: Now that they have the skill to grab items and switch them between hands, you may find your little one shaking items and banging them on the ground! After all, what’s more fun than learning you can make a loud and silly noise?
How To Help Your Baby Grasp Items
If your baby is falling behind, or you want to simply speed up the process, you can play with your baby and do exercises to help them learn the skill. You will need a high-contrast toy as when they are first born, their vision is primarily black and white, so brightly colored or fluorescent toys will help grab their attention.
You can slowly move their toy back and forth and up and down to spark their interest. It’s a good idea to do this while they are lying on their back so they have use of their hands. This can also be done in a stroller or a high chair, wherever they have the most mobility of their arms.
If the toy you chose isn’t doing the trick, bring out all the bells and whistles! Grab a toy that has lights and noise to engage them. Bonus points if the toy is small enough for them to pick up, as bigger toys are harder for little hands to grasp.
Put the toy in their hands if they aren’t reaching for it so they can inspect it and play with it on their own. Once your baby is interested, try moving the toy farther and farther back to encourage them to reach out for it. Doing this will push your baby to reach out if they want to play with the toy!
There are other baby items that you can use to encourage your little one to reach out. You can buy an activity mat that comes with the toys that dangle above. While your baby is lying on their back, they’ll look up and see toys dangling down. Some even have lights and make noise! Entice your little one to reach out and play with the toys by shaking them a little to get their attention.
When To Consult Your Pediatrician
Most babies develop at their own pace. If you try to push them before they are ready, they can fight even harder! While babies will develop on their own timeline, there is a certain point where it’s a good idea to raise your concerns with their pediatrician. Development delays are a common occurrence among children and can usually be identified and corrected without serious intervention.
If it’s found that there is a developmental delay with your baby, you can expect an evaluation to be conducted to discover the extent of the delay. Depending on the extent of the delay, your baby may be given an individualized treatment plan to help them catch up. It’s also important to note that if your child reaches a milestone and then experiences a regression, it’s worth mentioning to their pediatrician.
Keep Track of Your Baby’s Milestones with Baby Connect
Your baby’s milestone is important to you. You want to be sure that they are hitting their milestones on time or close to it. Reaching for things is one of the first of many milestones your baby will reach as they get older.
Some babies fall slightly behind when working on their developmental milestones. There are exercises and activities you can do to help them along. With the Baby Connect app, you can keep track of all of your baby’s important milestones!
