Baby Development Articles

Baby Development articles for parents, doulas, lactation consultants, and other perinatal care providers.

When Do Newborns Start Smiling? a Week-by-Week Guide
Newborn

When Do Newborns Start Smiling? a Week-by-Week Guide

Newborns can grin from birth, but those first grins are reflexive. The first genuine social smile usually appears around 6 to 8 weeks, in the second month. It's late. Your baby has just finished a feed and is going heavy in your arms, eyes closed, and then their lips curl into a shape that looks unmistakably like a smile. You say something soft. Nothing comes back, and the face goes slack again. Over the next few days you watch for it, and you end up searching for when do newborns start smiling, only to find five different answers. Two separate...

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