Parent guides · 2 months
Your third month, day by day
Days 61 to 90: after the shots, the crying curve bends, chuckles, hands that reach and grasp, cause and effect, back to work, and the swaddle's goodbye, with one new thing to try every day.
Every note draws on the 2-month guide and cites its sources. Babies don’t keep calendars: read each day as “around now”, and let your pediatrician’s read of your baby beat any note.
← Your second month, day by day (days 31 to 60)Your fourth month, day by day (days 91 to 120) →
Week 9: month three begins
After the shots, crying eases, the big smiles, hands, duets, and nights.
Day 61Month threeThe 4-month list is the road ahead, not today's test. Which newborn reflexes fade when, the first hints of personality, and forearm push-ups on the floor.Try: Forearm push-up tummy time
Day 62After the shotsWhat's normal after the 2-month vaccines, the one exception at this age (any fever is a call), the rotavirus signs, and comfort steps backed by evidence.Try: Warm cloth and a feed
Day 63The crying curve bendsCrying drops to about an hour a day by 10 to 12 weeks, and colic nearly disappears. Plus a two-minute check for a shriek that sounds different.Try: The shriek check
Day 64Who gets the big smileYour baby is sorting out who's who: the big smile for you, a hesitant one for the sitter, a stare for strangers. Looking away is control, not rejection. Plus a chuckle hunt.Try: Chuckle hunt
Day 65Hands find each otherFists relax, hands open and shut and meet in the middle, and hands and eyes start working together. Why the drool isn't teeth, and a clapping game for changing time.Try: Hands-together games
Day 66DuetsA coo is a turn. When adults take turns instead of talking over a baby, the baby's sounds get more speechlike. The parentese voice you already use, and a script.Try: Talk-and-pause duets
Day 67Nine weeksWhat a good sleeper is at nine weeks, how wide the normal range for sleeping through is, why night feeds shift rather than vanish, and the whispered night feed.Try: The whispered night feed
Week 10: on purpose
Eyes, cause and effect, reaching, the head check, grasp, and the sleep sack.
Day 68Eyes, month threeBy 3 months, babies focus on faces and close objects and follow a moving one; colors come by 4 months. A mirror on the floor, and why your own vision changes are still urgent.Try: Mirror chats
Day 69Cause and effectA classic experiment: 3-month-olds learn that a kick moves the mobile, and remember it. This month's first lesson: my actions make things happen. Kick and see.Try: Kick and see
Day 70ReachingSwipes at things just out of reach are the start of reaching. What two small studies found about practice, the circle of toys, and why the floor beats the seat.Try: Swat-the-toy
Day 71Ten weeksTen weeks old: how fast your baby is growing, the soft spot at the back closing, and a two-minute head-shape check to do while the hair is still wet from the bath.Try: The wet-hair head check
Day 72GraspFists are relaxing into hands that open, shut, and hold on. What grasping looks like this month, why the reflex and the real thing overlap, and a rattle to put in that palm.Try: Rattle in the hand
Day 73Goodbye, swaddleRolling can start as early as 2 months, and the swaddle has to end at the first sign of it. What the evidence says, what to switch to, and a plan for making the change tonight.Try: The sleep-sack switch
Day 74Feeding, month threeCues over the clock, what a hand in the mouth does and doesn't mean, the ounces question answered honestly, and a bottle habit that keeps your baby in charge of the feed.Try: Offer a little less, then pause
Week 11: the wider world
Feeding, back to work, child care, rhymes, family jobs, the floor, and your lap.
Day 75Back to work, part twoIf a return date is close: the 12-week leave mark, how often to pump and how much to leave, the storage rules by the hour and the day, and bottle practice with someone who isn't you.Try: Bottle practice with a new face
Day 76Child careThe numbers that make a good infant room, why a written safe sleep policy matters more than the decor, what to hand over about your baby, and a visit to do before the first day.Try: The handover visit
Day 77Eleven weeksEleven weeks old: why the AAP says to read from birth, what a big replication found about the baby voice, and five minutes of rhymes on your lap that count as all of it.Try: Lap reading with rhymes
Day 78Family life is the lessonYour baby is watching how the house runs. Why narrating the laundry counts as language time, how to give an older child a real first job, and the one hot-drink rule.Try: Narrated family jobs
Day 79Floor over seatsWhy the floor beats the bouncer this month, the one-hour limit on strapped-in time, what a big review found about tummy time, and a circle of toys to lie down inside.Try: The toy circle
Day 80Standing on your lapLegs that push, a head that holds steadier each week, and a bounce on your lap that is play, not practice. Plus the one thing about your own body to raise at the postpartum visit.Try: Supported lap bounce
Day 81Safe to mouthEverything goes in the mouth now, and that's how babies learn. Which things are safe to mouth, which never are, and a basket of three to keep by the play mat.Try: The mouthing basket
Week 12 and three months
Safe to mouth, siblings, both of you, buckles, rolling, the checkup ahead, and a quarter of a year.
Day 82SiblingsAn older child and a baby on the same floor: the rules that make it safe, the supervised floor time the AAP suggests, and a big kid's first family job.Try: Sibling floor time
Day 83Twelve weeksColic is usually gone by three months. A baby who finds their own hands to calm down, why that's a skill and not a habit, and twelve weeks of you.Try: Hands to mouth, on purpose
Day 84Both of youPartners get postpartum depression too, and scary thoughts are common in new mothers. What's typical, what means help today, and one song you both sing.Try: Both parents, one song
Day 85Hot, sharp, and buckledA baby who reaches and grabs changes the kitchen and the car. Hot drinks, bath water, bouncer seats on the floor, and a car-seat harness rechecked against a bigger baby.Try: The car-seat fit check
Day 86Rolling, tummy to backKicks are stronger, and some babies roll by month three, tummy to back first. Why the floor is now the only place to leave them, and a gentle roll rehearsal.Try: The roll rehearsal
Day 87Thirteen weeksThe 4-month checkup is the next fixed point: what it covers, the second round of shots under the AAP schedule, the screen about you, and a gentle early look at the 4-month list.Try: A milestone look, month three
Day 88What's comingRegular sleep cycles arrive around 4 months, and sleep training is next month's question at the earliest. What that means for tonight, and one daytime nap in the crib.Try: One nap in the crib
Day 89Three months, part oneWhat changed in 90 days: crying down from two hours to about one, smiles, hands that reach, a head held high. A look back, and the day-one photo taken again.Try: The day-one pose, again
Day 90Three monthsA quarter of a year. The 4-month list as 'by about now, some babies', what you've done in 90 days, the hotlines once more, and the guide for months three to four.Try: The family conversation circle