B

Dear
Parents:
3 Months Old
aby’s
First Wish
A h a p p y & h e a
Cooperative Extension Service

l
New Mexico State University

t h y l i f e

You and your

baby talk
through body
language!
Your baby doesn’t use words yet,
but he will understand a universal
language—body language. This is
a language that doesn’t need
words. You can tell your baby you
love him by giving him a hug,
singing a song, or gently rocking
him to music. You will find that he
talks back to you in the same way.
He will give you a smile, a giggle,
a coo, or a hearty chuckle.

Remember:
You don’t need All babies are different and grow at their own pace.
words to tell your So don’t worry if your baby isn’t doing exactly the
same things as other babies at the same age.
baby you care.

A m o n t h - b y - m o n t h n e w s l e t te r f o r y o u a n d y o u r b a b y 25 & 26 Months 1
What’s It Like To Be
How I Grow
• I hold my head and back
pretty straight when you sup-
port my body.
• I lift my head, lean on my
elbows, arch my back, and rock
when I’m on my stomach.
• I move my arms and legs a lot.
• I push with my arms and legs
when I am held.
• I touch my face with my hands.
• I grab at things, but sometimes
I miss.

How I Talk
• I coo simple sounds like ooh,
ah, ae.
• I answer sounds I hear by gur-
gling, cooing, and squealing.
• I don’t cry as much as before.
Have you noticed?

How I
Understand
• I’m beginning to find out that I
am a person.
• I’m beginning to show that I
have a memory.
• I recognize different family
members.

2 Baby’s First Wish

3 Months Old?
How I Feel
• I love being cuddled.
• I don’t like being left alone.

How I
Respond
• I react with my whole body to
familiar faces.
• I get excited when I see people I
know, or when I see my bottle.
• I stop sucking to hear sounds.
Then I look and suck at the
same time.
• I follow sounds with my eyes.
• I like listening—talk to me in
simple sentences.

Questions
“When I take my baby out with me, who should I dress first—baby or me?”

It’s easier if you dress first, then get your baby ready. When dressing your
baby before going out, try to make it an enjoyable time for both of you.
Talk gently and smile at her while changing her clothes.
Some baby clothes have tiny buttons, little loops, and small snaps.
Maybe they were a gift from someone and though they look very nice,
they are difficult to get onto a squirming baby. If you are in a rush, it
may seem like your baby is trying to do everything to make it more dif-
ficult for you. She may be fighting mad from being handled too much,
and she can get overheated from wriggling around.
When you are going out, the decisions you make about what you will
wear also apply to your baby. If it is chilly outside and you need a swea-
ter, your baby will probably need something warm, too. If the sun is
shining brightly enough for you to need a sun hat or sunglasses, your
baby will probably need a hat, too, to protect her head from sunburn
and to shade her eyes.

3 Months 3
Feeding Your Baby
Your baby spends
a lot of time feed-
ing. One of the
most important
parts of feeding is
the warmth and
pleasure he feels
while being held
and fed.
If you are bottle feeding, don’t cries. When babies are fed too
prop the bottle and leave your often, they eat less at each meal.
baby alone, or put him to bed with Their stomachs empty more quick-
a bottle. There are several reasons ly, and empty stomachs soon
why. There is a small opening or make them hungry again. Also,
tube between your baby’s throat offering a bottle just to keep baby
and his ear. If your baby is lying quiet teaches him to connect feed-
down and sucking on his bottle, a ing with discomfort. This may lead
small amount of formula may to feeding problems later on.
travel from the throat to the ear During the first 4 to 6 months,
and cause infection. Also, the for- breast milk or formula will be
mula that may remain in his enough to satisfy your baby’s
mouth when he falls asleep with a nutritional needs. After 6 months,
bottle can cause tooth decay. And your baby will start eating other
leaving your baby to feed himself foods, such as infant cereals,
robs you both of a loving and pureed vegetables, fruit, and
relaxing time together. meats. But you should continue
Remember, your baby is not nec- feeding breast milk or formula.
essarily hungry every time he

You can get a publication, Feeding Your Baby:

The First Year, from your county Extension office.

4 Baby’s First Wish

Games Babies Play Watch Out!
Baby rattles can
be dangerous!
The U.S. Consumer Product Safety
Commission warns parents to be
very careful about the kinds of toy
rattles they give their babies.
Make sure that no part or end of
the rattle is small enough to fit
into your baby’s mouth, as he
may choke on it. A baby’s mouth
is very flexible and can stretch to
hold larger shapes.
Keep rattles with these shapes
away from your baby. They have
been responsible for many home
accidents

Don’t Give Your Baby

These Shapes. They
Getting-The-Feel-Of-Things: Can Be Dangerous!
A Using-The-Senses Game
Purpose Of Game
• Teaches how to tell the difference between things through looking, feel-
ing, tasting, smelling, and hearing.
• Encourages your baby to explore the world by using different body
movements—for example, banging, mouthing, dropping, and rubbing.
• Encourages your baby to examine different objects when alone.
Telephone Safety
receiver pin
How To Play
• Choose various harmless objects from around the house with different
shapes (square, round, hard, soft, fuzzy, long, short, sticky).
• Show the objects one at a time and let your baby examine them.
• Watch the movements your baby makes—she will treat each object dif-
ferently. She is learning to change her body movements to fit the object
she is examining.

Clothespin Barbell or
dumbbell

3 Months 5
Some Exercises To
Loosen Up Your Body
• Repeat with opposite
arm and leg.
• Repeat 6 times.
For Tense
• Lie on the floor, on
your back, with arms
stretched out to
Neck Muscles
shoulder level.
• Bend your knees and
Shoulder Shrug
lift your feet up. • Stand or sit in a comfortable
• Swing bent legs toward position.
right, making sure • Raise your shoulders to your
your shoulders and ears, hold for a count of 4, then
arms are flat on the drop your shoulders back to a
floor. normal position.
• Then swing legs to the • Now rotate your right shoulder
left. up, back down and around, first
• Repeat 6 times. one way, then the other. Rotate
with your left shoulder, repeating
the same motions. Then rotate
For Aching both shoulders at the same time.

Muscles Head Roll

Many things can make • Stand or sit in a comfortable
your muscles ache— position.
carrying your baby, • Bend your head to the left. While
ironing, writing, wash- breathing in, s-l-o-w-l-y roll your
With all the responsibilities in your ing dishes, or doing any one head back in a circle to the right.
life, exercise is one of the easiest to thing for a long time. Try • Then breathe out as you circle
leave out. But it’s one of the most doing these exercises to relax. forward until you are back where
important. Some of the best exer- • Lie down on a rug or bed with you started.
cises are walking and swimming, your legs straight and slightly • Now change directions, doing the
but there are also plenty of good apart. Stretch your arms high same movements with your head
exercises to do at home. Here are above your head. bending to the right.
two simple exercises that take just • Then round your back and • Repeat 2 or 3 times.
a few minutes and help to loosen stretch your arms out in front
up your body. of you, touching your chin to
your chest.
• Lie on the floor, on your back, • Repeat moving your arms up
and point your toes. and down 5 times.
• Raise your right leg slightly and
stretch your left arm toward your
raised leg.

6 Baby’s First Wish

Sucking, Pacifiers and Learning
Babies will suck their own fingers
or fists from birth. This is not
always a sign of hunger. The need
to suck is probably strongest dur-
ing the first four months.
Sucking quiets your baby. It
reduces hunger pangs and ten-
sion. Pacifiers can he substituted
for fingers. But don’t overuse paci-
fiers as a way of keeping your
baby occupied. Fingers are always
there, while pacifiers get dropped
and have to be picked up.
Sucking is also a learning expe-
rience for your baby. She will suck,
then stop and look around. By the
end of the third month, she will be
able to look and suck at the same
time. She is learning about the
world around her while looking
and studying everything.

If you have questions, call your

county Extension office. Phone
numbers are listed on the last
page of this newsletter.

A good book about playing with

your baby is Games Babies Play,
by Vicki Lansky and published
by the Book Peddlers in l998. You
can purchase it from a bookstore
or look for it in your public
Coming Next library.
• Feeding Baby Semisolids—When To Start
• Stress In Daily Life—What To Do

3 Months 7
 NMSU COOPERATIVE EXTENSION SERVICE OFFICES

Baby’s First Wish Alamogordo

Albuquerque
Aztec
401 Fairgrounds Rd.
1510 Menaul NW
213A S. Oliver
437-0231
243-1386
334-9496
Editor: Diana S. DelCampo, Ph.D. Bernalillo 811 Camino del Pueblo 867-2582
Child Development and Family Life Specialist Carlsbad 1304 W. Stevens 857-6595
Carrizozo 300 Central 648-2311
Clayton 100 Street 374-9361
Clovis 818 Main 763-6505
Deming 700 S. Silver 546-8806
Dulce Hawks Drive 759-3530
Española 1122 Industrial Park Rd. #82 753-3405
Estancia County Courthouse 384-2416
Baby’s First Wish was adapted from Parent Express, Fort Sumner 514 Avenue C 355-2381
California Cooperative Extension, by Dr. Wendy Gallup 5002 W. Historic 66 863-3432
Hamilton and Dr. Diana DelCampo, New Mexico State Grants 515 W. High St. 287-9266
University Cooperative Extension Service. Las Cruces 808 N. Alameda 525-6649
Las Vegas County Courthouse Annex 454-1497
Lordsburg 300 Shakespeare 542-9291
Los Alamos 475 20th St. 662-2656
Another 4-H Prevention Program Los Lunas 319D Hwy. 314 865-9561
Los Ojos Los Ojos Hwy. House 72 588-7423
Lovington 100 N. Main Ste. 10-C 396-2819
Mora Hwy. 518 387-2856
Mosquero 3rd & Pine 673-2341
Portales 705 E. Lime St. 356-4417
Raton 3rd & Savage 445-8071
Order Alert: Baby’s First Wish is an educational pro- Reserve County Courthouse 533-6430
Roswell 200 E. Chisum, #4 622-3210
gram from NMSU’s Cooperative Extension Service. This Santa Fe 3229 Rodeo Rd. 471-4711
newsletter series is designed for parents with young Santa Rosa 450 Parker Ave. 472-3652
children. To order the series, contact your county Silver City 2610 N. Silver 388-1559
Extension office. 2002 Socorro 214 Neel Ave., NW 835-0610
Taos 202 Chamisa Road 758-3982
T or C 2101 S. Broadway 894-2375
Visit our Web site at: www.nmcyfar.org Tucumcari 301 S. 3rd 461-0562
Zuni 02 Route 301 North 782-4495

New Mexico State University is an equal opportunity, affirmative action employer. NMSU and the U.S. Department of Agriculture cooperating.

3 Months

LAS CRUCES, NM 88003

BOX 30003, MSC 3AE
COOPERATIVE EXTENSION SERVICE
NEW MEXICO STATE UNIVERSITY