The first year, month by month, for dads
Babies change every few weeks, and so does your job. Each month has a guide to what is typical, what to watch for, and what you can do to be a confident, involved dad.
Month by month
- Your Baby at 1 Month: A Dad's Guide to the First WeeksEating, sleeping, pooping, and growing, in short loops around the clock. Your baby can focus on faces about 8 to 12 inches away, which happens to be the distance from your arms to your face.
- Your Baby at 2 Months: Smiles, Crying Peaks and a Dad's To-Do ListThe first real social smiles arrive, usually aimed at faces, and your baby is awake and alert for longer. For many babies, crying peaks around 6 to 8 weeks.
- Your Baby at 3 Months: More Play, Longer Stretches, Back to WorkYour baby is coming out of the newborn fog: more alert, reaching and batting at toys, pushing up on forearms, and for some babies, sleeping a little longer at night.
- Your Baby at 4 Months: Laughs, Rolling and the Sleep Shake-UpLaughs, reaching for toys, pushing up, and possibly the first roll. Many babies' sleep changes around now, so nights can get worse before they get better.
- Your Baby at 5 Months: Rolling, Grabbing and Getting Ready for SolidsEverything goes in the mouth. Your baby is rolling, reaching and grabbing with both hands, babbling, and studying your face for reactions.
- Your Baby at 6 Months: Solids, First Teeth and Sitting UpHalf a year. Many babies start solid foods around now, may sprout a first tooth, laugh, and sit with a little support. Your baby knows familiar people and may be wary of strangers.
- Your Baby at 7 Months: Sitting, Finger Foods and Stranger WorriesSitting more steadily, passing toys from hand to hand, and exploring textures. Many babies get cautious around strangers and clingy with you, which is a sign of healthy attachment.
- Your Baby at 8 Months: Crawling, Peekaboo and Separation AnxietyOn the move and figuring out that things (and people) still exist when out of sight. That's why peekaboo is hilarious, and why goodbyes can suddenly be hard.
- Your Baby at 9 Months: Babbling, Pulling Up and the 9-Month CheckupYour baby looks when you call their name, babbles strings of sounds, sits without support, and may pull up to stand. Expressions get bigger: delight, frustration, and mock outrage.
- Your Baby at 10 Months: Cruising, Waving and Outdoor AdventuresPulling up, cruising along the couch, waving bye-bye, and understanding far more words than they can say. Your baby wants to be where you are, doing what you're doing.
- Your Baby at 11 Months: First Steps, First Words and Family MealsSome babies take first steps now; many wait until after the first birthday. First words like 'dada', 'mama' or 'uh-oh' may appear, and your baby wants to eat what you're eating.
- Your Baby at 12 Months: First Birthday, Milestones and What's NextHappy birthday. Your one-year-old waves bye-bye, calls you by name (some version of it), understands 'no', pulls up to stand, and may be walking. You made it through year one.
Guides
- Babyproofing Checklist: Room by Room, in the Right OrderA practical babyproofing checklist for dads: furniture anchors, stair gates, water safety, poisons, button batteries and windows, room by room.
- Starting Solids: A Dad's Guide to First Foods, Allergens and ChokingWhen and how to start solid foods: readiness signs, first foods, introducing allergens like peanut and egg, choking safety, and why dads should own a meal a day.
- Teething: What's Normal, What Helps, and What to AvoidWhen teeth come in, the real signs of teething, safe ways to soothe sore gums, the teething products to skip, and how to brush those first teeth.
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