Newborn Development Week by Week: Milestones From Birth to 8 Weeks

Newborn development week by week runs from reflex-driven movement in week 1 to a first social smile and cooing by around 8 weeks. Most babies are back to their birth weight by 2 weeks, briefly lift their head on their tummy by 4 weeks, and follow a face with their eyes by 8 weeks.

Every age here is a range, not a deadline. healthdirect(opens in a new window) says some children reach skills earlier or later than others, and that is normal. This page covers the first 8 weeks. The 0 to 24 month picture lives in the baby milestones by age hub.

What can a newborn do from birth to 8 weeks?

In the first 8 weeks a baby moves from reflexes to the first deliberate skills: lifting the head, tracking a face, smiling back and cooing. The table is the birth-to-4-months band of the ACECQA developmental milestones(opens in a new window), grouped by domain. It is the same checklist the BabyLog milestone tracker records, so what you tick off at home matches what an educator or nurse works from.

The ACECQA document treats four months as one band, so the sections below lean on Pregnancy, Birth and Baby(opens in a new window) for the order things tend to arrive in.

Week 1: reflexes, feeding and the newborn checks

In week 1 nearly everything a baby does is a reflex. Pregnancy, Birth and Baby(opens in a new window) lists the visible ones: sucking and swallowing, turning the head when a cheek is touched, grasping a finger in the palm, and flinging out arms and legs at a sudden noise. Babies lose weight in the first days, so a lighter baby at the day-5 weigh-in is expected.

Week 1 also carries the first checks. The newborn hearing screen(opens in a new window) is usually done in hospital within 2 days of birth. The NSW Blue Book(opens in a new window) records it beside the newborn bloodspot screen and the newborn examination. Each state runs its own schedule, and the guide to baby health checks in Australia walks through them.

Week 2: back to birth weight

By 2 weeks most healthy babies have regained their birth weight and keep gaining. Pregnancy, Birth and Baby(opens in a new window) puts the regain window at 10 to 14 days. Crying is still the main way a 2 week old shows hunger, discomfort or tiredness, and holding often settles it.

Vision is blurry. A 2 week old can tell light from dark and starts to look at faces, and a cross-eyed look at this age is common. Somewhere in weeks 1 to 4 the child health nurse's first visit falls. In NSW it is often at home, with feeding, safe sleeping, crying and how the parents are going listed as topics in the Blue Book(opens in a new window).

Weeks 3 to 4: the first head lift and a preference for faces

By the end of the first month many babies briefly lift their head and turn it to the side on their tummy. They may prefer faces to objects, study a familiar face when held close, and turn toward your voice, per the 1 month page(opens in a new window) at Pregnancy, Birth and Baby.

That head lift is built during tummy time. Pregnancy, Birth and Baby(opens in a new window) suggests starting soon after birth with a minute or two a few times a day, always supervised, with the baby placed on their back for sleep. Some babies begin to soothe themselves at this age by sucking a dummy, finger or thumb.

Weeks 5 to 6: the crying peak, a growth spurt and first vaccinations

Week 6 is the busiest point of the newborn period, and most of it is normal. The Sydney Children's Hospitals Network(opens in a new window) describes the PURPLE crying period: crying is often worst at 6 to 8 weeks, worse in the late afternoon and evening, and better by 3 to 4 months. Some babies cry 2 to 3 hours a day or longer.

Sydney Children's Hospitals Network · Settling a crying baby

Peak - crying is often worst at 6–8 weeks, then gets better by 3–4 months.

Two other things land at 6 weeks. Pregnancy, Birth and Baby(opens in a new window) notes a common growth spurt at about 6 weeks that makes a baby fussier and hungrier. The Blue Book(opens in a new window) has the first scheduled vaccinations starting at 6 weeks.

Safe sleep matters most in these weeks, when a hard-to-settle baby tempts every shortcut. Pregnancy, Birth and Baby's six steps(opens in a new window): back to sleep every time, face and head uncovered, a smoke-free home, a safe sleep space day and night, a safe cot in your room for the first 6 to 12 months, and breastfeeding if you can.

Weeks 7 to 8: smiles back, eye contact and cooing

By 8 weeks many babies smile back when you smile, hold eye contact and coo when content. The 2 month page(opens in a new window) at Pregnancy, Birth and Baby also lists head lifts during tummy time, following you with their eyes, copying simple facial expressions, and more regular patterns of feeding, sleeping and being awake.

A baby who cannot roll can still kick off a raised surface, so the same page's warning about never leaving a baby alone on a change table applies from here. What comes next is on the 2 month milestones page.

What happens at the 6 to 8 week check?

The 6 to 8 week check is the first full head-to-toe assessment after the newborn period, by a child health nurse, GP or paediatrician. The NSW Blue Book(opens in a new window) check sheet records weight, length and head circumference with centiles, eye checks including fixation and eye movements, a hip test for dislocation, and whether the 6 week immunisations are done, with hearing and vision risk factors noted alongside.

The same visit covers feeding, safe sleeping and crying. Timing varies by state, and the baby health checks in Australia guide lists each state's schedule.

When to talk to your child health nurse

Variation is normal in the first 8 weeks. A persistent absence of a skill is what nurses want to hear about. Drawing on the 1 month(opens in a new window) and 2 month(opens in a new window) pages at Pregnancy, Birth and Baby, talk to your doctor or child health nurse if your baby:

• isn't feeding well
• doesn't react to loud sounds
• cries a lot or is hard to settle
• isn't moving their arms or legs
• isn't smiling or responding to you by around 2 months
• has crying or sleeping patterns that worry you

At any age, a baby who stops doing something they had learned warrants a conversation with your doctor. The Sydney Children's Hospitals Network(opens in a new window) adds a sudden change in the cry, refusing feeds, or fever or vomiting as reasons to see a doctor.

Keeping track in the newborn weeks

The newborn weeks blur. The nurse at the 6 to 8 week check asks when the first smile came, and a parent on three hours of sleep guesses. A note made the day it happened is the difference between a guess and an answer.

BabyLog's milestone tracker carries the same ACECQA checklist as the table above. Open a milestone, mark it as one to watch, and record the moment with the date and a note, in a tap or two. It is part of BabyLog Pro, and editors on a Pro baby can record milestones too, so the smile your partner saw lands on the same timeline. For the check itself, a Pro checkup report freezes feeds, sleep, nappies, growth and the milestone checklist for a date range into one page a nurse can read online or as a PDF.

Reflexes, then a head lift, then a smile. Eight weeks, in their own order.

Common questions