What’s your baby’s brain working on at 7 weeks?

Your face is your baby’s favorite thing to look at ❤️ By 7 weeks, most babies perceive and prefer the face of their closest caregiver. Your baby’s hippocampus, which is the part of the brain involved in storing memories, will start a growth spurt in the next few weeks. Once that happens, they’ll remember even more faces and experiences. 

4 more ways you can see your baby’s brain at work

1. They’re experimenting with movement

Located in the back of your baby’s brain, the cerebellum more than doubles in size during the first 90 days. The cerebellum is important for many reasons, but its biggest role is in motor control, balance, and movement.

Massage your baby’s muscles, let them move freely, and hold them in different positions to help this part of the brain grow. Time in The Play Gym gives your baby that chance to move and stretch.  

2. They’re beginning to follow objects with their eyes

Tracking moving objects is hard work for a baby, but it’s an important part of their visual and neurological development. Help your baby strengthen the connection between their optical nerves and their occipital lobe by letting them track your face. Sit with your knees up on the floor or a bed and put your baby on your thighs, so that they are nestled where your legs press together. Then, slowly lean your head to one side and then to the other to see if your baby follows along to keep your face in focus. They can’t focus very far, so keep your face within 12 inches of theirs. 

3. They’re trying to hear you

In their first weeks, your baby would turn their head reflexively when lying on their back or when hungry. As their motor skills and auditory system develop, they are starting to turn their head on purpose—especially to hear the sound of your voice. Try watching your baby to see what they do when they hear voices. As their memory improves, they’ll start doing this even more and more with other types of sounds. 

4. They may begin to build and express anticipation

You may see your baby become noticeably more quiet or more active when you come near or lift their bottle to feed them. Anticipating your actions is a cognitive ability that typically begins between 1.5 and 4 months.

Over the next few months, your baby may start to kick, coo, or smile with excitement. To help them notice and anticipate patterns in your behavior, try telling them what you’re about to do—“Here I come to pick you up!”—using the same words and tone each time. Following these consistent steps will help build your baby’s neural network, allowing them to predict what happens next. 

Learn more about the research

Holland, D., Chang, L., Ernst, T. M., Curran, M., Buchthal, S. D., Alicata, D., … & Dale, A. M. (2014). Structural growth trajectories and rates of change in the first 3 months of infant brain development. JAMA neurology, 71(10), 1266-1274.

Kuhl, P. K. (2004). Early language acquisition: cracking the speech code. Nature reviews neuroscience, 5(11), 831-843.

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The Play Gym

Lovevery’s award-winning, Montessori-inspired baby activity gym gives baby a whole year of play for their developing brain. See inside The Play Gym by Lovevery.

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The Looker Play Kit

The Looker Play Kit welcomes your newborn with tools to help them process the world around them and build brand new brain connections with high-contrast and black-and-white Playthings.

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