If the baby still does not begin smiling, it could signal a range of issues, including:
When Do Babies Start Smiling?
Wendy Wisner is a lactation consultant and writer covering maternal/child health, parenting, general health and wellness, and mental health. She has worked with breastfeeding parents for over a decade, and is a mom to two boys.
Updated on December 25, 2020
Lyndsey Garbi, MD, is a pediatrician who is double board-certified in pediatrics and neonatology.
Petri Oeschger / Getty Images
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
There is nothing more joyous than seeing your baby smile for the first time. It’s a milestone that all parents of newborns wait for with bated breath. It makes those months of morning sickness, achy joints, swollen ankles, and all of the discomforts of pregnancy worth it. It’s the reward you are looking for after those grueling hours of labor and delivery.
But a baby’s smile doesn’t come right away. In the early days when you first hold your baby in your arms, they aren’t likely to even open their eyes, let alone smile at you. It’s common to feel impatient and to wonder when your baby is finally going to turn the corners of their mouth into a happy grin.
Fear not: you baby will start smiling soon enough. Smiling is actually one of your baby’s first major milestones and is a sign that they are developing normally.
Let’s look at when to expect your baby’s first smile, what to know about infant developmental milestones in general, and what to do if your baby isn’t smiling within their first few months of life.
Baby Milestones
The first time your baby smiles in one of their first social and developmental milestones. It signals that your baby is starting to understand their relationship to those around them, that they are learning to bond, and that they are responding to stimuli with emotions.
Smiling is your baby’s first venture into communication—laughing, waving, responding to their name, and making vocal sounds will soon follow.
But as you learn more about your baby’s milestones, it’s important to keep things in perspective.
When experts say that your baby should do XYZ by a certain date or age, these are just estimations. All babies are unique and hit their milestones at different points.
So, while we all want our babies to do things like break into that first grin as soon as possible, we need to remember that there is a range of normal when it comes to baby milestones.
What Age Do Babies Start Smiling?
Most babies will have their first social smile at about three months of age. However, you may notice your baby breaking into a smile even before that. And three months is just when social smiling starts—your baby will smile more frequently and for more reasons as the months progress.
Is It Just Gas?
Before your baby ever smiles at you socially (i.e., with their eyes open and in response to a stimulus), you may notice your little newborn smiling in their sleep. Some say that these smiles are just gas (and they may very well be!), but most agree that these smiles are parts of your baby’s newborn reflexes.
As the Academy of American Pediatrics (AAP) explains, these early smiles “start during sleep, for reasons that are not understood. They may be a signal that the baby feels aroused in some way or is responding to some internal impulse.”
When to Expect Your Baby’s First Social Smile
Between two and three months, most babies will start looking their caregivers in the eyes. They will start to pay attention to faces that they see, respond to sounds around them—and yes, they may begin to smile! These first smiles may be few and far between, but they are smiles nonetheless.
At four months, your baby’s smiles may become more predictable and you may know what it takes to elicit a smile in your little one. There will be certain sounds or faces that you make that will be sure to get your baby smiling.
This is an exciting time for you and your baby, and makes up for all those sleepless nights and hours or crying you may have endured in your baby’s first three months of life.
By six months, your baby should smile often, and will even start full belly-laughing! At this point, your baby can respond to your emotions, too. Your baby will enjoy playing and games like peek-a-boo are sure to get your baby smiling.
Your baby will enjoy looking at themselves in the mirror at this age, and can even make themselves smile this way.
Can You Make Your Baby Smile?
You don’t have to do anything special to get your baby to smile. Smiling is part of their normal development and simply being a caring, loving, attentive caretaker is really all it takes.
However, if you are concerned that your baby isn’t smiling, or you just want to show off their smiling abilities, there are a few things you can try to get that gummy grin to appear:
- Talk and interact with your baby while feeding, dressing, and other interactions
- React with excitement when your baby makes sounds or reacts to stimuli
- Sing to your baby and make funny faces
- Read to your baby
- Play peek-a-boo
- Notice what your baby likes and dislikes and offer them more of their “likes” to get them interested and excited
- Use “reciprocal” play—i.e., when your baby smiles, you smile back; when your baby makes a sound, you make it too
What If You Have a Late Smiler?
Again, keep in mind that all babies are different, and follow their own calendar, not one prescribed by others.
If your baby starts smiling a few weeks past the three month mark, there is nothing to worry about. As the AAP points out, “If your baby doesn’t master her movements at exactly the same pace others might, it is usually not because of any developmental delay or other problem.”
At the same time, lags in developmental milestones can be signs of a potential problem, and developmental delays are best caught sooner than later so that early intervention therapies can be implemented.
When to See Your Doctor
You should always bring up any concerns you may have about your baby’s development with their doctor—even if you are not sure your concerns are warranted.
Your doctor can let you know if there is anything to be concerned about and they can keep a watchful eye on your baby down the road.
There are some red flag signs to watch for in terms of developmental delays in a baby under 12 months of age. These include:
- A baby who is not social
- A baby who doesn’t look you in the eyes
- A baby who doesn’t gesture or wave
- A baby who doesn’t babble
- A baby who seems to have lost an ability they once had
- A baby who seems floppy or lacks muscle control
- A baby who is very jittery or exhibits shaky, uncontrolled movements
A Word From Verywell
Awaiting that first smile from your baby can be exciting, but also nerve-wracking. It’s a lot of fun to learn about the “whens” and “whys” of your baby’s milestones, but try not to get too caught up in it all.
Learn everything you can about when your baby is expected to reach their milestones, but then take those dates with a grain of salt. It’s most likely that your baby’s first smile will be here before you know it!
As long as your baby is healthy and reaching milestones in their own time, try not to compare your baby to your friends’ baby, or the story other parents tell about their own babies (they may not be remembering correctly anyhow!). And as always, if you have any questions about your baby’s development, reach out to their pediatrician.
Verywell Family uses only high-quality sources, including peer-reviewed studies, to support the facts within our articles. Read our editorial process to learn more about how we fact-check and keep our content accurate, reliable, and trustworthy.
- American Academy of Pediatrics. Your Baby’s First Smile.
- Wusthoff CJ. Movement Milestones: Birth to 3 Months. American Academy of Pediatrics.
Additional Reading
- Milestone Moments. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention website.
- Your Child’s Social and Emotional Development. Stanford Children’s Health website.
By Wendy Wisner
Wendy Wisner is a lactation consultant and writer covering maternal/child health, parenting, general health and wellness, and mental health. She has worked with breastfeeding parents for over a decade, and is a mom to two boys.
When do babies start smiling?
Babies can smile in the womb, even before they are born. A baby’s earliest smiles are reflex smiles, not an attempt to imitate or engage with adults.
As babies grow, they develop more social skills and control over their movements. According to some experts, most babies begin regularly smiling between 6 and 12 weeks of age. Some may smile in response to a loved one’s smile a little earlier.
This article looks at why and when babies start to smile.
Share on Pinterest Babies have the ability to smile from birth, but it often takes 6–12 weeks for real smiles to develop.
Babies can smile from the moment they are born.
However, a real smile takes time to develop. A real smile is one the baby gives in response to a parent or caregiver or reflects the baby’s content state.
When a baby is between 6–12 weeks, parents and caregivers should see more consistent smiles.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) say that most babies give a real, non-reflexive smile when they are about 2 months old .
Babies smile for many reasons, including:
- Reflex smile: This is the smile babies develop in the womb. However, babies do it randomly, not in response to happiness or a caregiver. Therefore, experts do not consider it a real smile.
- Social smile: This is a smile in response to contact with others, such as smiling back at a caregiver or smiling to get the caregiver’s attention.
As babies grow and develop, they may also smile when they are happy, whether or not they are interacting with a caregiver.
For example, a caregiver might see an older baby smile while playing with a favorite toy.
Some guides suggest talking to a doctor if a baby does not communicate with a smile or other expressions by 3 months.
All babies develop on slightly different schedules. Individual differences, such as family interactions, cultural norms, and being born prematurely, may affect development.
Premature babies tend to reach developmental milestones later than babies born at term, so doctors often assign them a corrected age.
The corrected age reflects the age that the baby would be if they had not been born prematurely. It is normal for a baby born one month early to behave more like peers who are a month younger, and they may smile about a month later than average for babies of their age.
If a baby does not smile, parents should prioritize face-to-face interactions. Focus on smiling, playing, singing, and doing other activities the baby enjoys.
If the baby still does not begin smiling, it could signal a range of issues, including:
- Vision problems: Blind or low-vision babies may not see their parents’ smiles or respond to them.
- Hearing issues: Children with hearing impairments may not smile at the sound of coos, giggles, or a parent’s voice.
- Autism: Autistic babies may not smile at caregivers or may have other differences in social skills.
- Temperament: Some babies are shyer, less interactive, or smile less readily than others. If a baby can and does smile but smiles less than some other infants, it might just be the baby’s personality.
Reflex smiles simply mean that the muscles in the baby’s face work normally.
In the early weeks of life, babies try out a wide range of expressions. As they develop relationships with caregivers and deeper social connections, they begin to smile when they are happy or to imitate a caregiver’s smile.
Children who do not smile or who do not smile at caregivers may have a developmental issue.
Smiling can also be a reflection of culture and the environment. A 2012 study looked at smiling in infants between 6 and 12 weeks of age.
The study compared infants from families with many face-to-face interactions to those whose families had fewer face-to-face interactions.
Mothers and babies from both groups smiled at one another for similar lengths of time when the babies were 6 weeks old. By 12 weeks, babies and mothers from the community with fewer face-to-face interactions smiled and imitated one another’s smile less.
This suggests that babies take smiling cues from their family and culture and that babies who experience more frequent face-to-face interactions may smile more.
Parents should discuss their baby’s developmental milestones at each routine healthcare visit, especially if a baby has not hit age-typical milestones.
If a baby does not begin imitating caregivers’ smiles between 6 and 12 weeks of age, talk to a doctor.
Other reasons to talk to a doctor include if a baby:
- stops smiling at caregivers
- seems very uncomfortable with eye contact or never smiles when looking at caregivers
- loses any recently acquired skills, including smiling
- does not smile by 3 months
A baby’s first “real” smile is an important milestone that may help parents and caregivers feel more connected to their baby.
It can take time for a baby to get into the habit of smiling regularly. When babies do not smile, early interventions can ease the challenges of developmental and other issues.
If a parent or caregiver is concerned their baby may not be smiling normally, they should talk to a pediatrician.
Last medically reviewed on September 15, 2020
- Pediatrics / Children’s Health
- Parenthood
How we reviewed this article:
Medical News Today has strict sourcing guidelines and draws only from peer-reviewed studies, academic research institutions, and medical journals and associations. We avoid using tertiary references. We link primary sources — including studies, scientific references, and statistics — within each article and also list them in the resources section at the bottom of our articles. You can learn more about how we ensure our content is accurate and current by reading our editorial policy.
- Calculating corrected age. (n.d.).
https://depts.washington.edu/growing/Assess/Grca.htm - Filliter, J. H., et al. (2014). Positive affect in infant siblings of children diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder.
https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10802-014-9921-6 - Misirliyan, S. S., et al. (2020). Development milestones.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK557518/ - Soderling, B. (1959). The first smile a developmental study.
https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/j.1651-2227.1959.tb05411.x - Valente, D., et al. (2018). The role of visual experience in the production of emotional facial expressions by blind people: A review.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5902524/ - When will my baby smile? (n.d.).
https://pathways.org/when-will-my-baby-smile/ - Wörmann, V., et al. (2012).
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