Other gross motor milestones may seem more worthy of celebration, but head control is a developmental powerhouse! It’s the precursor to moving the entire body, which starts with rolling over and goes on to sitting up, crawling, cruising, and walking. It’s the gateway to the world of food, because it prepares your baby to handle purees. And, it gets your baby ready to speak and introduces her to the wide world of language.
At birth and for the first month, your baby’s neck muscles are weak so it’s important to fully support her head at all times. The amount of support she needs will lessen as her neck muscles grow stronger.
When do Babies Gain Head Control?
Babies can typically lift their heads during tummy time at about a month old. Head control continues strengthening until it’s well-established, around 6 months.
Below are average stages of head control. Some babies move through them more quickly than others, so don’t worry if yours seems to be taking her time. You can always ask your pediatrician if you’re worried about her development.
Around 1-2 months: Your baby will lift her head while on her tummy, and may turn it from side to side.
Around 3-4 months: When she’s in her carseat she will hold her head in the middle, and when you carry her upright she will hold her head up for varying amounts of time. She will lift her head 45 degrees while on her tummy, and hold it steady.
Around 5-6 months: She will lift her head when she’s on her back and hold her head steady in any position.
Head Control and Movement
Head control is an important step towards moving the entire body. Lifting her head strengthens your baby’s neck, shoulder, and back muscles, which helps her use her arms to push up from the floor or against you while you’re holding her. All of this strengthening and pushing will increase until one day she will roll over.
Pediatric Occupational Therapist Natasha Bravo explains that head control allows your baby to look around, which strengthens her vision. At the same time, moving her head to look at something strengthens her neck muscles. In this way, head control and vision reinforce each other and prepare her to use her eyes and body together for purposeful body movement.
Head Control and Feeding
Around 6 months, when your baby has strong head control and sits up on her own, she is ready for the exciting world of solid food! According to Pediatric Speech Language Pathologist Chris Rowlee, this is because as her neck and trunk gain strength, her larynx (voice box) lowers and her cheeks thin out—all of which prepare her to handle her first solids (purees). For more on this, see our article about introducing solid foods.
Head Control and Speech & Language Development
Head control improves respiratory control, which is what powers speech. Around 5 months, when your baby has decent head and respiratory control, she will graduate from cooing to babbling (lip sounds like “ba-ba” and “ma-ma”, and tongue sounds like “da-da”).
Being able to move her head up and down and side to side also introduces your baby to a whole new world! Language begins to develop as she takes in more information from her environment. She will turn towards noises and watch activity around her.
Mandy Alvarez, a pediatric speech language pathologist, sees head control as a gateway to play: “When babies can lift and move their heads they can interact more easily with others, which is the basis of social communication—a fundamental aspect of language.” Additionally, head control coincides with reaching for toys (around 4-6 months). “When babies reach for toys, caregivers label them,” Alvarez says. “As you label these things, your baby begins to understand vocabulary.”
What’s the number one thing you can do to help your baby gain head control? Tummy time! Our BabySparks app has several fun activities you can do to help strengthen this skill and get her ready for her next exciting milestones.