Your newborn depends on you round the clock, and it can feel like a blur between the day-night confusion, back-to-back cluster feeds, and navigating your own physical recovery and emotional adjustment. Give yourself some credit—responding to your baby's needs isn't just something that helps them feel loved. It also helps them meet key developmental milestones.
That's right, learning and development naturally unfold at birth. Despite all those long naps, they're already making critical connections with you and their surroundings.
Here are some developmental milestones typical in month one:
Starting to work on head control
Brings hands within range of eyes and mouth
Moves head from side to side during tummy time
Begins to focus on high-contrast patterns
Tracks sound and noises (babies are born with mature hearing)
Using their sense of smell (they can recognize your scent!)
And, of course, they're also sorting out their nights from days, reflexes, getting used to feeding, bath time, and bonding with you and other family members. Everything is new, and this period of adaptation is foundational.