Making sense of the world

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• Your baby can recognise different people, and will have a favourite person.
• Your baby may be scared of unfamiliar things and prefer toys, people and situations he knows.
• Babies will start to experiment with objects and your reactions.

The world is starting to make some sense. Through practice and the lessons he learns from you, your baby can now tell you apart from all the other people and knows the difference between feeling hungry and feeling sleepy. You might also understand more about who he is; for example, you might know the difference between him telling you he’s hungry and telling you he’s sleepy.

Instead of being afraid of everything, your baby may become afraid of specific things. As he learns what to expect of life, the unexpected may really upset him. He will become very attached to things, as well as people, and may love one toy much more than all the others.

As he learns who the important people are, your baby might get anxious when the unimportant people hold him or even talk to him. He will definitely prefer one person to everyone else, and will be scared when that person – usually mum or dad – goes away. He now understands where he ends and you start. He might even recognise his name, or his face in the mirror. And now he knows you’re a separate person he understands that you might leave and not come back – a terrifying thought!

He’ll want to use things the ‘right’ way, and will start experimenting with objects to see what they’re for. This may involve dropping your phone in the cat’s water dish or tipping the sugar bowl onto the rug. He’ll watch your reactions to see if he’s doing the right thing; he’ll also do things just to find out how they make you feel.

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