Baby Development 6 Weeks

Your 6-Week-Old Baby: Learning to Grab

At six weeks, your baby's getting a firm grasp on life. Here's what else your newborn is up to.

While his hands were once curled into tiny (and preciously pudgy) little fists, these days your 6-week-old baby is beginning to stretch out his fingers and test what they can do. At around six weeks, your baby is likely to find his fingers endlessly fascinating, and may spend a good chunk of time simply gazing at those magical appendages. (Hey, are these mine?) Or he might realize that sucking on a thumb (or a pinky or a pointer) is soothing — maybe even soothing enough to help him drift off to dreamland. If your little one turns out to be a thumb sucker, celebrate the fact that he's found a way to comfort himself on his own. (And pay no mind to busybodies who say it isn't good for him — at this age, it's perfectly fine.)

Also on your baby's handy agenda: getting a grip. Try putting something (like your finger or the handle of a rattle) in his palm and chances are he'll hold on — and keep on holding! He may even reach for an enticing object and try to bat at it or snatch it for his own. You can thank his ever-sharpening vision for this breakthrough — he can see better now so he's ready to try coordinating his eyes and his hands. Sure, he's got a ways to go before he smacks a ball out of the park, but when it comes to hand-eye skills, practice makes perfect (and his attempts are really cute, besides).

How can you give your little one a leg up on using his hands? For one thing, make sure he logs daily tummy time so he can get a little workout for those hands — and the arms they're attached to. (Remember: Back to sleep, tummy to play — while baby needs to be belly-down to build strength and motor skills, it's not a safe position for sleeping.) He'll likely keep his elbows tucked in now, and just lift his head enough to see the dust bunnies under the couch, but soon he'll be pushing up higher and higher until his arms are straight and he can look out into the wondrous world well beyond his blanket.