Your baby’s first smile is such a heartwarming sight. After spending nine months growing your little one and caring for them day and night since birth, seeing your baby smile at you can feel like a sweet reward.
Newborns may smile in their sleep within the first hours or days of life, but social smiles usually appear later. Here’s when babies typically start smiling, how to tell reflexive and social smiles apart, and simple ways to encourage your baby’s first grin.1,4
Key Takeaways
- Newborns may smile during sleep from the first days of life, but these early smiles are usually reflexive rather than social.
- Social smiles often begin around 6 to 8 weeks, and by 2 months, most babies smile when someone talks to or smiles at them.
- Face-to-face interaction, talking, imitation, affection, eye contact, and play may help encourage social smiling.
- If your baby is not smiling responsively by the 2-month visit or you have concerns about their social development, talk with your pediatrician.
Reflex Smiles vs. Social Smiles
Newborn smiles melt your heart, but early smiles are often reflexive. Social smiles develop later and happen in response to interaction with another person.
It can be difficult to tell whether a newborn smile is reflexive or social. It’s common for newborns in the first month or two of life to smile in their sleep. During rapid eye movement (REM) sleep, infants are highly active and may almost seem awake. Smiling is common during this REM sleep in the initial few weeks of life. Because these smiles do not occur in response to social interaction, they are considered spontaneous or reflexive.1 As babies become more alert and socially engaged, responsive smiles become easier to recognize.1
Spontaneous smiles occur primarily in sleep. They can also happen while your baby is having a bowel movement or passing gas.2 These reflex smiles often use only one side of the mouth and last for a brief moment.3 Conversely, social smiling occurs in response to an external stimulus, such as your voice or eye contact, and engages more of your baby’s face.2
Related: Baby Milestones Month by Month
When Do Babies Start Smiling?
A social smile is an important milestone in your baby’s social and emotional development. Here’s when it usually begins.
Social smiles often begin around 6 to 8 weeks of age.4 Your pediatrician will ask about it at your 2-month visit. By 3 months, your baby may smile regularly and coo in response to your smiles and other social interactions.4
Around 2 months old, babies begin improving their ability to:5
- Develop better head control
- Stay alert for longer periods
- Direct their gaze
- Maintain visual attention and focus
These motor and cognitive improvements increase a baby’s likelihood of engaging in social interaction and smiling.5
Related: 2-Month-Old Baby: Feeding, Sleep, and Milestones by Month
How To Encourage Your Baby To Smile
You can’t force a smile, but you can help it happen naturally through bonding, play, and love.
If your baby is still in the first several weeks of life and hasn’t started smiling socially yet, that can still be within the expected range. The most important thing you can do to encourage this is to simply interact with them. Multiple studies have shown that face-to-face time with a caregiver is associated with longer and more frequent episodes of smiling.4,6
Sometimes, it can feel silly to talk with your baby when it feels like they can’t understand you. But while they may not know what you’re saying, they can read your facial expressions and tone of voice.
Try these simple ways to interact with your baby and encourage a social smile:
Imitation
Mirror their facial expressions with your own. If they squint, pucker their lips, or furrow their eyebrows, try doing the same. It may feel goofy, but it might make you and your baby smile or laugh!5
One study found that maternal responsiveness was associated with social smiling, and one marker of maternal responsiveness is following your baby’s lead.7 When your baby is awake, alert, and interactive, follow their lead by mirroring their expressions or sounds.7
Affection
Social smiles often happen during warm, face-to-face interaction with a caregiver. Give them hugs, kisses, cuddles, gentle tickles, and blow raspberries to show them love and elicit a smile.2
Related: Why It’s Important To Show Affection to Our Children
Talk and Sing
Talk to your baby about anything. Narrate your day, what you’re doing, or what your baby is doing.
Sing, talk in a high-pitched voice, and praise your baby.2
Comment on their facial expressions and respond to their sounds.
These interactions may encourage smiling while also supporting your baby’s early communication, speech, and social development.5
Make Eye Contact
Make gentle eye contact with your baby when they are awake, calm, and receptive. Babies are naturally drawn to faces, and this shared attention may encourage a social smile. Looking into your baby’s eyes also helps strengthen your bond as you learn to recognize their expressions and cues.5
Play
Simple games with an element of surprise, such as peek-a-boo, may capture your baby’s attention and encourage a smile.
Offer your baby rattles, stuffed animals, high-contrast images, and other toys that may encourage them to engage, interact, and smile.2
Related: 15 Fun Ways To Engage and Play With Your Baby
What If My Baby Isn’t Smiling Yet?
Social smiles often begin between 6 and 8 weeks, and most babies smile responsively by 2 months. If your baby has not smiled at people by the 2-month visit, mention it to your pediatrician.2,4
Babies develop at different rates, and a single milestone should always be considered alongside their overall social, communication, and physical development.
If your baby reaches 3 months without smiling socially, vocalizing, or responding to interaction, contact your pediatrician.2
You can also reach out to your pediatrician sooner if you have concerns about your baby’s development.
Related: Developmental Milestones: Is My Child On Track?
Does a Delayed Smile Mean Autism?
A delayed social smile can happen for many reasons and, by itself, does not mean your baby is autistic. Some autistic babies and children show differences in social smiling, eye contact, or coordinating these behaviors, but autism is identified through a broader pattern of social communication and behavior differences.7,8
If you have concerns about your baby’s behavior, milestones, or social interaction, discuss them with your pediatrician. Not smiling socially at exactly 6 weeks does not, by itself, indicate autism. The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends general developmental screening at 9, 18, and 30 months and autism-specific screening at 18 and 24 months. Screening or evaluation may also happen earlier whenever a parent or clinician has a concern.9
Your baby’s first smile is just the start of their social interactions. As your baby’s social development progresses, those smiles will usually become more frequent. Before you know it, they will be laughing and cooing, too.2 Connecting with your baby through smiles is a fun and meaningful way to strengthen your bond. We can’t wait for you to experience it!
