Ep 19 - Inside Your Baby’s Brain: The 3–6 Month Window Part 2 of 2 | The 8-Part Neurodevelopmental Series
Inside Your Baby’s Brain: The 3–6 Month Window Part 2 of 2 | The 8-Part Neurodevelopmental Series
Episode runtime: approximately 1 hour, 16 minutes
Sleep has changed. Your baby suddenly has preferences, opinions, and a personality that’s getting harder to miss. Reflexes are fading, hands are finding each other, and the belly laughs are food for the soul.
The 3–6 month window is where all of that work from the newborn phase finally shows up where you can see it — and once you know what you’re looking at, you stop guessing.
This is Part 2 of the 3–6 month window in the 8-part neurodevelopmental mini series.
Part 1 (Episode 18) walked through what was happening developmentally under the surface. This episode brings it up to the surface: what you should be seeing in your baby day-to-day, which primitive reflexes should be present, which should be integrating, and what’s worth a closer look.
Dr. Lisa walks mothers through eight areas: the 4-month sleep reorganization and why it isn’t a regression; the primitive reflexes — which should still be present (Babinski, Spinal Galant, Landau, Rooting) and which should be integrating (Tonic Labyrinthine, Moro, Palmar Grasp, ATNR); voluntary motor milestones; the social engagement system; bilateral integration and crossing the midline; the updated sensory soothing toolkit; the first signs of intentional cognition; and when to ask for help.
During this window your job is not to push your baby into the next milestone or train them to sleep through the night. Your job is to provide the environment — floor time, face time, a calm regulated nervous system for them to borrow from — and let your baby’s brain do the work it was designed to do, in the order it was designed to do it.
What You’ll Take Away
· Why the 4-month “sleep regression” is actually a reorganization — and what to do (and not do) while your baby moves through it
· Which primitive reflexes should still be present at 3–6 months and which should be integrating — and what retained reflexes can look like later
· The motor milestone sequence to watch for: head control, intentional reaching, rolling, hands at midline, and object transfer
· How to update your sensory soothing toolkit as your baby’s nervous system matures (and why what worked at six weeks may stop working at five months)
· The early signals that warrant a pediatric neurodevelopment assessment — and why “wait and see” is rarely the best call
Episode Timestamps
00:00 Welcome & where we are in the 8-part series
04:30 The 4-month sleep reorganization, not a regression (McKenna, Ball & Brazelton)
15:00 Primitive reflexes: which should still be present, which should be integrating (Goddard Blythe, Blythe & Melillo)
31:00 Voluntary motor milestones, the midline & bilateral integration (Thelen, Adolph, Pikler & Ayres)
39:00 The social engagement system: smiles, laughter & turn-taking (Tronick, Stern & Trevarthen)
49:00 Updated sensory soothing, first signs of cognition & when to seek help (Miller, Delahooke, Gopnik, Gerber &Melillo)
Free Resources for This Episode
Downloadable PDF — yourcompanion guide to this episode: [INSERTLEAD MAGNET LINK]
Reference list (PDF) —every researcher, study and book mentioned in this episode: https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/jqhxxa3n4kcxihfzgo0ke/First_Year_Neuro_Series_Ep4_Reference_List_FORMATTED.pdf?rlkey=k7pcsligma4cdlbw9vdawjuqp&dl=0
Related episodes —Episodes 16, 17 & 18 in the 8-part neurodevelopmental series
Connect with Dr. Lisa Website: www.createthrivingfamilies.com
Substack: substack.com/@drlisapedersen
Instagram: @dr.lisapedersen
Music composition and guitar by Philippe Custeau
Inside Your Baby’s Brain: The 3–6 Month Window
Part 2 of 2 | The 8-Part Neurodevelopmental Series
Episode runtime: approximately 1 hour, 16 minutes
Sleep has changed. Your baby suddenly has preferences, opinions, and a personality that’s getting harder to miss. Reflexes are fading, hands are finding each other, andthe belly laughs are food for the soul.
The 3–6 month window is where all of that work from the newborn phase finally shows up where you can see it — and once you know what you’re looking at, you stop guessing.
This is Part 2 of the 3–6 month window in the 8-part neurodevelopmental miniseries.
Part 1 (Episode 18) walked through what was happening developmentally under the surface. This episode brings it up to the surface: what you should be seeing in your baby day-to-day, which primitive reflexes should be present, which should be integrating, and what’s worth a closer look.
Dr. Lisa walks mothers through eight areas: the 4-month sleep reorganization and why it isn’t a regression; the primitive reflexes — which should still be present (Babinski, Spinal Galant, Landau, Rooting) and which should be integrating (Tonic Labyrinthine, Moro, Palmar Grasp, ATNR); voluntary motor milestones; the social engagement system; bilateral integrationand crossing the midline; the updated sensory soothing toolkit; the first signs of intentional cognition; and when to ask for help.
During this window your job is not to push your baby into the next milestone or train them to sleep through the night. Your job is to provide the environment — floor time, face time, a calm regulated nervous system for them to borrow from — and letyour baby’s brain do the work it was designed to do, in the order it was designed to do it.
What You’ll Take Away
· Why the 4-month “sleep regression” is actually a reorganization — and what to do (and not do) while your baby moves through it
· Which primitive reflexes should still be present at 3–6 months and which should be integrating — and what retained reflexes can look like later
· The motor milestone sequence to watch for: head control, intentional reaching, rolling, hands at midline, and object transfer
· How to update your sensory soothing toolkit as your baby’s nervous system matures (and why what worked at six weeks may stop working at five months)
· The early signals that warrant a pediatric neurodevelopment assessment — and why “wait and see” is rarely the best call
Episode Timestamps
00:00 Welcome & where we are in the 8-part series
04:30 The 4-month sleep reorganization, not a regression (McKenna, Ball & Brazelton)
15:00 Primitive reflexes: which should still be present, which should be integrating (Goddard Blythe, Blythe & Melillo)
31:00 Voluntary motor milestones, the midline & bilateral integration (Thelen, Adolph, Pikler & Ayres)
39:00 The social engagement system: smiles, laughter & turn-taking (Tronick, Stern & Trevarthen)
49:00 Updated sensory soothing, first signs of cognition & when to seek help (Miller, Delahooke, Gopnik, Gerber &Melillo)
Free Resources for This Episode
Downloadable PDF — yourcompanion guide to this episode: [INSERTLEAD MAGNET LINK]
Reference list (PDF) —every researcher, study and book mentioned in this episode:
https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/jqhxxa3n4kcxihfzgo0ke/First_Year_Neuro_Series_Ep4_Reference_List_FORMATTED.pdf?rlkey=k7pcsligma4cdlbw9vdawjuqp&dl=0
Related episodes —Episodes 16, 17 & 18 in the 8-part neurodevelopmental series
Connect with Dr. Lisa
Website: www.createthrivingfamilies.com
Substack: substack.com/@drlisapedersen
Instagram: @dr.lisapedersen
Music composition and guitar by Philippe Custeau.
This podcast is for educational purposes only and does not constitute medical or professional advice. Always consult a qualified healthcare provider with questions about your child's health and development.
