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Parentpedia
Smiling
What Experts Say
There's nothing sweeter than when your infant smiles at you for the very first time. His whole face lights up, and your heart is warmed to the core. You both sense the real connection, which is why this type of gesture is called a "social smile."
When should you expect a social smile? "By six or eight weeks, in full-term children, we like to see the baby visually connect with a parent's face and be able to demonstrate a social smile," says Martin T. Stein, M.D., professor of pediatrics and director of Developmental Behavioral Pediatrics at the University of California, San Diego.
Why is a social smile so significant? Your baby's brain can now interpret the image of your face, which then triggers the motor part of the brain to respond intentionally with a grin. Prior to this, you may have noticed your newborn smiling at random times -- while asleep or staring at the pattern on his car seat, for instance. That type of smiling isn't intentional, and is known as a spontaneous smile, which doesn't require the complex thought process of a social smile.
One of the most special things about the social smile is that it opens up a whole new way of communicating with your baby. Up until this point, your infant communicated by crying or non-verbal cues, such as tensing up his muscles when he became tired or startled, but now he can express himself in a truly positive way.
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