When do babies start smiling and cooing

Reflex smiles simply mean that the muscles in the baby’s face work normally.

In the early weeks of life, babies try out a wide range of expressions. As they develop relationships with caregivers and deeper social connections, they begin to smile when they are happy or to imitate a caregiver’s smile.

Children who do not smile or who do not smile at caregivers may have a developmental issue.

Smiling can also be a reflection of culture and the environment. A 2012 study looked at smiling in infants between 6 and 12 weeks of age.

The study compared infants from families with many face-to-face interactions to those whose families had fewer face-to-face interactions.

Mothers and babies from both groups smiled at one another for similar lengths of time when the babies were 6 weeks old. By 12 weeks, babies and mothers from the community with fewer face-to-face interactions smiled and imitated one another’s smile less.

This suggests that babies take smiling cues from their family and culture and that babies who experience more frequent fa

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