“There is nothing more contagious than a baby’s laughter” There is no better feeling in the world than watching your baby laugh. A baby’s laughter is contagious and can take the blues away. Every parent wants to know things that make babies laugh so that they can cheer up their little one more often and forge an everlasting bond. Laughing is also the best medicine to keep ailments at bay and keep you free from stress. In this post, we share some easy ways to make a baby laugh. Try any of the ideas and have a good time.
When do babies laugh?
Babies first laugh around four months of age (1). It is unclear whether or not they can understand humor at this age. But by five months, they laugh in response to anything absurd. They laugh independent of whether their parents are laughing or not. They seek everyone’s attention with their smiles and laughter. Laughing is good for your baby’s health and is the best way to bond with them. So, make them laugh as often as possible..
Newborns to 12 months: Blow raspberries on your baby’s belly, play peek-a-boo, pat-a-cake, make funny faces and voices
One to two-year-olds: Do stupid antics, chase games or race games
Two to four-year-olds: Recite funny rhymes, sing songs, and crack jokes
Ways To Make Babies Laugh
It’s easy to make babies laugh or amuse them through simple games, which will also help them develop cognitive, emotional, and social skills (2). After a few minutes, cover the object with a cloth. If a baby has developed object permanence (3), they will be able to pull the cloth off and find the object. Pull the cloth off and smile. This will often make the baby laugh or giggle, as you have made the object re-appear. So, you make your baby laugh and they laugh out loud. But did you know that their laugh indicates something?
What Does Laughing Mean In Babies?
Laughing is an important milestone that indicates the baby’s cognitive, social and emotional skills. Laughing, just like other basic activities, seems to evolve as babies grow and that reflects their development.
Laughing in babies at various stages
Let’s look at what makes babies laugh at the different stages of their childhood (4) (5). Three months: Babies learn by imitating. The mirror neurons in them imitate your actions, including your smile and laughter. So, they inevitably laugh out when you do. For example, when you play pat-a-cake, your baby imitates you and thereby learns from you. They also laugh when they are happy. Six months: Infants can independently assess absurd situations as humorous. Once your baby’s language skills start developing, they start understanding language and sounds and are amused when they hear funny words, noises, and actions. Dorky and silly faces elicit more laughter than a straight face. Also, they laugh if the parent is laughing. Your laugh triggers a laugh in them. Nine months: Babies begin to understand when something is out of the ordinary, for example, when you nibble at the nipple of their feeding bottle or wear your hat on your feet. Babies know that it is unusual and burst out laughing. They tend to laugh repeatedly at the same thing; so make sure that you repeat the antics many times and they will laugh each time as if it is a new thing. What’s more interesting at this stage is that the babies try to make you laugh with their tactics like “offering and withdrawing an object to a parent, or engaging a caregiver by using fake laughter”. 12 months: As infants grow, they no longer depend on parents to assess funny situations. However, they still take their parents’ laughter as a cue to laugh. They are particularly amused by odd sounds such as tearing a paper. 15-18 months: Babies display their cognitive and language skills once they cross the one-year milestone. They start understanding if anything’s absurd. For example, when you put a bowl on your head as a hat, the baby might laugh out loud. Also, they are now more interested in making you laugh, and when you laugh, they laugh along. One to two years: Children start understanding the ‘order of things’, and anything out of order becomes funny for them. They laugh when an adult tells a silly joke or makes up rhymes with nonsensical words. The child has also developed a bigger vocabulary than before and uses that to understand humor.
