When do babies first smile?
When do babies first smile? This page does not give a week. A social smile is a smile at a person while your baby is awake. A sleeping grimace is not that smile.
When do babies start smiling is the same question with the same limit. You can describe what you see. You cannot pull a week off a chart this page refuses to print.
A parent online will swear their baby smiled on day three, then wonder if they imagined it. Often they saw a mouth move in sleep. That can be lovely. It is still not the social smile the early health reviews look for.
A social smile
A social smile is aimed at someone. Your baby is awake. They see you, or they hear you come close, and the face changes into a smile that meets you. You are part of it. A private mouth twitch with their eyes shut is a different event.
It can happen during a feed, when you lean in, or when you talk and they find your face. This page does not rank those moments, and it does not date them. The fact you can use is the shape: awake, at a person.
You do not need to perform. A quiet hello is enough to see whether the smile is for you. A long routine of funny faces is not required, and it will not move a week that is not on this page.
When do babies start smiling, in the social sense, is something you notice and then you stop testing. If you saw it, you do not need to recreate it every hour to prove it was real. If you are unsure, watch once more when they are calm and awake, face to face. Then leave it.
A smile at a sibling, a grandparent, or you all count as a person. The review is not asking for a smile at a stranger in a shop. It is asking for that social smile. This page still does not attach a week to it.
A sleeping grimace
A sleeping grimace is not the social smile. In sleep the mouth can purse, twitch, or pull into a shape that looks like a grin. The eyes are not on you. The baby is not answering your face. Parents photograph it because it looks sweet. The photo can stay sweet. The label should stay accurate.
You might see it in the cot, on their back, in the middle of a nap. You might see it as they drift off in your arms, while you are awake. Do not wake them to check if the smile was "real". If they were asleep, it was not the social smile. You will get another chance when they are awake.
If the face in sleep is the worry, not the smile, read Can newborns have bad dreams? That page is for the sleep face. This page is for the difference between a grimace and a social smile. Do not mix the two questions into one fear.
A grimace can also show while they are awake and uncomfortable: a stretch, a windy moment, a face they pull before a cry. That is still not a smile at you. Wait until the face is aimed at a person and the baby is settled enough to answer you. Do not count the scrunch.
You do not need to film every nap to collect evidence. One clear awake smile at you is a social smile. A folder of sleeping mouths is not a set of first smiles. You can delete the test. Keep the photo if you like it.
When newborns smile
When do newborns smile? A newborn can move their mouth in sleep. That is the grimace. It is common for a parent to call it a smile, especially in the first days, when you are watching every flicker. The name you want for the review is the social smile, and this page does not date it.
A newborn who is awake may still look serious. A serious awake face is not a problem this page can time. Some babies study you before they smile at you. Studying is not a delay, because there is no week here to be delayed against.
Do not ask a newborn to smile on cue for a visitor. A visitor's camera is not the early health review. If the baby stares, that can be the whole visit. You do not owe a grin.
The first days are a bad place to keep score. You are tired. They are new. A mouth in sleep will fool you, and that is ordinary. Note it as sleep if that is when it happened. Look again when they are awake and looking at you.
When do babies first smile, if you mean the social one, stays undated on purpose. Anyone who gives you a firm week is using a chart this page will not copy. You can thank them and still refuse the number.
The early health reviews
The early health reviews look for a social smile. That is the check. They are not a week printed on this page. When your review comes, the question belongs there. You do not need to arrive with a date you found online.
Say what you have seen. Awake, and they smiled at you. Or you have only seen a mouth move in sleep. Or you are not sure. Those three are enough. A clinician can use plain words. They do not need a clip from every evening.
If the review is still ahead and you have not seen a social smile, you do not fill the gap with practice. You keep meeting their face when they are awake. You do not treat a missing week as an emergency this page never defined.
Bring the worry to the review rather than to a comment thread. A parent online may answer with the week their baby smiled. That week is their baby. It is not the line on your review form, and it is not a line this page will add.
The review looks for the social smile. It is not looking for a sleeping grimace you renamed. If you only have the grimace, say that. Honest is more useful than a hopeful label.
If you have not seen one
If you have not seen a social smile, take that to the early health review. Do not pick a week from a list and decide you have missed it. This page does not have the list.
Watch in a calm moment. Baby awake. Your face close enough for them to find. A short talk in a normal voice. If a smile meets you, that is the social smile. If the mouth only moves while they sleep, it is not. You do not need a third category.
You also do not need to feel rejected. A baby can be busy feeding, or sleepy, or simply not in the mood for your face in that hour. One flat afternoon is not the whole story. The review is the place for "I still have not seen it", not a single Tuesday.
A smile at a grandparent counts. A smile at you counts. You do not need it to happen for every person in the house before you believe it. One clear one, while awake, at a person, is the thing the words social smile mean here.
| What you see | What it is |
|---|---|
| Mouth moves in sleep | A grimace. Not the social smile. |
| Awake, and they smile at a person | A social smile. |
| When do babies first smile? | No week on this page. |
| When do newborns smile? | Often the sleeping face. Do not rename it. |
| The early health reviews | They look for a social smile. Say what you have actually seen. |
Frequently asked questions
When do babies first smile?
A social smile is awake, and it is at a person. There is no single week.
When do babies start smiling?
There is no week here. Look for a smile that meets you while they are awake.
When do newborns smile?
A mouth move in sleep is a grimace. It is not the social smile.
Is a sleeping grimace a smile?
No. If their eyes are not on you, and they are asleep, it is not the social smile.
- You do not need to wake them to check.
- A photo of it can stay a photo.
- The review is about a smile at a person.
What do the early health reviews look for?
A social smile. Tell them what you have seen. Do not bring a week this page does not use.
What if I have not seen a social smile yet?
Take it to the early health review. Do not borrow another baby's week, and do not drill funny faces.
Awake, at a person, is the smile. A sleeping grimace is not. This page has no week.
You can keep meeting their face when they are calm. You do not have to perform. If the only face that worries you is the one in sleep, use the bad-dreams guide for that, and keep this page for the social smile.
Sources
Fact-checkedReviewed 2 November 2026. A social smile is a smile at a person while the baby is awake. A sleeping grimace is not that smile. The early health reviews look for a social smile. This page does not give a week.
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