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Your Baby Is 26 Weeks Old!

While it's tempting to compare baby's development to other little ones of the same age, do your best to steer clear. All babies grow on their own timeline, and her current rate and stage of development have little bearing on where she'll be in five, ten, or twenty years. Though it may still be awhile before baby's able to manage much in the way of true verbal communication, she could catch on to modified sign language a little quicker. Use simple gestures like placing a finger to your lips when you ask, "Hungry?" and before long, she may be repeating them back to you.
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Updated May 16, 2019
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Image: Christine Sandrock of Simply Bloom Photography / The Bump

Octo-baby
Baby loves to grab at things, but any hand preference she may demonstrate is no indication of whether she’s a righty or a lefty — you won’t know which hand she favors until she’s at least two or three years old. There’s nothing you can do to affect which hand she chooses, though — hand preference is genetically determined, and trying to encourage her to use one hand more than the other can hinder her development of dexterity, hand-eye coordination, and handwriting.

To-do:

[tip]  If baby doesn’t seem to like the regular bathtub, try placing her old baby tub in your full-size tub to ease the transition.

Chat with other new moms

All medical information reviewed by  Dr. Paula Prezioso of Pediatric Associates in New York City

Wrong week? Click here to update baby’s birth date.

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