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How Your Baby's Memory Develops: Key Milestones Explained

Discover how your baby's memory develops from object permanence to anticipation and humour. Learn key memory milestones in your baby's first year.

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Your heart overflows with happiness when your baby grins on seeing your face, laughs at peek-a-boo games, and stops crying in your arms. How your baby reacts to your actions has everything to do with their memory development. Memory provides the building block for your baby's learning, and research shows the process starts from the sixth month in the mother's womb.

Object Permanence: Memory for Missing Things

One key memory milestone is object permanence - when a baby understands that things continue to exist even when they cannot be seen.

Before developing object permanence, your baby acts as if things simply are not there when out of view.
At 7 months, a baby might forget about a toy as soon as you take it away.
At 9 months, the same baby will look around to find the missing toy, demonstrating object permanence.

Peek-a-Boo: How Games Build Baby Memory

The game peek-a-boo would not be possible without object permanence. A baby laughs and squeals when daddy's face reappears from behind his hands because they are beginning to realise he is still there even when out of sight. Babies who have mastered peek-a-boo have caught onto the concept of object permanence.

How Baby Memory Leads to Anticipation

Increased memory skills lead to anticipation. By about 9 months, babies begin to pick up and remember cues from daily routines:

When you put on your jacket, your baby probably knows it is time to go "bye-bye."
Opening the refrigerator may lead your baby to expect being fed.
These routine-based memories form the foundation for understanding cause and effect.

How Memory Creates Your Baby's Sense of Humour

Because your baby can now anticipate, they notice when things do not happen as expected - and a sense of humour is born. Your baby may break into giggles if you put a mitten on the ear or a cap on the foot. They anticipate the "normal" way and laugh when things are thrown out of whack.

For more information see Baby development or Baby Care.

Memory Milestone	Typical Age	What It Looks Like
Object permanence begins	7-9 months	Baby looks for missing toy instead of forgetting it
Peek-a-boo mastery	7-9 months	Baby laughs when face reappears; understands people still exist when hidden
Anticipation	Around 9 months	Baby recognises routine cues like jacket meaning "bye-bye"
Sense of humour	9+ months	Baby giggles when things happen unexpectedly (mitten on ear)

Kimberly-Clark India makes no warranties or representations regarding the completeness or accuracy of the information. This information should be used only as a guide and should not be relied upon as a substitute for professional medical or other health professional advice.

FAQs on Do babies have memory

Baby memory development starts from the sixth month in the mother's womb according to research. After birth, memory provides the building block for learning. Babies begin showing clear memory milestones like object permanence at around 7-9 months of age.

Object permanence is when a baby understands that things continue to exist even when they cannot be seen. At 7 months, a baby might forget a toy when taken away. By 9 months, they will look around to find it, demonstrating this important memory milestone.

Babies love peek-a-boo because it relates to object permanence - they are learning that people still exist even when hidden. A baby laughs and squeals when a face reappears because they are beginning to realise the person was still there. Mastering peek-a-boo shows memory development.

Babies begin anticipating routines at about 9 months old. They start recognising cues such as a parent putting on a jacket meaning it is time to go "bye-bye" or the refrigerator opening meaning they might be fed. These routine-based memories build understanding of cause and effect.

Babies develop a sense of humour once they can anticipate, typically around 9 months or later. They notice when things do not happen as expected and find it funny - for example, giggling when you put a mitten on the ear or a cap on the foot instead of the normal way.