When do babies start laughing?

It was the giraffe

Her first real laugh wasn't at either of us. It was at Gina the giraffe. She was simply holding it and bounced up and down and the giraffe wobbled her head and Ari proceeded to laugh. The very first time either Mama and Papa heard her laugh. It was one of the cutest things and yet we didn’t quite get why she was laughing. The giraffe was the same as always, and yet she just began to laugh.

Which is the correct and traditional outcome, and every parent should be warned about it in advance.

When it usually turns up

Somewhere around three to four months, counted from her due date if she was born early.

Before that there's usually a run-up — chuckles, squeaks, breathy sounds that are almost a laugh and then aren't. Those count as the same thing arriving in pieces.

Some babies laugh at two months. Some are closer to five. Both are ordinary, and it doesn't predict anything about temperament, however much you'd like it to.

Why an object and not a person

Early laughter is often triggered by something surprising and repeatable rather than by social connection — a sudden movement, an odd noise, a face doing something unexpected.

A toy that moves or makes a sound hits that mark reliably. A parent trying very hard to be entertaining often doesn't, papa makes adults laugh and was adement in making his daughter laugh, partly because trying hard makes you less surprising, humor and understanding comes later.

So it isn't a verdict on you. It's a verdict on the giraffe, who has excellent comic timing and no idea.

Do the exact thing again. Immediately, and then repeatedly, for far longer than is dignified.

Repetition is how she learns the connection between what happened and the feeling, and it's the fastest way to get the second laugh.

Also write down the date. We nearly didn't, and it's one of the few milestones you'll genuinely want to remember precisely.

What's worth raising at a check rather than worrying about: no laughing at all by around six months corrected, especially alongside limited eye contact or little response to your voice. Those get looked at together.