Research by Jean Piaget

suggests object permanence develops when a baby is around eight months old. According to Piaget's stages of development, object permanence is the main goal for the sensorimotor stage.

What is object permanence and when does it develop?

Object permanence is a major milestone in the first of four stages — sensorimotor stage. This stage marks the period between birth and age 2. During this stage, your baby learns to experiment and explore through movement and their senses, since they don't yet understand symbols or abstract thought.

What stage of Piaget's children get object permanence?

A Word From Verywell

The emergence of object permanence is an important developmental milestone and marker of cognitive development in children. While originally believed to occur later during the sensorimotor stage of development, researchers now understand that infants are capable of this feat much earlier in life.