When Your Baby is 7 Months Old

Six months have passed and they seem to have just passed away so quickly. Your baby has shown visible signs of doing a lot of things and you are waiting expectantly as she steps into the seventh month.
Time to look at some of the milestones you can expect your baby to achieve in this month.

a) Bouncing up and down
Your baby is able to now take her body weight on her legs and she seems to love that feeling as is evident in the manner she chooses to bounce on her feet. She is also able to now sit without any support and that leaves her hand free for catching hold of an object of her choice. You will notice that at times, she is even able to raise herself from a sleeping position and sit comfortably using her hands as levers.

b) Learning to grab
Her motor skills are showing rapid progress and by now, she is able to pick up and transfer things from one hand to another. She takes particular joy in picking up things and banging them together and this shows that she is able to coordinate both her hands to achieve a task.

You can do your bit to encourage this development of motor skills by deliberately placing toys beyond her reach, such that she has to stretch and get them. If she expresses her resentment, you need not immediately hand over the toy to her but keep encouraging her to strive for the same. It is important at this stage to not make things very easy for the baby and any success that she enjoys by stretching herself beyond some limit will only serve to boost her confidence. Your tacit encouragement will make her keep trying for the toy and she might also come out with some innovative thinking and action to get at the toy faster. Make sure that she is dressed in loose clothing to enable her to crawl about and be mobile without any hassles.

c) Teething
By now, you must have observed signs of teething in your baby and can now hope to see two upper incisors, followed by two lateral incisors. There will be gaps between teeth and that should not be of much concern. These spaces tend to disappear when all the 20 baby teeth erupt and at this stage, your baby will experiment with more sounds and indulge in a lot of drooling, as a means of adjusting to the new development in her oral cavity.

d) Testing your authority
In the days gone by, there would have been many occasions when you have cautioned your baby about playing with certain objects like the telephone, the remote of the television etc. Do not be surprised if your baby decides to test your authority by deliberating disobeying you and doing exactly what you have cautioned her against doing. This is her method of finding out things for her self and it should be misunderstood for disobedience. You only need to distract her from a particular activity and she is bound to stop.

e) The beginnings of separation anxiety
Your baby is likely to experience far more stress and anxiety of separation at bedtime, if she has gone through such an experience during the day time. You must ensure that you pay her a lot of attention and indulge her by scooping her up and cuddling her. This will serve to compensate the feelings of anxiety she had experienced during the daytime to some extent and make her feel comfortable and much better. If you are sleeping away from her, you must get her to your bed and sleep with her. This is not going to spoil her and in subsequent days, you will notice that she slowly adjusts to the fact that you are just nearby.

If you are sharing a family bed then these problems do not arise at all. This behavior of your baby may make you happy as well as frustrate you and you must compensate for your absence at times by spending maximum time with your baby and her stuff.

f) Recognition skills
Your baby is able to differentiate between tones and may even start crying when you occasionally shout at her. She indulges herself and amuses you by hiding herself.

g) Figuring out how objects relate
She is now able to understand the concepts of space and sorts out her toys and other objects by groups and size. When you get behind her while she is admiring herself in front of a mirror, she is able to understand that you are behind her and it is your reflection that is in the mirror. She also starts loving games where objects appear and disappear and you will do well to indulge in such games with her to keep her occupied.

h) Stimulating toys and games
She enjoys playing some games repeatedly as she prefers the predictability. You can add other time tested games like round the garden and pat-a-cake. She is also likely to develop an affinity for specific stuffed animals and carries them everywhere she goes. When you buy toys for her, ensure that they are soft and washable. Other choices could be dolls and soft balls.

You will also notice that it is no longer easy for you to take away anything from her as in the past and she raises a loud cry of protest when you do try to take away specially an object that is very dear to her.

i) Is my baby developing normally?
Your baby has the capacity to achieve any of the above mentioned milestones, but you must remember that she will do so at her own sweet time. The guidelines mentioned above are mere indicators and you must recognize them as such.

For premature babies, doctors do factor in their pace of development from their intended date of birth and understand the fact that they tend to do things more slowly than normally born children.

When Your Baby is 7 Months Old

Six months have passed and they seem to have just passed away so quickly. ...