Supporting Your Baby's Developments
Choose a timetable
What to Expect
By the sixth month of life, you’ll be amazed by how much your baby can do comapred to half a year ago. At this point, s/he is ready to eat solid foods, although they may have been chewing on different foods since 4 months old. Baby has also started to self feed when allowed to do so.
Their personality is now stronger than ever and they will be learning at an alarming level – as though every time s/he gets up something new has ben mastered. Along with the many other things your baby is now able to do, they are now able to:
- Make vowel sounds they can copy simple two syllable sounds, like ‘mama’ and ‘dada’
- Sit by by themselves with minimal to no support
- Rolls over and travels short distances on floor by rolling or shuffling
- Able to hold own bottle
- Can drink from a cup
- Will open mouth for a spoon (but often turns head and makes a mess though)
- Copies facial expressions and will even recreate them when asked sometimes (when told “Make the silly face” s/he will make their favourite face that caused everyone to laugh last time)
- S/he can also responds to instructions showing that language has been understood
What to do
Use the timetable below to support their developments and avoid developmental delays.
hOW TO SUPPORT Baby's DEVELOPMENTS
Babies are able to sit up unaided and roll and shuffle across the floor. Some may be able to crawl a little or attempt to start crawling.
Babies have the ability to pick things up and inspect them to develop their own understanding. Give them access to different experiences and toys to support their independent discovery.
They have good hearing and able to recognise and understand what makes familiar sounds. Speak to them often; play music; sing songs to maximise their abilities.
Baby’s senses are more developed and heighten their ability to learn.
Heuristic play can greatly support your child’s development, so use this to develop their understanding further.
Babies are now able to copy and make some phonic sounds. Make phonic sounds regularly for them to copy. Such as ‘Mama, dada, etc.’
This will exercise their vocal chords and prepare them for speech.
Baby’s have a good relationship with their carer now. They smile and giggle when they see them and are able to call out to them to get attention, showing that they are developing social skills.
Cognition, thought and understanding are all connected to brain development. The toys they play with and your interaction with them will stimulate their thoughts and support healthy brain development.
Everything a baby experiences now leads to knowledge. Toys, books, social interactions, their movements, senses all lead to valuable learning experiences. Be aware they can find all the information presented to them tiring.
4 – 6 Months
Continue to use the resources from 0-3 months and the following resources below.
Follow the Sound
Monitor you infant’s hearing development and stimulate their listening skills
Sound clips library
Stimulate your child’s hearing with these different noises. Comes with accompanying picture cards.
Music and audio stories
If you are short of time, and cannot read or sing to baby yourself, play music or stories in the background for your infant to listen to and support their brain development.
Coloured cards
16 coloured pictures, to focus and strenghten baby’s eye colour receptors. Hold the pictures 18 inches away from them. Alternate with the black and white images.
Rattles
Easy to hold, they come in a huge variety of shapes, sizes and perform different activities. A great resource for independent discovery.
Baby's Day Out
As baby is more alert now, sit them up in a pushchair facing outwards to learn more about their world and discover the things arund them.
Scents & Fragrances
Baby will start eating solids soon, so prepare for the new tastes by introducing them to new scents and fragrances first.
Feely cushions
Babies learn through all their senses. Make some small cushions with different textures that they can feel against their skin.
Food time
Babies start to eat solids from now, so introduce your child to different tastes, even if they don’t eat the food.
Baby Massage
Continue to massage baby, especially their legs as they will kick more vigourously in an attempt to strengthen them.
Going Up
Babies need to strengthen and straighten their muscles so that they are able to stand in preparation for walking.
Row, Row, Row
Physical activities you can do together with your baby, will develop stronger bonds as well as stronger muscles.
Story Telling
Develop your child’s language skills by telling them stories.
Activity Songs
Talk through your actions and tell your child what you are doing.
Gesturing
Pointing a gesturing is a great way of highlighting new things to baby.
Puppet Time
Puppets are a great way to teach social skills.
Dance Time
Dancing with baby around the room develops social bonds.
Social Interactions
Encourage interactions with others to develop social skills
Baby Books
Fabric books and bath books are a great way to get baby interested in books and potentially reading later on.
What is it?
Although baby cannot talk they can reach for things they recognise or want. Test your baby’s knowledge with this activity.
Follow it around 3
This activity is a great way to teach your child new words and give them new knowledge. Cut out the resources from below.
