Supporting Your Baby's Developments
Choose a timetable
Baby Month 8 – What to Expect
During the eighth month of life, your little one rapidly gets much bigger and stronger. You might consider putting up a play gate to keep baby in a specified area for safety reasons. Baby is an intrepid explorer now and will learn by putting everything into her mouth to taste them. It is important to keep small items out of baby’s reach and ensure the area she plays in is super clean. There is a common view that a little dirt will build baby’s immune system. However, it can also give her worms and other nasties that are walked into the house on adult’s shoes, so cleanliness and hygiene are imperative.
It is also not a good idea to allow babies to eat off the floor, as bad habits are hard to break. The 5 second rule is a myth.
The last seven months seem to have flown by in an instant; this month will also go the same way and vanish if you’re not careful.
While you are watching baby you will notice:
- Baby chews on toys as new teeth form
- She rolls around the play area
- Baby is able to sit unsupported
- Baby seems to have her own language and babbles happily to herself
- She gets into position to crawl, attempts may also be made to actually crawl
- She reacts differently to different people.
- She has favourite people/person
- Makes specific noises or different cries for different things that she wants
- Reacts to someone saying her name
- Gets anxious if removed from parent
- Her sleep schedule is more structured and she can sleep through the night now
What to do
Use the timetable below to support their developments and avoid developmental delays.
Plastic books
Jumperoo
Activity centre
Manipulatives
Puppets
Playmat
hOW TO SUPPORT Baby's DEVELOPMENTS
Baby is more active now. He can roll around, shuffle from place to place and in some cases crawl around. If your baby cannot crawl yet, it usually happens suddenly around this time. One minute he can’t and the next he can. So be prepared. Some girls learn to walk before they learn to crawl, especially if they wear dresses. So don’t be alarmed if they skip the crawling phase altogether.
Baby’s drive to discover new things is what will propel her into action. The tiniest thing will catch her attention. She will inspect every speck and crumb that she comes across and EVERYTHING will go into her mouth – Yup even shoes! – So clear the floor and keep it clean. A soft, spongy mat on wooden floors or baby rug will make this easier.
She can also pull objects to her using a raking grasp. Move things from one hand to another and is co-ordinated enough to feed herself or put things in her mouth. She will also grab necklaces and pull hair.
His senses become more and more heightened. He will notice more than you. From tiny insects crawling across the floor to a shiny little speck on the other side of the room. All of which will need to be felt in his mouth because that is the more sensitive than his hands. So, keep things clean and don’t let him develop a habit of eating off the floor.
Floor Gym
Baby rug
Soft Toys
Teethers
Beads
Rattles
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. Start reading bedtime stories now to support their language development.
Baby is able to tell the difference between the people around her now. Some she will be closer to than others. She will now laugh and get excited to see familiar faces and cry when she sees strangers.
The ability to co-ordinate herself, along with heightened senses means baby can experience more of life and start to make sense of what is happening. This is seen more clearly in her social interactions and food preferences, where deliberate choices start to be made.
Her knowledge and understanding is developing rapidly. The more she experiences and gets involved in, the more she learns. Books are a great source of interest, especially ones with big pages and bright colours. The same goes for toys. Although her atention span is short.
7 – 9 Months
Continue to use the resources from 4-6 months too as well as the resources below.
Ball Skills
Strengthen baby’s arms and legs playing with balls. Start with the ball games below.
Obstacle Course
If your baby is able to crawl, create a few challenges to develop their skills further.
If you're happy
Action rhymes are a great way to exercise your baby and learn language. Try the rhymes below.
Play pit
Ball pit ball
Roller Balls
Pop up tent
Ball pit balls
Nursery Rhymes
Pen holding
If babies see adults using pens a lot, they will soon want to explore and investigate them too. So make pens available, for them to use and develop hand-eye co-ordination.
Dinner drummers
Use everyday equipment to make music. Tap out a beat and encourage your baby to do the same. This will strengthen their hands and develop rhythm.
Where does this go?
Jigsaws, shape sorters and other such toys develop baby’s fine motor skills as well as cognition. Show them other things that go together too.
Photo cards
16 coloured pictures, to focus and strenghten your baby’s eye colour receptors. Hold the pictures 18 inches away from them. Alternate with the black and white images.
Magic Sand
Magic sand or Kinetic sand is a safe alternative to regular sand. Under 3s must be strictly supervised, but it is a great sensory experience for little ones, who can watch YOU sculpt masterpieces.
Tower Blocks
Building towers and knocking them down is a great activity that babies love, especially knocking down your towers. Use blocks and show them what to do.
Magic Sand
Cognitive butterfly
Shape Sorter
Stacking Cups
Blocks
Co-ordination
Heuristic play
Babies are fascinated by the natural world around them. Gather twigs, pinecones, pebbles etc. for baby to explore. Make sure they have been sterilised for safety.
How does it feel?
Babies mouths are more sensitive than their hands, so they put everything into their mouths to learn how they feel. Give them different materials to explore.
Food time
Babies start to eat solids from now, so introduce your child to different foods to develop their taste buds and, even if they don’t eat the food, it will enhance their experience.
3D story telling
Use stuffed toys, puppets or animal play sets and tell your baby stories.
Five little monkeys
This and other action songs are a great way of interacting with baby and teaching them new language.
Head shake no
Help your baby start to communicate with you by using actions first.
Puppet Time
Puppets are a great way to teach social skills.
Dance Time
Dancing with your 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 your baby interested in books and potentially reading later on.
What does this?
Babies start to understand the cause and effect from now. If they press a button, something happens. Develop this further.
Talk about Fruit
Fruit are a great finger food. They are nutritional and come in many colours and textures, and are great to talk about.
