Baby 8 months development: what should be able to do?

2024 Author: Priscilla Miln | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 00:21

The first year of a child's life is a difficult time, at the same time happy and nervous for moms and dads. The baby is changing before our eyes, he has a lot to learn in order to eventually turn into a cheerful, he althy "one-year-old". The turning point of the second half of the year in the development of the child is 8 months. What should a child be able to do at this age? Let's talk about it.

Baby development at 8 months: height and weight

These indicators depend on a number of factors: heredity, individual characteristics, diet. Nevertheless, we can talk about the end of a period of rapid physical development. The weight of a child at 8 months increases by an average of 400-500 g and fluctuates between 8-9 kg. However, deviations of 1 kg are allowed. Usually boys are bigger, girls are smaller.

With the correct development of a child of 8 months, growth increases by 1.5-2 cm. Boys grow up to 66.5-73 cm. Girls are a little behind: their height ranges from 66 to 72 cm.

Physical development and daily routine

If your baby is hyperactive, this is absolutely normal. Difficult times are coming for the mother, as the child can now be awake for 5-6 hours, and all this time he is exploring the world around him. Night sleep should be at least 8 hours. During the day, the baby sleeps twice for 1.5-2 hours. True, for some children 40 minutes is enough. You can put the baby to bed 1 time, but then he should sleep for about 4 hours.

The child eats 5 times a day, the intervals between feedings are 4 hours. Twice a day you have to walk with the crumbs. If at the same time the baby is awake, actively communicate with him, pay attention to interesting sounds, objects, smells. Get used to the swing, it is useful for the development of the vestibular apparatus. Find a playground where a lot of young mothers walk. Children love to look at and touch each other, play with toys together.

Many kids are already teething. At 8 months, a baby may have 2 front incisors on the upper and lower jaws. Be sure to purchase teething toys. You can also scratch your gums with a cracker, a piece of an apple. The clinic can advise you on special ointments or gels to relieve inflammation.

Food

The development and nutrition of an 8 month old baby are closely related. The baby should receive a sufficient amount of vitamins and minerals. Breastfeeding at this age should not be stopped, but mother's milk accounts for only one third of the total amount eaten per day.

The child is already familiar with milk cereals (buckwheat, oatmeal, corn, rice,semolina), with vegetable and fruit purees, cottage cheese, kefir, juice. It's time to introduce meat into the diet. Choose low-fat varieties: chicken, turkey, rabbit. Since the baby is just learning to chew, the meat is crushed into crumbs and mixed with vegetable puree. Another good option is soups with meat broth.

By the end of the 8th month, you can also get acquainted with low-fat fish (hake, pollock, pike perch). They are boiled, ground in a blender, cleaned of bones, seasoned with milk, vegetable oil, mixed with mashed potatoes. Fish should appear on the table 2 times a week. Phosphorus is very beneficial for an 8 month old baby.

Development and nutrition are inseparable, so teach your baby to wash their hands before eating, drink from a cup. Remove books and toys from the table while eating. This is what the baby's menu should look like:

• first feeding - milk;
• breakfast - porridge, half yolk, fruit drink or juice;
• lunch - soup or vegetable puree with meat, compote;
• snack - cottage cheese, fruit puree or milk;
• dinner - milk or yogurt.

Motor skills

What should a baby be able to do at 8 months? Development proceeds normally if the baby:

• rolls from side to side, from back to stomach and back;
• sits down and lies down on his own initiative;
• actively crawling;
• gets up, holding hands on a support;
• moves along the wall of the crib;
• steps when an adult holds him under his arms;
• takes toys with both hands.

It's important for a babymaster dynamic actions. Teach him to sit down, not sit, get up, not stand in one place. Drawing attention to the toy, encourage crawling to it, walking, holding on to the support. The more the child crawls, the better. Catch the ball, look for an object that mom hid under a scarf and placed at a distance of 2 meters from the baby. Babies are very fond of "catching up" when an adult tries to catch a crawling baby, and then kisses him, tickles or throws him up.

Fine motor skills

A real revolution is taking place in the development of an 8 month old baby. What should tiny fingers be able to do? Right now they are mastering two holds:

• tweezers (thumb and forefinger close, grabbing the object);
• plucked (only fingertips touch).

If before the baby took objects with the whole palm, now he acts more selectively. At this age, give him ribbons, bright shoelaces. Pull them out of the handles ("look, it's crawling away!"), prompting the crumbs to hold the running object with their fingers. Play with scraps of fabric in different textures. Put small items into the bottle through the neck. Fill the bucket with small toys, teach the child to pour them out: "Boh! Fall!". Then fold everything back.

Teach your baby to put on and take off the rings from the pyramid, play with inserts, hide the car in the "tunnel" (an inverted box with a hole) and ask to pull it out by pulling the ribbon. Make sure that the toys have a different shape, texture, color. it- the key to successful sensory development of the baby.

Emotional and social behavior

At this age, an important stage of development begins. What can an 8 month old baby do? He actively develops attachment to close people, and especially to his mother. The baby needs to feel loved. He reacts very painfully to quarrels in the family, to parting with his mother. Therefore, do not swear in front of him, communicate in a positive tone, do not leave one for a long time.

Children are very good at distinguishing between "us" and "them", they feel the attitude of a new person towards themselves. Often strangers scare babies. Help them settle in by being around. If a person is friendly, the child will soon agree to play with him, go to his arms.

Finally, kids are beginning to understand the words "no", "no". They rejoice when they are praised, and offended when they are scolded. The baby is just learning to control its behavior. Therefore, switching attention at this age is more effective than prohibition.

Another innovation is the emergence of "business" communication. The child imitates the actions of adults. He rolls the ball, picks up a spoon, copies the movements, listening to the nursery rhyme. With pleasure fulfills requests: "give", "take", "show", etc.

Speech Development

In infants, passive vocabulary is actively replenished. They know the names of familiar objects, show them in response to the question "where?", respond to their own name. It is important to constantly talk to the baby,giving him time to respond, comment on what is happening, look at pictures in books.

The presence of increasingly complex babbling is a sign of the correct development of the child at 8 months. Girls are usually more talkative than boys. Toddlers first pronounce syllables ("ma", "ga", "de"), then chains of syllables with different intonations. By the end of the month, complex combinations will arise: "ata", "ama". Such long-awaited "mother", "dad", "woman" may slip into speech, but the child does not yet endow them with the appropriate meaning. "Mom" can be anyone bending over the crib.

Repeat after the baby his syllables with different intonation. A he althy child will enter into a dialogue, will copy new sounds after an adult.

Useful games

Scientists have proven that all kinds of educational programs for babies do not contribute to the development of speech. Children need contact with close adults. Introduce your baby to the following games:

• "Where?". Look in the mirror for mom, dad and baby. Find familiar objects in the room, clearly and slowly pronouncing their names: "Where is the kitty meow-meow? Here it is! Where is the bi-bi machine? Find it soon!". Choose the onomatopoeia that your baby can pronounce.
• "Speech bouncing". Sit on a fitball or sofa, holding the baby in your arms. Jump up and down, repeating various syllables: "Hop-hop. Ta-ta-ta. Doo-doo-doo. Whoa-whoa. Moo-moo." Pause so your child can say them.following you.
• "Song". Sing any tune while rattling the rattle to the beat. Then hide the toy behind your back. "Oh, no rattle! Vanechka, where is the rattle? Here it is!" Sing the song again, singing one syllable. Choose the one that is available to the baby. Hide the rattle at the end. The game continues until the baby gets tired.

Intellectual development of a child at 8 months

At this age, babies begin to use gestures. They wave a pen when they are told "bye-bye", rub their eyes at the word "sleep." If the baby wants some object, he is able to show it. Many children try to manipulate adults by testing their strength.

Baby actively develops memory. If they are distracted, they can return to the interrupted game. The next day, the child reproduces the fun he likes, remembers which button to press so that the machine flashes its headlights. Looking at the photo album, he recognizes the family members.

Spatial thinking improves. Children distinguish familiar objects at a distance, turned in profile, upside down. They like toys that can be broken apart. A good gift would be a nesting doll, a pyramid, large designers, cubes.

All kids love repetitive games like throwing a ball out of the crib or knocking down a block tower dozens of times. This is how babies learn to predict the outcome of an action.

Girls and boys: is there a difference?

Scientistsclaim that gender differences affect the development of the child. At the age of 8 months, girls learn walking skills, actively babble, distinguish well the emotions of other people, more often look a person in the face.

Boys at this time only learn to get up, lag behind in speech development, they recognize emotions worse. But they move around the apartment more actively, prefer noisy games, and show interest in exploring surrounding objects. They like mechanical toys, constructors.

According to research, boys are more attached to their mother, more acutely experiencing parting with her, easily irritated. Girls are calmer, react faster to comforting cooing, but at the same time they are more often afraid of loud sounds. Of course, these statements should be treated with a he althy degree of skepticism. After all, every child is an individual.

Warning signs

However, there are symptoms that cannot be attributed to the peculiarities of individual development. A baby at 8 months needs urgent help if:

• You don't notice his physical activity. Such babies do not try to roll over, sit down, stand on their feet.
• No interest in toys. The baby does not pick them up, refuses to play with his mother, is naughty.
• No babbling, no attempt to pronounce syllables, imitate adults.
• The baby's face does not express emotions.
• The baby does not recognize his relatives, he is afraid of them.

This behavior may indicate a serious developmental delay. The cause may be as a disease of the nervoussystems and emotional trauma.

The development of a child at 8 months largely depends on the microclimate in the family. Constantly communicating with the baby, watching him, you will notice the lag in time and quickly correct it.