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Baby can look and focus on you and track you a little bit. She is moving her arms and legs constantly. When placed on her tummy, she can lift her head to clear her nose and move her head side to side. Baby will reflexively grasp your fingers when you put them in her hands. Baby enjoys eye contact, responds to voices and recognizes parent’s voice.
Baby starts socially smiling. She can see your eyes and mouth. Her hands start to open and are becoming less fisted. She will move her arms at the sight of a toy. She will hold onto a rattle shortly when placed in her hand. She will like to suck on her hands. When on her back, her head is to the side and not yet held in the middle. On her tummy, she can lift her head up to about 60 degrees. When placed in standing, she may put weight on her feet and do some “stepping”.
Baby is smiling a lot now and can see facial expressions. She can tell if you are happy or angry. She looks from one object to another and the eyes follow downward. Baby’s neck is much stronger and she now has “midline skills”; when she is on her back, she can hold her head in the middle, clasp and hold her hands together and bring her hands to her mouth. She may try to bat at toys. You can place a small rattle in her hand and she will hold it longer. When put on her tummy, she now can lift her head up 90 degrees and put weight through her forearms. When placed in supported sitting, she starts to hold her head and trunk against gravity, although her head may still bob.
The baby is doing so much more at this age. Her visual skills are becoming more developed and she will be looking and paying attention much more to the things around her. The eyes can look upward. Her eye-hand coordination is developing and she is able to accurately reach out and grab things and release them with some control. She can pat a bottle and place both hands on the bottle. She will be mouthing various things of different textures. She will be laughing and cooing. On her back, she starts learning about her lower body by playing with her legs. She may start rolling. Her hands are open when she is on her tummy and she can reach for toys in this position. Head and trunk control are improving with supported sitting. When she is held up in standing, she can put most weight on her feet.
At this age, your baby may start rolling from her back to her stomach. She is able to play with her feet. On her tummy, she can do “push ups” and push her arms so her elbows are straight and her chest is off of the surface. She can also pivot in a circle on her tummy and also look like she is “swimming”. She has gotten better at reaching for objects and may transfer toys from one hand to the other. She will reach for objects equally with both hands and starts to hold the bottle. When placed in the sitting position the back muscles aren’t strong enough to let baby sit up by herself, but she will “prop” sit, leaning forwards on her hands. At this age, baby is able to recognize your face from others. She will also be babbling and imitating voices. She will repeat this over and over if it is pleasurable. Repetition is how a child learns. Memory of toys is improving.
Sitting independently is a big milestone at this age. Baby will be able to sit up on her own and play and examine toys. She starts to drop and recover objects. She will be able to catch herself with her arms forward if caught off balance. On her tummy, she may try to belly crawl forward and get up onto all fours. She should be able to roll both ways now. When placed in standing, she will be able to bear almost all of her weight and stand up straight with support. She may enjoy “bouncing” in the standing position. She is getting much more mobile. She is also aggressive with teething. She is really taking in the world visually and interacting socially.
Baby is now able to push up to sit from the floor and change her position from sit to all fours often. She is always on the move and likes to explore now so the house should be childproofed! She is probably crawling on all fours now. She prefers to be on her tummy or crawling rather than on her back. She can bang together two objects. Defining size, shape and textures in the hand is important. She can rake tiny objects with her hands. She is actively chewing and biting toys. At 8 months visual acuity is 20/20. She is able to combine vowels and consonants and say “ba” or “da”.
Baby is trying to pull up to stand now. She is crawling all over the place but now wants to look at the world up right. She can pull up on a low table and lower herself back down to sitting on the floor with control. She can release toys voluntarily and bang together two toys in her hands. She uses pads of 3 fingers to secure small objects. Baby starts to finger feed and hold on to a spoon (although she can not feed herself with the spoon yet). Baby has learned to respond to “no”. Baby will like toys that change.
Baby can stand and manipulate toys with both hands now. She can take objects out of containers. Cruising around the furniture to explore occurs at this age. Crawling is being discarded. Baby may let go of the furniture for a second and stand alone. Baby can walk with one hand held.
Walking independently occurs normally anytime between 12 and 18 months. At this time, baby is very active and independent. All basic motor skills are present. Baby can squat, rise to stand and walk independently. At 12 months, a fine pincer grasp develops and baby can pick up small objects, like Cheerios with the thumb and index finger, called a “superior pincer”. She also likes to point at things at this age. She can put objects in to containers. She can turn pages and likes to inspect and explore all properties of her toys. She can drink from a cup with spillage. She can wave “bye-bye” and probably has a few words now. Baby can plan, organize and execute complex motor and perceptual tasks. Motor planning is more complex. Baby is problem solving, learning about the body and learning where the body is in space.
Compiled by:
Pamela Wong Marcus, P. T., Physical Therapist
Julie Gyoerkoe, O. T., Occupational Therapist
Marjorie Meyer Palmer, M.A., LSP, Speech Pathologist
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