What are babies doing at 7-8 months?
Learning and exploring
Your baby is trying to learn more about their world. For example, they’ll look closely at objects, bang blocks together, look for things that they’ve dropped, and try to find toys after seeing them hidden. Your baby still puts most things into their mouth too.
Books might be a favourite thing to explore, especially brightly coloured ones. Your baby might look at them, touch them, or chew their corners.
Playing
Your baby loves playing with you. Copying what you do and making funny sounds or animal noises together are a lot of fun for them. Favourite activities might also include playing peekaboo, ringing bells and finding toys.
Playing with you also helps your baby feel loved and secure.
Moving
Your baby is getting a lot of practice at picking up things. And by around 7 months, your baby will have well-coordinated eye-hand movements. This means they can use their fingers to catch and drag objects towards them.
Your baby can sit on their own.
And they might be getting around by crawling, rolling or shuffling. They might pull themselves up onto their knees or even onto their feet to stand. But they’ll still need to hold on to something, like you or furniture, to help them stand.
Communicating
Your baby is babbling. They might repeat the same sounds loudly, and their babble might even have up-and-down tones of speech.
If your baby is an early talker, you might hear them say 1-2 words like ‘mama’ or ‘dada’, but they won’t know what these words mean. You might also notice that your baby tries to respond when you call their name.
Most babies also use body language to communicate. For example, your baby might reach their hands out to you to say that they want to play.
Thinking
Your baby is starting to understand object permanence, which is the idea that things still exist even if you can’t see them. For example, your baby might call out or follow you if you leave the room, or they might look for a toy they’ve dropped out of sight.
And if you ask, ‘Where’s Mummy?’ or ‘Where’s Daddy?’, your baby might turn and look for family members.
Feeling
Your baby’s emotions are developing, and your baby lets you know when they’re happy or upset.
Your baby might show strong attachment to you and other close family members or carers, but they’re still a little afraid of new faces. This might show up as separation anxiety and fear of strangers, which are typical parts of development around this age.
Eating solids
You might notice your baby trying to chew. This means they’re ready for soft foods with thicker textures, like roughly mashed, minced and chopped foods or finger foods. Your baby might also try to feed themselves – for example, by picking up their food or holding a drink bottle by themselves.
Your child’s brain develops connections faster in the first 5 years than at any other time in their life. Stimulating and caring environments with plenty of different activities help to build these connections and lay the foundations for learning, health and behaviour throughout life.
How can you help your baby grow and develop at 7-8 months?
Have a chat
Your baby is interested in conversation, so the more talk the better!
You can help your baby understand what words mean by talking as you do everyday activities like bathing your baby or changing nappies.
Also, listening and responding to your baby’s babbling builds language, communication and literacy skills. You can respond by talking or making sounds in your own warm and loving way. Your baby enjoys hearing your voice go up and down and loves watching your face as you talk. This helps your baby feel ‘heard’, loved and valued.
Read together
You can develop your baby’s imagination by reading, talking about pictures in books and telling stories. These activities also build the skills your baby needs to understand language.
Play together
Play is how your baby learns. You could try:
When you’re outside, remember to be safe in the sun.
Get moving
Moving builds your baby’s muscle strength as they get ready for crawling, pulling to stand and walking. You can encourage moving and crawling by placing toys just out of your baby’s reach. And if your baby is crawling, why not get down on the floor and crawl around with them?
If your baby is on the move, always watch them and never leave them unattended on a sofa, bed or change table. Now’s the time to make your home safe for your baby to move around in.
Introduce new foods
Breastmilk or formula should still be your baby’s main source of nutrition, but trying plenty of new foods helps your baby learn about tastes and textures. You could give your baby homemade foods like ground-up meats, mashed vegetables, whole rice or soft bread. Just make sure the solids are small and soft enough to prevent choking.
Sometimes your baby won’t want to do some of these things – for example, they might be too tired or hungry. Your baby will use baby cues to let you know when they’ve had enough and what they need.
How to care for a 8-month-old baby and look after yourself
As a parent, you’re always learning. It’s OK to feel confident about what you know. And it’s OK to admit you don’t know something and ask questions or get help.
It’s also important to look after yourself. Looking after yourself physically, mentally and emotionally is good for you, and it’s good for your baby. When you’re well, you can give your baby the loving attention they need to grow and thrive.
Part of looking after yourself is asking for help, especially if you’re feeling stressed, anxious or angry. There are many people who can support you and your baby, including your partner, friends, relatives, child and family health nurse and GP. It’s a good idea to have a list of these people with their contact details. Put the list on your fridge, so it’s easy to find if you need it.
Never shake a baby. If you feel like you can’t cope or you might hurt your baby, gently put your baby down somewhere safe. Take deep breaths to calm down. Get support by talking to a family member or friend or by calling a parenting helpline or Lifeline on 131 114.
When to be concerned about baby development at 8 months
You know your baby best. So it’s a good idea to see your child and family health nurse or GP if you have any concerns or notice that your 8-month-old has any of the following issues.
Seeing, hearing and communicating
Your baby:
- isn’t making eye contact with you
- isn’t following moving objects with their eyes
- has an eye that’s turned in or out most of the time
- isn’t babbling
- isn’t turning their head towards sounds or voices.
Behaviour
Your baby doesn’t look at your face, smile at you or show whether they’re happy or sad.
Movement
Your baby:
- isn’t rolling
- can’t sit up or stand up with your help
- uses one hand much more than the other
- has difficulty eating solid foods.
See a child health professional if you notice that your baby has lost skills they once had.
Also see your nurse or GP if you have signs of postnatal anxiety, postnatal depression in birthing mothers or postnatal depression in non-birthing parents. With help and support, you can manage symptoms, feel better sooner, and give your baby what they need to develop well.
Development happens in a similar order in most children, but skills might develop at different ages or times. If you’re wondering whether your baby’s development is on track, or if you feel that something isn’t quite right, it’s best to get help early. See your child and family health nurse or GP.
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