What Are the Physical Milestones of a 8 Month Old Baby

Your 8-month-old infant is busy, busy, busy — busy exploring, learning, moving around and engaged in more sophisticated interactions and play.

That means you lot'll be enough busy keeping upwardly with your fiddling i likewise. Milestones like crawling are on the horizon if he isn't scooting around on all fours already, and he's probably baby-talking upwards a storm. Plus playtime is more fun all the time.

Hither's what'southward coming up for your viii-month-former.

Your 8-calendar month-old infant'southward development

At a Glance

Sleeping basics

At this age, babies typically sleep about 11 hours at nighttime (many straight through) and take 2 daily naps that add up to 3 to four hours.

Feeding basics

Your babe should get 24 to 30 ounces of breast milk or formula a day and iv to 9 tablespoons of cereal, fruit and vegetables daily, as well as ane to 6 tablespoons of protein foods.

Did y'all know?

Even at 8 months, babies will look away from something that's too easy — or too difficult — for them to empathize.

Your infant's ability to communicate is expanding daily, and you lot'll notice him attempting to use sounds, gestures and facial expressions — not to mention those adorable laughs and squeals — to go your attention and let yous know what he wants.

Equally he strings together more than vowel and consonant sounds, y'all'll showtime to hear "real" words — including the all-important "Mama" and "Dada."

You are certainly the most important people in his life right now, which makes it unsurprising that your little one has likely developed a fearfulness of strangers.

Why has your social butterfly of a sudden become antisocial with strangers? This social snubbery isn't snobbery — it's a sign of maturity, and information technology's perfectly normal at this phase of development.

This sudden shyness and newfound clinginess will laissez passer. And so give your little one the space to socialize at his own pace, and on his own terms.

Speaking of clinginess, yous may as well discover your cutie has become more attached to a comfort object, like a coating or blimp animate being. This, too, is perfectly developmentally appropriate.

With independent mobility comes the realization that he can separate (or be separated) from yous at any time, and that epiphany is partly exciting and partly unsettling.

A condolement object acts to fill in as a Mommy or Daddy substitute, assuasive your infant to bring that comfort along wherever he goes. For now, let your baby accept the security he craves.

Your 8-month-onetime baby's growth

Your 8-month-old baby girl will hit the scales somewhere betwixt 13 and 23 pounds, while your baby boy will be weighing in at fourteen to 25 pounds. On the length charts, await for your babe to autumn somewhere between 25 and thirty inches.

To proceed upwards with that growth, baby will be interested in expanding his food repertoire and trading in that spoon for finger foods and self-feeding.

Sure, the transition from spoon to fingers volition exist messy and frustrating on both sides of the high chair. But every bit your baby perfects the pincer grasp as he nears his first birthday, his power to hold smaller objects, like peas and minor pasta shapes, volition improve — considerably expanding the bill of fare and the amount of self-feeding that tin can practically be done.

For now, stick to finger foods that can be gummed before swallowing or that will dissolve easily in the mouth: whole grain bread or waffles, rice cakes, oat circumvolve cereals, cubes of cheese or tofu, avocado, banana, pear, melon or mango slices, modest chunks of cooked carrot, sweet potato, or cauliflower florets, baked or poached fish, meatballs, chicken, pasta, smashed beans, or scrambled or hard-cooked eggs.

Avoid uncooked raisins, whole peas (unless they are smashed), hot dogs, basics or popcorn, grapes, hard or gooey candy, chunks of peanut butter, raw, business firm vegetables or fruit, and big chunks of cheese, meat and poultry.

Your 8-month-old baby's health

Baby won't have a well-visit for some other month, but y'all probably accept plenty of questions about how your baby's growing and developing.

Poison-proof your home

Allergy medicine for baby?

Leaving baby in the car

Tummy trouble?

Acupuncture for babies

Postpartum & new baby tips

Stimulate your eight-calendar month-old'due south senses

Stimulate your 8-month-former by describing how things piece of work, how they are used and how they are different.

For example, "When I turn on the faucet, water comes out," "The machine volition help us get places faster than walking with y'all in the stroller," "The doggy says 'woof' and the kitty cat says 'meow'".

Spend time talking, singing songs and reading books to heave his language skills; play games that help explicate concepts like cause and issue (make full a cup of water in the bath and let infant turn it over) and object permanence (play peek-a-boo).

Betoken out sounds (the fire truck) and smells (the blossom) and give your child a adventure to experiment and explore — even if it means smearing yogurt in his hair or pulling up tufts of grass in the grand.

The "oopsie" game

The scene: Your dinner table. Your 8-calendar month-old is in his loftier chair with an enticing array of foods before him. Your baby has his bib and his spoon. So, is he eating? No!

Instead, your infant is merrily tossing his spoon overboard — over and over and once more — and giggling with glee every time you pick it upwards and return it to him.

Is your infant just enjoying watching you lot stoop down to the floor? Is he trying to drive you crazy on purpose? Nope. Your baby's brain is just decorated working on two big concepts: cause and upshot ("When I throw this, Mom picks it upward! Absurd!") and object permanence ("I can't come across this while it's nether my chair, just wow! There it is again!").

As annoying — and hard on your back — every bit it may be, this drop-information technology-again-and-again routine is a sign of the crucial cognitive development of retentiveness and abstract-thinking skills.

Finger food safety

Finger foods are especially welcome now, since babies this historic period like to feed themselves — or try to. Information technology's non pretty, and it's non neat, merely it's gotta happen.

Just make sure you're always supervising when y'all graduate to finger foods.

And remember, even babies who take teeth aren't ready for steak even so: Those first teeth aren't for chewing, only for bitter. Make sure everything yous give your baby tin can be easily gummed, for safe'due south sake.

More than reasons to exercise

Exercise boosts energy forth with amnesty. Shoot for at least twenty minutes of sustained activity three times a week, although 30 minutes, iv or more times per week, is better in the long run for stronger bones.

How? At present that your baby is older than 6 months, strap him in a jogging stroller and become for a run. Or utilise a front end pack or backpack if he can sit down unsupported and take a brisk walk (no jogging with your babe in a pack).

If you're within, endeavor an exercise video or mini-trampoline. Or just put on some music and boogie — your baby will discover watching you incessantly entertaining!

Best fruits for baby

Turn your baby into a fruit fiend by giving him squished blueberries or minor pieces of soft fruits similar bananas or very ripe, peeled and skinned pear.

To make it easier to pick upwardly glace assistant pieces, try dusting them in crushed Cheerios start.

Ripe mangoes, peaches, apricots, kiwis, honeydew and cantaloupe are also probable to entreatment to your infant's sweet tooth (or gums), simply make sure to accept off any pare first.

Not all fruit is infant-friendly, though. Avoid pieces of apple tree, even without the peel, for now. Ditto any other harder-textured or unripe fruit that could get stuck in the windpipe.

Why babies love soft blocks

There'due south a reason why blocks have been around forever — they can do and then many things. Earlier your fiddling one learns to stack them, they'll be proficient for grabbing, belongings and mouthing, so become simple cubes that are made of textile but can withal be easily stacked.

The best ones take colorful pictures and make a soft, jingly audio when squeezed or shaken. Early, before he's sitting up, you can evidence him the pictures on the blocks and talk near them and allow him listen to the blocks as you clasp or shake them.

Subsequently, boost his gross-motor skills by stacking the blocks and letting him knock them down with his arms or legs. Or show him how to toss the blocks at a safe target — the sofa, say, or the rug.

Your 8-month-old'south mobility

Your baby's big-motor skills will exist tested as he learns to sit down up comfortably and steadily and piece of work on pushing himself up into a seated position from his tummy.

Some babies begin to creep or crawl this month, or even discover that they tin can motion around quite well by scooting on their bottoms.

If your baby was an early crawler, he may now move on to standing (pulling himself up the sofa — or your legs — to get upright).

Encourage this new view of the world, and maybe even those first wobbly steps, by arranging the furniture (similar chairs and low-lying tables) in a row so he can inch his manner across with steady support — a motor skill called cruising.

From the What to Await editorial squad and Heidi Murkoff, author ofWhat to Await When You're Expecting. What to Expect follows strict reporting guidelines and uses but apparent sources, such as peer-reviewed studies, academic research institutions and highly respected wellness organizations. Learn how we continue our content accurate and up-to-engagement by reading our medical review and editorial policy.

What to Look the First Yr, 3rd edition, Heidi Murkoff.

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