Milestones for 7-9 months

As you can see there’s a lot of progress in your child development even in their short life time. They are able to do many more things. It’s just really important to keep up with what your child should be doing at each age group. If they aren’t doing the milestones, it’s a good idea to talk to the doctor about it, because there may be a problem. But don’t stress too much because they can be getting close to doing it, some develop slower than others. It also depends on the parents, and how much they work with the child. This will make a big difference in your child’s development. It’s really important to take the time and practice and help your child develop is a big step in their future life.

      Some of the milestones your child should be at when they are between the months of seven and nine are; they should be banging toys together such as blocks, sitting up unsupported,  progress of crawling( can crawl a tiny distance), and able to wave bye-bye. A good way to get your child crawling is put a toy that they love to play with and place it away from them and tell them to come get it. This is a really good technique to get them crawling because they will get frustrated if they don’t have that toy.

     A walker is a fabulous tool to have when your child is about eight months. This is a good technique to use for your child because they should be able to pull themselves up and able to walk with holding on to it.  This will help your child start the big step in their life known as walking. This is the month that they should begin to start saying a few months such as mama and dada, which is pretty exciting but don’t be upset if they don’t know which one is which. That will talk a little practice until they can separate the two.

      This is the month that they will act like a big kid now. At nine months they should be able to hold and use a Sippy cup and are able to feed themselves with finger foods.  Some suggested finger foods to start off with is small chunks of bananas, or other fruits, just make sure that the peels are off. Pasta noodles, bread, etc. are ok too.  Just make sure that you have everything cut up in small chunks and if it has peels, to take the peels off. Your child does not have enough or strong teeth to chew the food small enough. They don’t have the concept to chew the food up well enough before swallowing.

     You can see within these three months you child has developed a lot of important things. And exciting things as well because it so fun to watch them feed themselves, saying mama and dada and almost to the point of walking. Just keep working with your child and you will see the progress in your child from day to day. 

Activities for 3-6 months

     Now that your child is getting older you are able to do more activities with them. It’s really important that you interact with them and do fun things with them. Even though they are young they really enjoy doing things with their care givers. One fun activity that we like to do at our daycare in the infant room is doing art with them. We do special projects with them which ties in with the season or holiday. We do a lot of art that involves painting with their hands and feet. The cool thing is that you can use their feet and hands into a lot of different ideas. The art project is really made by them. Especially with fall being here, there’s a lot of different neat things you can do with them. Such as drawing a tree branch and painting their hands and putting them on the tree as the leaves. With Halloween just around the corner they’ve done a lot of activities. A fun activity is to take black construction paper and white paint, and paint their feet with the toes towards the bottom of the paper. Then take a black sharpie and make the eyes and the mouth. Now you have just made a ghost. Another great decoration is pumpkins, and you can do that by painting your child’s hands. So you take orange paint and just paint the inside of the palm of their hand, and press it on the piece of paper, and take pinky or finger beside the pinky and dip in brown paint for the stem of the pumpkin.  All of you child’s arts will be just be the most adorable even though they are little and don’t think they could do art. They make an awesome artist. We do a lot of different art crafts in our infant room. These are just a couple of ideas that I thought I would share with Halloween just around the corner.

     Another thing that we do with our infants is that we take them out for stroller rides when it’s nice. They love feeling the nice breeze and being pushed around. This gets them out of the closed in room and giving them fresh air. It doesn’t have to be a long walk, it could just be around the block. They will enjoy every minute of it. Sometimes it’s a good idea if you’re planning on going a little ways to take a cup of water and a little snack such as puffs. Most children love puffs and you don’t have to worry about them choking and it’s really easy to put a few on the tray of the stroller.

     We found out over this past summer that our infants loved water. So when the rest of the center had their splash day, and if it was nice enough they took them to have their own splash day. They put them in their water diapers and took them outside. We put water in containers that they could sit and play with the water. They had the greatest time, they laughed and giggled and had a blast.

     A fun, cheap easy activity that your 3-6 month old baby loves and is easily entertained by for a long time is blowing bubbles. You can even make your own bubbles. Just take dawn dish soap and water and put it in a container and have a small wand and blow bubbles. They love it and could sit there looking at those bubbles float and pop in the air. It gets your child just a talking a giggling!

     It’s so cute and impressive to see what your child can do and are at such a fun age that you can do a lot of fun activities and entertainment with your child at this age. Be creative and le your imagination run.

What to Expect from your 3-6 month old

     As your child gets older, the more development he/she has and the more fun they are. They are getting more active and doing a lot more things.  By the age of three months your child should be holding and supporting their head by themselves when they are lying on their stomach. They are able to lift their head and use their chest up to hold it up. They can entertain themselves as they are able to shake toys and bring them to their mouths and dangle them in front of themselves. All children develop at their own rate, but it’s really important to notice that if your three month old  can’t support their own head, cant gasp objects, can’t focus on moving objects, doesn’t react to things such as loud noises and they don’t have much happiness. If they have any of these issues, it’s important to talk to your doctor about this.

     The older they get the more exciting time for your child development. It’s when you are waiting for the day when she/he rolls over for the first time and can sit up by themselves. Also, your child should be able to bounce when you are holding them on your lap. They are getting to a special point in their life and now they know your voice, and starting to be able to talk and make conversations with you. It’s really important that when they are gibbering that you talk back to them so their communication skills will improve. Also, it’s really important that you read with your child at least once a day. This is a really good feeling because you will actually hear more voices out of your child. The only way this will happen is if are involved with your child. You have to interact with them and smile, laugh, cuddle etc. with him/her. They are getting to the stage when you can start pointing out colors and objects to them, so they can begin the learning process.

     By the age of six months, your child is growing and is in need of more food besides the milk they are drinking. It’s a good idea if they are still hungry and need to eat more, to start them on baby food. As I have experienced working in a daycare and having cousins around; some of the favorite baby foods are; bananas, sweet potatoes, apples peaches (almost all of the fruits because they are sweet). It’s a good idea to begin with vegetable so they acquire the taste before you begin giving them fruit. Every child is different and has their own unique taste buds and like different things. You can tell you child reaction if they like it or not. Some reactions they will have if they like the baby food is that they get all excited and wiggle their toes, they smile while they are eating and gulps it down really fast and keep wanting more. The other side is that they don’t like it very much. Some of those reactions may be that they spit it out and don’t want anymore. Babies are more sensitive to bitter food and don’t care for them as much as the sweet foods.

     You’ll see a lot of changes in your infant between 3-6 months. It gets more and more exciting and they grow older because they are getting a personality and beginning to be more active. Enjoy this special time with them.

Mildstones

     There are many changes in a baby during the first six weeks of their life. They begin to look at the world around them and will let mom and dad know what they want. At this age babies begin to smile which is a wonderful reward for his/her parents. They also begin to develop trust for those who take care of them.

       It is important for the baby to be stimulated. They enjoy music weather it is from their mobile in their crib or music on the radio. They love colorful toys and lights. Just remember that they are still very young and can become over simulated. Their vision is developing as their muscles in their eyes are getting stronger which helps them to focus better.

       By now they are awake more during the day and will begin to sleep longer at night. They are able to tell the difference between night and day. Your little one will begin to hold rattles or other small toys if you put them in their hand. They begin to put their hands in their mouth and will suck on them. This is a way they learn to soothe themselves. Hanging toys above them to reach for will help them exercise their muscles.

        Babies begin to lift their heads and move it back and forth. A good way to help them strengthen their neck muscles is by letting them play on their stomach. They will begin to roll from side to back. They are changing so much each day and they will begin to make their own sounds when he/she is happy. They understand that crying is a way to tell you when she is tired, hungry, or needs attention.

          Remember to watch for signs your baby gives you. They will let you know what they want. This is a special time for bonding with your child and the beginning of a lifetime connection. Your baby now knows other members of the family and those who care for them. They will watch you and follow you as you move through out a room. They are learning to be social in there world. Remember to watch for the little changes in your baby and enjoy all these special moments.

Ways to Interact with your Infant

     Parents don’t realize how important it is to be active with their baby new born to one and a half months old. Well, they are mistaken. It’s very important to do things with your child, even though they are still at a young age. There are many things you can do that they will enjoy and benefit from. Kids love to have a lot of attention; it gives them interaction and a sense of being loved.

     A great activity that they love is being sung to. Some of their favorite songs are; Hush Little Baby, I love you, Row-Row Your Boat, Old McDonald and most any song a care giver will sing to them. Infants love to hear the familiar voice and know that they have someone paying attention to them. This helps them have eye contact and gives your baby social interaction. They especially love it when you change the tone of your voice and really makes them excited.

      Infants also love it when you make faces at them and play games. This makes them giggle and is a fun and special time for both you and the baby. Some of the most common games that can be played include: Peek-a Boo, Tickle, Tickle, and Pat-a-Cake. Other types of activities would be: setting the infant down and grabbing a stuffed animal and going up to them and saying “get you, get you” and keep repeating it. This gets the infant very excited!  Another common game is playing; This Little Piggy went to Market with their toes. Games are a critical part of development and are important to infants even at such a young age. Just being there and having a good times makes the infant very happy and feel loved.

       Infants love being read to.  Even though they are young and can’t understand what the book is about, but they will grow up remembering you reading to them and love to read themselves. They love the comfort of your voice while you are reading. It’s important to read several different times throughout the day. They love the books with bright colors, animals, numbers, and shapes on them. It’s a good idea to keep the book close to them so they can see until they get a little older. Infants like that the books are short and don’t have very many words on a page because they like to see different things. Touch and feel books are a good idea to read to them because they like the feeling but they are also learning to use their senses and get to know different feelings. Having separate soothing books for bed time is a good idea. This helps them calm down before they go to bed.

      There are endless ways to play and communicate with your child,  just use your imagination. It’s just very important to have interaction with you child at this young age.  It helps with their development and is the best way for communication between a parent, caregiver and the child.