After the equator of the first year of life, the baby has a sense of humor – certain things can already make the child laugh. A seven-month-old baby already understands the tone and meaning of the word “no” and actively protests if he is persistently offered something uninteresting. Favorite toys are often those that make a variety of sounds, and the baby prefers to frolic in company, rather than alone.
Physical development
The average weight of a child at seven months is 8-8.5 kg, and height is 65-66 cm. During this month, the child gains approximately 600 grams of body weight and 2 cm of height. If the baby was born less than 3 kg, then its growth rate is somewhat different, and the indicators of physical development of children born larger than 4 kg may differ slightly from the average.
This month, the child is even more mobile, already better seated, but can still rest on his hands. Sometimes the baby can roll over when he tries to free his hand to grab something, so you should not leave the child unattended.
If in the previous month the baby has not yet crawled, then this should already begin to do so. Children who have already had attempts to crawl, improve these skills. Watching the process is interesting and can be a lot of fun. Kids are extremely quirky in their desire to master the world: some first kneel and arms and swing for a long time in such a position, others move “bun”, others move back, rattling, some immediately squirt to rearrange their arms and legs…
The baby usually works out crawling skills on his own without any help, but you should take care of the absence of dangerous objects on the way and cover the floor with a soft coating so that in case of a fall the child does not hit hard. There are cases when, after the first attempts to crawl, which unpleasantly ended, the child leaves them for a long time. Also, do not disappear from the child’s field of vision: if the baby crawled into another room, he will return very quickly, because he is still scared to be without one of the parents, and if you leave the room at this time or hide, the child may be frightened and leave attempts to further explore the world for a while.
Attention and interest
The attention of a seven-month-old baby can be attracted with bright objects that are convenient to grab with your hand. It is the capture of things that becomes more coordinated: in addition to the palms, fingers are already partially involved in it. From the outside, this process is a bit like crab attempts to take something with claws or to work forceps or tweezers.
Things usually do not make an “average” impression on a child at that age. For a baby at seven months, they are divided into good and bad. The baby reports his impressions of something with his voice and crying, sometimes with loud crying.
Language and communication in seven months
Children’s experiments with sounds and syllables continue. At this time, from the baby you can most often hear “yes”, “ba”, “di”, “ma”, “ta”, sometimes, even, the child manages to make two sounds, such as “da-da”, “ta-ta”, etc.
In pronunciation, you can already hear the intonations and distinguish the mood of the child. At seven months, the baby is already trying to “speak to the public” – when there are listeners, he can tell something for a long time, combining all possible options for syllables.
In general, communication skills are improved. The kid already recognizes himself in the mirror, recognizes loved ones, the look becomes more meaningful, and the interjections are filled with emotions.
Sleeping and bathing a baby in the seventh month
If there is no reason for sleep disturbance, then seven-month-old babies usually sleep peacefully and continuously. Even if they wake up ahead of time, they usually fall asleep calmly. During the day, the child sleeps twice or thrice, and the night’s sleep, after being active for crawling and communicating, becomes calmer compared to previous periods.
You can bathe your baby daily or every other day. If earlier the child was bathed in a special children’s bath, then from seven months you can already transfer children’s bathing to a large adult bath. No need to collect too much water, there is enough level at which the child is comfortable sitting and playing with toys.
Bathing can be an interesting game for a child at this age. Of particular interest are vessels in which you can scoop and spill water, for example, a plastic bucket or watering can. Bathing the baby for more than 15 minutes is not worth it, the water temperature should be close to body temperature, that is, 36-37 °C. To avoid sudden temperature changes, it is best to provide a temperature of 22 °C in the bathroom.
Medical support
In seventh place, it is worth paying attention to the immunity of the child, since mother’s antibodies obtained through the umbilical cord are no longer valid. This is especially true of babies on artificial feeding – for them, the seventh month is actually the first test of strength. Breastfed babies still receive antibodies with mother’s milk, so their immunity is stronger.
In any case, you should pay attention to the frequency of viral and infectious diseases in a child. If the baby from the seventh month of life begins to hurt, then it is worth discussing with the pediatrician the likely steps to improve immunity. Do not panic with every sneezing of a child, because often the cause of a decrease in immunity are very simple household things and this is easy to fix.
And in general, you should not make global generalizations based on the mood or condition of the child for one day. In the second half of the first year of life, the baby is actively formed, in particular, in terms of emotions, learns to express his feelings and feelings, so the states often change.
Natalia Kuzio
