Your Baby and You: Week Thirty
Highlights
YOUR BABY
Physical Development: Hand-to-hand coordination
Around now your baby will be getting better at coordinating between his two hands. You may see him pass an object from one hand to another. Your baby is also likely to be reaching and grasping for objects, sometimes using his fingers in a raking motion on the floor, to try and grab that toy he wants.
Social and Emotional Development: Reading faces
At 7 months old many babies start to learn to read the different facial expressions they see and mimic them. You will find that your baby smiles a lot when playing with you. They will probably be able to distinguish now between different emotions expressed in both your face and your voice: babies can sense if you are happy or cross with them by the face you pull and the tone of your voice. If you have a big beaming smile when you are looking at your baby, the chances are you'll get a great big smile back. If you are ever cross with your baby and use an angry tone don't be surprised if they burst into tears.
Behavioural Development: Where did that go?
Your baby may be experimenting with gravity a lot now. Dropping things and then looking for them is common behaviour in babies from this age. If It is an important concept for them to learn - that when they release something it will fall to the floor - but it can be a bit tedious for you, repeatedly recovering cups and toys deliberately dropped from the highchair or buggy.
Speech and Communication: Babbling
By now many babies will be using a greater combination of vowels and consonants when babbling. You may hear more double syllable sounds like "ga-ra", "ad-ah" and "ah-goo"
Feeding: Finger foods
Your baby can more confidently and accurately feed herself with finger foods now. Try and offer your baby some finger foods during meals for them to taste and experiment with. Things like soldiers of toast, pasta, strips of avocado and banana are all great first finger foods. Take a look at our A Guide To Introducing Solids for great tips on foods to try and the foods to avoid giving your baby.
Care Advice: Safety first
Babies are often making attempts to travel by now. They will be grasp for objects they like the look of and their reach can be much further than you think. Once they get hold of an object it usually goes straight into their mouth. Babies have no way of knowing what is safe and what poses a danger, so it is time to have a good look around and start Making Your Home Safe. Look at each room individually: the kitchen, bathroom and bedrooms all offer their own hazards. Consider using plug socket covers, fireguards, door stops (to prevent little fingers becoming trapped), cupboard locks and baby safety gates on your stairs. Babies are naturally inquisitive and we wouldn't want to stop them from being so; after all we encourage them to open and look behind doors in lift-the-flap books for instance. So a good idea, for example in the kitchen, is to have a cupboard full of baby friendly, non-breakable items, such as plastic boxes, wooden spoons and saucepan lids. This way your baby can enjoy exploring and playing safely while the other cupboards stay locked.
Common or Serious Ailments: Food allergies and intolerances
You may wonder how you would spot if your baby developed Food Allergies or sensitivity to certain foods. If your baby develops a food allergy this can trigger a number of different symptoms. Things like a rash, eczema, sickness and/or diarrhoea, tummy pains, swelling, or even a runny nose. It can be really difficult to be sure that it was a certain food that triggered the reaction. Happily many children outgrow their food allergies or intolerances by the time they are 3 years old, but some allergies will remain. The only way to combat the allergy is to avoid the food culprit by excluding it from your baby's diet.
THINGS TO DO WITH YOUR BABY THIS WEEK
Ways To Entertain Your Baby: Games/Entertainment
Exaggerating your vocal and physical responses will help teach your baby about different emotions. Exaggerate you facial expressions during play to help your baby to learn what different faces mean. Don't be afraid to overdo your 'surprised' face during a game of peekaboo for instance. Your baby will return your happy face with that of their own.
