Babies 8th month
Jennifer Ann Steinort studied health economics and is a state-approved nanny. She mainly writes on real-life topics, and experiences from working in health facilities and her own family life with three children flow into her work.
More about the experts All content is checked by medical journalists.The journey of discovery continues in babies' 8th month. Your child makes first attempts to crawl or crawl. At the same time, it needs a lot of attention, because it is in the middle of the foreign phase. Read here what's new this month and how you can best support your child.
The 8th month
The course of child development is seldom as different as it is in babies 8 months old. Perhaps your child is still satisfied when lying down. It may, however, make its first attempts at crawling in the eighth month. And if your child is an early starter, they'll pull themselves up on pieces of furniture and make their first attempts to stand.
8th month - physical development
In the eighth month, your child is growing steadily. How much your eight-month-old baby gains depends on how active he is in everyday life. A baby at eight months usually wears size 74 and a hat size 46/48. The first shoes usually fit your child in size 18.
Motor skills and reflexes
In the eighth month your baby is very curious and wants to become more independent. When it is awake, there is hardly a moment that it is inactive. Your eight-month-old baby pushes and pulls himself on his stomach with his hands and feet. But not every baby "crawls" in the 8th month. Perhaps your child discovered crawling straight away.
If your baby is already pulling himself up on furniture at the age of eight months, special care is required. At first it stands proud and smiles at its success. However, if the muscles weaken, your offspring will push through their spine and fall backwards without warning. This reaction is derived from the so-called Moro reflex, which occurs automatically when falling backwards. Your eight-month-old baby still needs some time to carefully move from a standing position back to a sitting position.
In babies 8 months old, the ability to roll from back to stomach is not fully developed. The child therefore often lies on its back like a beetle and finds it difficult to get out of its position. But a lack of body control is not always the problem. First the child has to understand that and how they can help themselves with a twist.
The development of the senses
Because your baby is very mobile at eight months, minor accidents can occur. You can observe that the perception of pain as part of the body-related senses is not yet fully developed in the 8th month of your baby. When your child is hurt, they often have a delayed reaction and will only cry a few seconds after they have pushed, for example.
This is due to the fact that the responsible nerves pass the pain stimulus on rather slowly in babies in the 8th month. Only when the interconnection of the corresponding nerves in the spinal cord has matured can your child react immediately to a pain stimulus.
Sensory perception play an increasing role in babies in their 8th month. They allow your child to distinguish you from other people. To do this, your child uses his so-called near and far senses such as touch, hearing and smelling.
8th month - mental development
What can a baby at eight months do? For example, it is already able to use tools to get hold of coveted objects. For example, if a building block is on a piece of fabric, it pulls the building block towards itself. Laughing together is especially important for mental development in babies eight months old.
Emotional development
Your baby can express his feelings at eight months. If he doesn't succeed in something, he reacts with whining and crying.
Despite the little voyages of discovery that your eight-month-old baby undertakes every day, you are always the safe haven of destination. Moving away can cause anxiety in your baby. Big tears can flow from strangers and even people they trust when your child is "strangers" in the 8th month. At the moment, your baby only feels safe with the most important caregiver.
You can read more about this in the text Fremdeln.
Social development and communication
Your baby will have a sense of humor by eight months. It is able to distinguish between serious and non-serious situations. If you look at a child eight months old with a serious look, and then start laughing, they will start laughing too. If you repeat this several times, the child will understand the game and will smile at your scowl.
This process requires considerable intellectual effort and shows how the cognitive development of your offspring has progressed over the past few months. Laughing together not only promotes communication between parent and child and your baby's social development, but also activates the brain's reward system.
In babies eight months old, the sounds and language skills become more and more mature - the child can form first syllables.
8th month - this is how you support your child in a playful way
Thanks to his newly acquired motor skills, you can completely redesign games for your baby in the 8th month.
Who is the strongest? Your eight month old baby is holding objects securely. Develop gross motor skills by playing "tug of war" with him. Encourage your offspring to grab one end of a tea towel and you will take care of the other. With funny grimaces, the game will make your child even more fun.
Finger games: Babies eight months old love finger games. Incidentally, these promote the sense of language. Make the little game even more interesting by introducing finger puppets: "Little beetle, little beetle, crawls up, crawls up, crawls down again, crawls down again, tickles your stomach, tickles your stomach."
House music: To turn your baby into a musician in the 8th month, all it needs is a few ingredients from your kitchen. Fill small plastic containers with beans, pasta or lentils. Make sure that you close the vessels tightly with tape. At eight months, your baby can use the self-made rattles to develop his fine motor skills and discover his sense of rhythm.
Visit to the pediatrician in the 8th month
There is no regular check-up appointment for babies in the 8th month. If you are concerned about your baby's development or if it is sick, you can always see the pediatrician.
Many eight-month babies refuse to eat.The reasons for this are different. If you have the feeling that your baby is having health problems at the age of eight months and is therefore refusing to eat or is consuming too little food overall, you should ask your pediatrician for advice.
Most of the time, patience helps. For example, babies who are eight months old like to play with food. Do not despair because your child will only satisfy their curiosity and desire to experiment.
Do not build up any pressure, because by the eighth month of life your baby knows very well that his behavior will trigger a reaction in you. Your offspring take a stand and present their strong will according to the motto: "Without me, nothing works here".
However, little tricks can help make food tasty for your baby in the eighth month. Read more about this in the next section ("Tips for the 8th month").
Tips for the 8th month
Little food refusers: At eight months old, your child can have many reasons for being hesitant about eating. Try letting your eight-month-old baby do the spoon or offer him finger food. Perhaps the tricky situation will be resolved if someone other than you takes over the feeding for a while.
Protection for climbers: In these exciting times, safety should come first. Since your child is not yet able to stand safely at the age of eight months, you should pad the floor. Chair cushions or thick blankets are suitable for this. You can also buy foam mats in stores that you place in the movement area of your eight-month-old baby. And: Don't let your offspring out of sight during their first climbing exercises.
The world of fragrances: Essential oils promote sensory perception in babies eight months old. They can be calming (lavender, lemon balm), balancing (vanilla, honeycomb) or cheerful (green tangerine). It is important that you only use essential oils that are suitable for babies.
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