The beginning of the 7th month was like this for you. A sharp leap in child development: what a baby should be able to do at seven months

Parents of a seven-month-old child notice changes in their baby literally every day. This is no longer the same helpless newborn who could only lie, sleep, eat and cry. By seven months, the baby has grown noticeably and is already a full member of the family. He communicates a lot, moves a lot, eats more than just breast milk and is constantly learning new skills. What has the baby learned by the age of seven months and how can parents stimulate the further development of the toddler?

The love of parents is the most important factor in the full psychological development of a child.

Physiological changes

The child’s muscles are increasingly strengthened, allowing the baby at 7 months of age to hold his body in a sitting position and crawl, as well as stand while holding onto support.
The development of the right hemisphere occurs more intensively, so the child may use right hand, but left-handed, but this is not at all a sign that the child will be left-handed.
A 7 month old baby has fully developed vision and hearing. The baby turns even in response to a low sound and perfectly sees objects that move quickly.
At seven months of age, many babies begin to erupt their first teeth. In some toddlers, parents may notice only one of the lower incisors, and in some babies, the two lower front teeth have already appeared and the upper ones are about to “hatch.”
Due to the introduction of complementary foods, the baby's stool changes - it becomes rarer (usually once a day) and thicker, and its smell is more pungent.

A 7 month old baby can sit, crawl and stand while holding onto a support

Physical development

Although each baby develops at its own pace, based on the indicators of all children of a certain age, normal limits were determined, exceeding which, either more or less, is a reason for consultation with a pediatrician. We have collected the main indicators for 7-month-old babies (both average and marginal) in a table:

The seventh month of life brings the baby a weight gain of approximately 600 grams and a height increase of 1.5 to 2 centimeters. The baby’s head circumference, like the chest circumference, becomes larger by 0.5 cm. Note that the circumference chest in healthy children, 7 months always exceeds the head circumference.

Monitor not only compliance with the norm, but also the dynamics of the child’s development

What can the baby do?

Seven month old babies are already sitting and crawling perfectly. At the same time, some kids are already trying to sit up on their own, but most toddlers do not yet have this skill. Seven-month-old babies crawl in different ways - some move on their tummy, some manage to crawl only backwards, while others get up on all fours and quickly move, rearranging their legs and arms.
Many toddlers of this age can already stand, holding onto a strong support with both hands. And some babies even step with their legs, taking their first hesitant steps at the support. At the same time, the child has learned to stand up by pulling himself up by a support, but he still cannot sit back down and calls his parents for this.
A seven-month-old baby can already hold various objects well in his hands, even if the toy has an irregular shape. A baby of this age can play with toys for a long time. The baby discovers their properties with interest, closes and opens them, throws them, rearranges them, tastes them and performs other actions.
A seven-month-old baby is learning new tastes by trying complementary foods. The child has learned not only to eat from a spoon, but also to drink from a mug, while an adult helps the baby hold the mug. But a baby at this age is already quite capable of holding a bottle on his own, and if it falls, he is able to pick it up.
The child understands the parents' speech well. Upon request, the baby can show some parts of the body and familiar objects that are in the same place. The child realized that the hidden object does not disappear forever, but is simply not visible. The baby also knows his name and the names of his relatives. The baby is most attached to his mother and may cry from her absence.
The baby's babbling becomes more complex, the baby pronounces more and more syllables and the baby pronounces many of them intelligently.

Most criteria are only indicative indicators of the baby’s development, do not take them too seriously

When determining whether a child is sufficiently developed at the age of seven months, parents should understand that each baby develops according to its own personal schedule, however, there are skills that a 7-month-old baby must certainly have.

The following points should be a reason for a visit to the pediatrician:

The baby does not roll over.
Doesn't sit on his own.
Does not explore objects with his mouth.
Doesn't bang the toy on the table.
Doesn't follow the moving toy with his eyes.
Doesn't pronounce syllables.
Doesn't attract mom's attention and doesn't show emotions when communicating with mom.

Look next video Larisa Sviridova on the development of a baby at 7 months. You will learn what is especially important for the psychological development of the baby.

Development activities

Encourage your baby to crawl, as this stage of development is considered very important. Let your baby have comfortable clothes and the opportunity to try his hand at the floor. Help your little one by arranging her favorite toys and turning them into an achievable goal.

How to keep your baby safe during these important points, watch the program by E. Komarovsky.

To develop coordination, sit the baby on your leg and rock it, and dad can throw the baby up and down.
Invite your little one to play tug-of-war, using a bright scarf for this game.
Hide the toy under the blanket in front of the child and invite the baby to find it. Your baby will also love watching how small toys “hide” in your palm.
Teach your child to point at the object being spoken with a finger, wave “bye” and clap his hands. Give your baby clear tasks, such as showing the teddy bear, opening a box, or picking up a spoon. Introduce your child to the word “no,” but it should only refer to real dangers.
Play music at different tempos for your baby, and you will notice that with slow melodies the child will calm down, and with a fast rhythm he will start dancing.
Don't miss development opportunities fine motor skills baby. For activities, you can use homemade bags with different fillings, finger paints, games using fingers (“horned goat”, “magpie-crow”), toys with buttons and much more that the child can feel, press, pull, touch and squeeze.
Keep talking to your baby about everything you do to help your baby's vocabulary increase. Name the toys you show your baby. Always call the baby by name, and also show photos of your relatives, voicing their names.
Walk with your baby not only during the period when the baby should be sleeping, but also while he is awake to give the baby the opportunity to observe nature.
You can use Doman cards for studying with little ones.
Buy children's books for your baby that have thick pages. Let the baby independently turn the page and look at the bright pictures, while you read the poems.
Introduce your baby to other children by inviting them to visit or chatting on walks. Let the children watch each other.
During bath time, add a few toys that can float to the bath.

From the video SvitMam. tv you will learn why crawling is very important for physical development child. Do exercises with your baby and enjoy his success.

Care

Every morning a 7-month-old baby begins with hygiene procedures. The baby is washed, his nose and ears are cleaned if necessary, his nails are trimmed, combed, and his teeth are brushed (even if they don’t exist yet). A daily evening bath has also become a habit and helps the baby relax before a night's rest.

The range of gymnastic exercises at seven months of age expands. You can help the child get to his feet, bend and unbend the baby’s legs in a supine position, turn the baby in different directions, holding his hand, do exercises to develop coordination, and many others. In this case, gymnastics and massage are usually carried out in the first half of the day.

Daily regime

Children of 7 months sleep about 15 hours a day, while some babies continue to sleep three times a day, and some toddlers have already switched to two naps a day. The duration of night sleep is 9-10 hours, and daytime sleep is about 5 hours. When sleeping 3 times a day during the day, as a rule, one of the rest periods is longer, and the other two are shorter (up to an hour).

It is recommended to walk with a 7-month-old child twice a day for at least 2 hours. Only in unfavorable weather conditions such as rain, severe frost or the wind, you can stay at home with the baby. In warm summer weather, a baby can spend up to 6 hours outside every day. The walk can be planned for the baby's naps or so that the child stays awake outside for a while.

The diet of a seven-month-old child includes 5 meals, between which 3 and a half to 4 hours pass. Volume of food necessary for the child 7 months per day, calculated based on the baby’s weight. The body weight of the baby should be divided by 8. The resulting amount of food is divided by the number of feedings. On average, a seven-month-old child eats 1000-1100 ml of food per day. The serving per feeding is approximately 200-220 ml.

Calculate your complementary feeding table

What can a 7 month old baby do?

The baby already knows how to move independently, which greatly expands the boundaries of his world. The baby can crawl to the object that interests him, touch it, try it, examine it. For optimal development, the child must be provided complete freedom movements: choose a place in the apartment where nothing will disturb or threaten the baby.

This age is characterized by increased trauma, therefore, arranging children's Corner, make sure that sharp, prickly, and small objects do not get into the baby’s field of action. In this corner, the child will play with pleasure: “equip” it with pyramids, cubes (pay more attention to playing with them, teach your child to disassemble and assemble a pyramid, build turrets from cubes) and other various toys.

The baby acquires new knowledge about objects: he masters the movements of objects, their attraction or repulsion. Can hold an object placed in the hand and take it from any position. The adult’s task is to activate these movements with the help of insert toys: nesting dolls, boxes, bowls, etc.

A special relationship to the toy arises, and favorite toys and activities are clearly identified. Now the child is interested in everything that can be pressed: take care of the remote control, Cell phones, computer.

"Can" and "can't"

A child of 7 months can already understand the word “impossible.” However, for it to be effective, think over a clear system of prohibitions. “You can’t” should not be more than three! Otherwise, the baby will simply stop paying attention to him.

It is better to remove what you consider “still dangerous” away. You can distract the baby from some things and activities by switching his attention to another, no less exciting activity. Devices widely represented in the “baby safety” departments will help secure your apartment: plugs, door and drawer regulators, adhesive tape and glass film, etc.

Children, whose every movement is accompanied by heart-rending “don’t touch!”, “don’t you dare!”, “you can’t!”, learn to satisfy their curiosity when adults are not around - and often this ends in tragedy... Those whose curiosity and interest in understanding the world parents satisfy without limiting the scope of actions only to toys, quickly learn to observe the necessary safety measures and switch their attention from sockets, stoves, etc. for more suitable items.

When introducing complementary foods, teach your baby to eat from a spoon. The baby can also get acquainted with solid food - let him nibble on a piece of carrot, fresh cucumber, zucchini, apple, pear; many children love to munch on dry foods. Experts also recommend teaching your child to drink from a cup (pour 1-2 teaspoons of juice into a cup and invite your child to drink, carefully tilting the cup; the little one will very quickly understand how to do this).

Sign language

The baby's speech now consists much less of vocalizations, but the babbling words are already quite clear. Many children begin to pronounce sounds that imitate a dog, a car, a pussy: “av-av”, “bi-bi”, “me-me”, “pi-pi”...

The child begins to actively use gestures. He will not only look at you by turning his head, but will also show with his finger where the ball, the doll, the mother are. You can teach your baby to wave goodbye, nod his head in gratitude, and spread his arms if something happens.

It's time to play sign games - “Ladushki”, “The Thieving Magpie”. Among other games, the most favorite are putting a smaller object into a larger one, knocking one object against another. Teach your baby to knock with both hands simultaneously or in turn: this way you will develop interhemispheric coordination.

Do not forcefully transfer a spoon or toy from your left hand to your right. At this time, the right hemisphere of the brain (which is responsible for left hand) develops much faster than the left (leading with the right hand). The baby feels this connection intuitively. Using both hands will allow your child's brain to develop better.

Finger games

Teach your baby to show his arms and legs.

Where, where, where,
Where are our pens?
Here, here, here they are -
Here are our pens!
Where are our legs (nose, eyes, tummy, etc.)?

Teach your baby to move and spread his fingers, the following game will help:

Look my horse
Like a cheerful accordion.
I spread my fingers
And then I'll play:
One-two-three, one-two-three,
I'm playing, look!
And then I move it again
And I start from scratch.

Having grabbed a toy, the baby will bang it with pleasure. It's time to gradually turn knocking into rhythmic exercises!

Knocker "Rain"

Quiet, quiet rain
Rusted on the roof -
Drip-drip-drip-drip. (palms slowly stroke knees or table surface)
The quiet, quiet rain became stronger -
Drip-drip-drip-drip. (knock harder and faster)
Quiet, quiet rain
Turned into a downpour -
Drip-drip-drip-drip. (knock hard and fast)

Stomper "Horses"

Stamped in the field -
The horses trampled. (we stomp our feet slowly)
From the clatter of hooves
Dust flies across the field (we stomp quickly)

Development of active speech

While babbling is an involuntary physiological reaction, indicating the child’s comfortable state and good mood. After all, while babbling, the baby trains its entire articulatory apparatus: vocal cords, tongue, lips, etc. Baby babble is fun entertainment, game, fun. And at the same time, a rehearsal for the complex and difficult process of mastering the sound space.

A child at 7 months listens to himself, his intonation, learns to correlate what he hears with the sensations from the movements of his lips and tongue. Any speech therapist will confirm: the more varied and expressive the baby’s babbling, the less reason for concern regarding his future speech development. It is very important to develop and maintain babbling.

During the waking period, take the baby in your arms, and if he is lying down, lean towards him. The child should be able to see your face clearly. Communication should take place in silence so that the baby’s attention does not wander. Start talking to your baby and, along with kind words, say in a drawn-out manner: “A-ah, oo-oo-oo, ma-ma-ma.” After a pause, repeat the syllables again and watch the child. He likes? Talk to your baby in a normal voice, then in a quiet voice, then silently, change the intonation. At the same time, articulate sounds in an exaggerated, emphatic manner.

All this will attract the baby’s attention to your facial expressions and articulation. If during the conversation the baby has a desire to touch your lips, it’s very good, because with the help of his hand he receives additional information about sound pronunciation. After some time, the child will begin to imitate the movements of his lips, and then he will begin to pronounce sounds.

It is great if you periodically communicate with the baby in his language. Pronounce, supporting the baby’s speech activity, his syllables, his babble, and give him the opportunity to speak. During such a “conversation,” the child gets the feeling that he is understood. And the mother who stimulates dialogue knows that mutual understanding and the desire to communicate are laid precisely in such moments. Praise, pet, kiss and thank your baby for any positive results.

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Starting from 6 months and up to a year, changes in the physiology of children, their behavior and psycho-emotional state occur monthly, and this becomes especially noticeable to parents. The seven-month-old baby has grown up, began to move more, and it is becoming increasingly difficult to put him to sleep, because there are so many interesting things around him! In order for him to continue to actively develop and master new skills, it is necessary to know what a child should be able to do at 7 months - any deviations can be a sign of a disease and cause physical and mental retardation.

At this stage, significant changes occur in the child’s physiology, and the main one is teething and the introduction of foods from the adult table into the diet.

There are other signs indicating metamorphoses occurring in a recently helpless baby:

The baby completes the formation of such important functions as vision and hearing. The child is able to distinguish even the quietest extraneous sound, to which he immediately turns around. He can distinguish objects, static and moving, at some distance.
Since at this time the right hemisphere of the brain is intensively developing, the baby performs all the main actions mainly with the left hand, but this phenomenon is temporary, which does not mean at all that this hand will be dominant.
The baby's muscles gradually gain strength - this allows him to sit confidently and crawl quickly. Especially early children are already trying to stand up, holding on to the furniture.
Since significant changes are observed in the baby’s diet, he begins to go to the toilet only once a day.

By the seventh month of life, children gain a total of up to 600 g of weight and grow by a couple of centimeters. Their chest volume and head increase. On average, by this age, height reaches 68-70 centimeters, and weight – 7.5-9 kilograms.

It is interesting that a previously plump baby begins to gradually become slimmer and longer; this is due to more intense energy expenditure during games and physical activities. Small differences in parameters from the norm should not frighten parents - the main indicator of a toddler’s health is its mobility, good mood and appetite.

What should a 7 month old baby be able to do?

So, at seven months the baby is already crawling, although mostly on his belly, but he is already learning to get up on all fours. In a month he can easily master this skill.

Dads and moms, of course, are concerned about what their child should be able to do at this age, and he can do a lot:

The little one easily turns over from his back to his stomach and does it with pleasure,
therefore, it should not be left unattended on a bed or sofa - for this reason, children often fall and get injured;
the baby begins to sit up on his own, without falling over;
stands holding onto mom or chair;
learns to sit down from a standing position without assistance;
Children’s motor skills and coordination of movements improve, they can hold objects with both hands and move them, especially, they like to shake, throw and hit everything they come across on the floor;
knows how to put small details into big ones;
The child has already learned to drink from a mug and eat with a spoon, and can hold the bottle freely.

All of these skills allow seven-month-old babies to learn the world. At this time, it is not recommended to constantly keep the baby in the playpen, because at this stage movement is vital for him.

Seven-month-old babies, if supported by their armpits, rearrange their legs, taking small steps, but pediatricians do not advise parents to practice such exercises. Due to the fact that the child’s spine is not yet strong, this can lead to various complications and disruptions in the normal functioning of the musculoskeletal system.

Mental and emotional development

The full development of a child at 7 months also involves other aspects of his formation - the psyche and emotionality, which are inextricably linked with hearing and vision.

Dramatic changes are also taking place in these areas, indicating an increase in awareness in the baby’s behavior:

the baby begins to react positively to his name;
remembers the names of objects quite quickly and can point to them with his finger;
understands that a hidden thing can be found, that is, it does not disappear without a trace;
the child perfectly distinguishes the different intonations of the mother, and this is confirmed by an adequate reaction - with an affectionate tone, he can smile and have fun; when the voice is stern, the baby makes a serious face;
seven-month-old babies are able to show their feelings of affection, albeit ineptly - they grab their mother’s cheeks, nose, pull her hair, even pushing away is a gesture of interest that sometimes makes an inexperienced young mother upset;
the inextricability of connections with their relatives is manifested in children in their fear of separation, so when one of the household members leaves, this can cause a whole storm of emotions, even hysteria;
Googling in children also gradually becomes more meaningful, and individual syllables can already be distinguished.

Read also:

Baby's daily routine at 7 months

Such important changes in different children cannot occur evenly; this is largely influenced by the physiology and characteristics of the child’s psyche. At the same time, strong deviations, expressed in the absence of the appearance of these characteristic behavioral skills, should alert parents.

If mom and dad want their baby to start responding to his name as soon as possible, it is best to avoid endearing words like “sunny”, “cat”, and call the child by name, choosing one of its derivatives.

How to identify signs of developmental delay in a 7-month-old baby

The question of what a child should be able to do at 7 months is, of course, extremely important. If a child is apathetic, does not show emotions, and lacks natural attachment to his family members, you should consider visiting a doctor. The physical side of formation is also important. little man, because he must have some skills.

A small test will help with this, showing what a 7 month old baby should be able to do:

a healthy, cheerful child can get upset and even cry if the mother does not pay attention to him; usually, children try in every way to attract him and sincerely enjoy communication;
strangers and strangers naturally cause fear in the baby, and it will be strange if the baby is not afraid and even shows interest in the stranger;
It is absolutely normal and characteristic of a normally developing baby to explore the real world using the mouth;
if a child lying on his back is covered with a sheet or diaper, the baby will try to remove it as soon as possible without deviation;
an active toddler, not suffering from disorders, if placed on your lap in front of a table, will definitely make an attempt to change the order of things lying on it, and may also pat or knock on its surface;
It should cause concern if, while watching a moving object, the child does not follow it with his eyes;
If the baby is already holding a toy in both hands and you offer him another bright, interesting object, the normal reaction is intense thinking, then the baby will throw one toy and take an unfamiliar thing.

A cause for concern should also be the fact that the child cannot sit up on his own, roll over, and has no pronunciation of syllables.

Girls and boys at seven months

Parents of daughters are often interested in what exactly a 7-month-old girl should be able to do.

Everything is the same as for a boy, however, some differences are observed in the formation of speech - the little representatives of the fair sex are ahead of them in this aspect. There is one more feature - doctors believe that babies should not be taught to sit prematurely. If a girl crawls longer, her spine and back muscles will have time to develop and strengthen as much as possible, which will ensure good posture and strong arms and legs.

If you have a boy, at 7 months he can do a lot, and at the same time, he is very active in his endeavors. He begins to sit faster, and it doesn’t matter what – a chair, a sofa or the floor, his back is always level, and he can stay in this position for quite a long time. The boys also try to sit up from a lying position and get up on their knees and feet on their own. As a rule, they better than girls They control their body, so they get injured more often - you need to constantly monitor them.

Pediatricians warn that at the age of seven months, some boys try to walk on their toes, or even on tiptoes. This is due to damage during passage through the birth canal, and requires special attention. With such a deviation, it is better to immediately go to a neurologist. If this is done in a timely manner, therapeutic massage can correct the situation.

Play activities with a 7 month old baby

First of all, it is necessary to encourage crawling, this will help the child quickly adapt to sitting and taking the first steps.

Other activities with your baby are no less important:

simple exercises in the form of squats from a lying position will help for physical development;
picking up toys and throwing a ball; clapping hands;
finger games;
exercises using a fitball, which involve rocking, moving the baby’s arms and legs in different positions – such training strengthens the abdominal muscles and helps maintain balance in the future, when the little one begins to walk.

Exceptions are situations when the child is sick, he has heat, cough, congestion, not fully healed umbilical wound. In addition, you should not force your baby if he begins to be capricious and cry, judging by this behavior, he does not like classes.

To expand your vocabulary, you need to talk a lot with your son and daughter, talk about trees, flowers, fauna and various inanimate objects, read books to your child - stories about animals, children's fairy tales.

Important points in a 7 month old baby's daily routine

In order for a child to actively improve all his abilities, he needs a properly structured daily routine, which includes certain hours set aside for sleep, nutrition, hygiene, walks and games while awake.

At 7 months, the baby's total sleep time is about 15 hours, and 4.5 hours are during the daytime. During this period, children need two or three quiet hours during the day, most often due to different types feeding - breast and artificial.

The child’s nutrition occurs with the active introduction of complementary foods, which is also mandatory for infants starting at six months. So the baby is now improving his taste habits.

Basically, his diet consists of such dishes as:

gluten-free porridges made with water and milk, mainly buckwheat, corn and rice;
puree from boiled vegetables - potatoes, carrots, cauliflower, zucchini;
small amounts of natural ingredients are added to dishes vegetable oils, it is allowed to add 5 grams of butter to porridge;
fruits - pears and apples, they are also given in the form of puree in the morning.

Children can already be offered chopped boiled turkey and rabbit meat. During this period, it is important to follow the rules of complementary feeding and gradually reduce the amount breast milk.

Evening bathing and massage are mandatory, as they additionally harden the baby, strengthen the muscles of his arms and legs, and improve blood circulation and digestion.

Two walks a day fresh air The child needs and should occupy at least 4 hours a day. The main thing is to dress your baby correctly and protect him from cold, aggressive sunlight and drafts.

Reflecting on what a child should be able to do at 7 months, you come to the conclusion that the so-called norms are a very conditional concept. First of all, you need to listen to the baby’s needs and pay attention to his desires. And this is not the only aspect, because a seven-month-old baby is increasingly gaining meaningfulness in his actions, which means he is becoming a full-fledged member of the family.

The weight of a 7 month old child is on average 8–9.5? kg. At the same time, if we focus on tables specially developed for assessing the physical development of children (called centile), weight fluctuations from 7.4 to 9.9? kg for boys and 7.2–9? kg for girls are acceptable. At the end of the seventh month, the baby “gets heavier” by an average of 600 g, while increasing its weight from the moment of birth by approximately 4.9? kg.

The height of a baby at the age of 7 months is on average 67–71? cm; in a month the baby grows by 2? cm. In general, over the first 7 months of life, the child’s height increases by approximately 17 cm.

Walking time

In the warm season, mother and baby can spend a lot of time outdoors during the day, returning home only during feeding hours. IN winter time walks are canceled when the air temperature is below –15 C. Heavy rain and strong winds are also not conducive to going outside. A short stay of the baby in a stroller on a veranda or glassed-in balcony can replace a walk on rainy days.

Sleep and wakefulness

At 7 months, the baby can sleep at night without interruption. The duration of night sleep is approximately 10 hours. Some children wake up for a short time: infants may “insist” on being attached to their mother’s breast, and artificial babies may ask for a bottle of formula or water. It should be noted that the baby's sucking of the mother's breast at night stimulates the production of breast milk; lactation in women who continue night feedings lasts longer than in young mothers who refuse them.

During the daytime, the baby rests 2 times for about 1.5–2 hours.

Caution - danger!

You should remember the dangers of small objects that the baby may find during his movements. Suspicion that such objects have entered the nasal passages or trachea of a child requires immediate attention. medical care. Alertness should be caused by a sudden change in the baby's breathing pattern (shortness of breath, the appearance of a whistling sound, wheezing), skin color (blueness of the face), and swelling of the wings of the nose.

In a family where there is Small child, adults need to be very careful. It should be remembered that a curious child can open the lower doors of the cabinets and get to their contents, and may end up close to the doors that are opening at that moment. Objects of increased danger are stairs, sharp corners (including furniture), low tables with dishes, as well as the edges of tablecloths hanging from tables, which can attract the attention of crumbs. Household chemicals and medicines should not be in places accessible to the baby!

What can the baby do?

Speech development. In the seventh month of life, the child pronounces vowels and consonants. Babbling appears - repeated repetition of the same type of simple syllables such as “ba”, “ma”, “pa”, etc. Babbling often has an emotional connotation; You can easily understand that the baby is annoyed with something or, conversely, happy.

The “babbling” period is very important for the baby’s development, so adults can “provoke” the baby to pronounce syllables by repeating them with the baby.

Emotions. The baby's expression of emotions becomes more varied. A baby can express joy by smiling and laughing, or displeasure (for example, if he is not given an item he likes). By expressing various emotions, the baby attracts the attention of adults. The child is already so “big” that he can have a certain mood!

The baby is comfortable surrounded by familiar people, but the presence of strangers can frighten him.

Skills and abilities. By the end of the seventh month of life, most babies are crawling happily. Moreover, some children at first crawl not forward, but backward, which is absolutely normal: in a very short time, the baby will crawl in different directions (forward, backward, and to the sides).

Moving “on all fours”, the baby can be quite agile, so parents will obviously have more worries: they need to make sure that no dangerous obstacles are encountered on the baby’s path. The task is made easier by placing the child in a playpen, but not all children are sympathetic to such restriction of freedom. Babies love to explore the adult world, so attempts to limit their movement may cause displeasure, including crying of the baby.

At this age, most children can sit without support. Some babies sit, leaning on one or two arms, but their back is already straightened.

The baby reaches out for the toy that interests him and actively takes it in his hand. Kids love to bang a toy on the table or floor; they are attracted to musical toys. As in previous months, the child consolidates his knowledge about objects by trying them out; the baby pulls toys and objects that interest him into his mouth, biting them with his gums.

Some children, by the end of the 7th month, can stand on their feet, leaning on the side of the playpen or crib for a short time.

At 7 months of life, the baby already knows some objects from his environment. Of course, he cannot yet pronounce their names, but when asked by an adult where the baby’s favorite toy is (a bear, a dog, etc.), the child can “search” with his eyes for an object that is well known to him.

You may be interested in the article “Breastfeeding: from birth to one year” on the website mamaexprt.ru

Baby food

If up to six months of age it was enough for a healthy baby to receive mother’s milk or an adapted milk formula for “artificial infants”, then at the 7th month of life, “milk” nutrition alone will clearly not be enough for the full growth and development of the baby. It's time to introduce complementary foods. Which one to start with - vegetable puree or porridge - is determined by the pediatrician, based on the pace of the baby’s physical development (thus, “thinner” children begin to eat porridge rather than vegetable puree), the characteristics of the child’s stool (babies prone to constipation , it is better to start complementary feeding with vegetable puree).

Each complementary food requires the baby to get used to it, so the full introduction of both porridge and vegetable dish at least 7–10 days are allotted. The child is offered a new dish, starting with the minimum volume - half a teaspoon, gradually increasing the volume to the maximum (150 g per day). Complementary foods are introduced sequentially and not all at once. This also gives the child the opportunity to adapt to the new product. It is better to start introducing new complementary foods into your baby’s diet in the first half of the day in order to track his reaction.

All new products are offered to the baby before his usual food. So, if the child is on breastfeeding, then at the beginning of feeding he receives porridge (or vegetable puree), and then mother’s breast. The same order is followed when feeding with formula milk.

Thus, if everything goes according to plan and the introduction of complementary foods was not disrupted by any circumstances (for example, illness), then by the end of the 7th month of life, porridge and vegetable puree should be present in the child’s diet.

Stool and urination

Most children of this age have one bowel movement every day. In healthy babies, intermittent episodes of stool retention (for a day) or increased frequency (up to 2-3 times a day) are possible. Temporary instability of stool when a baby is more than six months old may be associated, among other things, with the introduction of complementary foods. At the same time, it is the nature of the stool that the pediatrician pays attention to when deciding which complementary foods to introduce to the baby. So, if you are prone to constipation, vegetable complementary foods will be preferable. The baby urinates on average 10–12 times a day.

Which doctors should you visit?

At the age of 7 completed months, the child should be examined by a pediatrician at a children's clinic. If necessary, consultations with “narrow” medical specialists can be scheduled. There are no scheduled vaccinations at this age. If they are carried out, then this is vaccination according to the baby’s individual schedule.

Teething

Starting from the age of 6 full months, the baby's lower incisors (baby teeth located in the center of the lower gum) can emerge. The process of teething is often accompanied by restless behavior of the baby (he is capricious, cries, refuses to eat, asks to be held by his mother more often than usual, sleeps poorly, etc.). The baby may “bite” his fists, pull toys into his mouth, “scratching” with them the swollen gums, which may itch, itch or hurt.