Find activities, milestones, and games based on baby’s date of birth
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(Remember to adjust for prematurity)
Activities at Week 38
- Tray Time: Place pureed foods, like applesauce or yogurt, on baby’s tray and encourage play with a spoon. Helps baby develop feeding skills.
- Textures and Temps: Allow baby to experiment with textures and temperatures. Textured toys, like teething rings or a wet washcloth that is close to frozen are fun for baby to experience. Helps with sensory development.
- Move and Crawl: Help baby get into crawling position. Support their stomach and hips if needed. Once baby is crawling, hold a toy in front of them to get them to move. Helps baby develop motor skills.
- Train to Crawl: Create a tunnel with your legs and encourage baby to crawl through. “Catch” them by squeezing your legs together as they pass through. After getting caught a few times, they’ll speed up to try to get through. Helps baby develop gross motor skills.
It’s Important to Remember:
The activities listed over these next few months are designed to help your baby as they move towards the following nine month milestones.
If you are concerned that your baby isn’t meeting these milestones by nine months, trust your instincts and talk to your healthcare professional.
Milestones
7-9 Month Motor Milestones
Motor Milestones
- Sits without support
- Sits and reaches for toys without falling
- Moves from tummy or back into sitting
- Starts to move with alternate leg and arm movement e.g. creeping, crawling
- Picks up head and pushes through elbows during Tummy Time
- Turns head to visually track objects while sitting
- Shows more control while rolling and sitting
- Picks up small objects with thumbs and fingers
- In simple play imitates others
7-9 Month Sensory Milestones
Sensory Milestones
- Enjoys a variety of movements – bouncing up and down, rocking back and forth
- Explores and examines an object using both hands and mouth
- Turns several pages of a chunky (board) book at once
- Experiments with the amount of force needed to pick up different objects
- Focuses on objects near and far
- Investigates shapes, sizes, and textures of toys and surroundings
- Observes environment from a variety of positions – while lying on back or tummy, sitting, crawling, and standing with assistance
7-9 Month Communication Milestones
Communication Milestones
- Uses increased variety of sounds and syllable combinations in babbling
- Looks at familiar objects and people when named
- Recognizes sound of their name
- Participates in two-way communication
- Follows some routine commands when paired with gestures
- Shows recognition of commonly used words
- Simple gestures, e.g. shaking head for “no”
- Imitates sounds
7-9 Month Feeding Milestones
Feeding Milestones
- In a highchair, holds and drinks from a bottle
- Begins to eat thicker pureed and mashed table foods
- Enjoys chew toys that can massage sore and swollen gums during teething
- Stays full longer after eating
- Starts to look and reach for objects, such as, food that is nearby
- Shows strong reaction to new smells and tastes