Bounty feature

Your 8-month-old

• Try a toy
• Bathtime safety
• Feeding an 8-month-old

Baby milestones
Your health visitor will probably carry out your baby’s developmental check (with your doctor providing medical tests) at your surgery or health centre.

This is the opportunity to ask any questions you might have about your baby’s development.

Your health visitor will look to see if your baby is:

• able to sit without support
• starting to crawl or shuffle along on his bottom
• able to pull himself upright, holding on to a piece of furniture
• able to hold an object and will put it in his mouth
• able to pass things from hand to hand
• making recognisable babbling noises
• making a variety of different sounds
• able to see an object across a room.

Remember that babies often develop more quickly in one area than in another and this is not a cause for concern. Some babies can walk long before they talk and vice versa; they all catch up, but at their own pace. Your health visitor will ask you if you have any concerns about your baby’s sight or hearing (parents are nearly always the first to realise that there is a problem).

She may also:

• check your baby’s weight
• measure the length of your baby
• check for any dislocation of the hips (may also be done by GP)
• check that the testicles have descended into the scrotum, if your baby is a boy (may also be done by GP)
• check your baby’s sight by watching how he looks at and follows objects.

Your health visitor may also talk to you about:

• preventing accidents as your baby becomes more mobile
• what your baby eats and caring for his teeth
• safety in cars
• how to protect your baby against the sun
• the dangers of passive smoking
• how to keep your baby stimulated and learning new things.

Try a toy
Stacking cups and shape sorters are good for 8-montholds. Your baby will enjoy putting things in and taking them out again. You may need to help with sorting the shapes at first. Bath toys can help your baby discover what water does. They often feature wheels that turn, containers to fill and empty, squashy, floating and squirting toys. Remember to let your baby play with them, too!

Extend your baby’s interest in his toys by storing them in a toy box or basket and selecting a different handful to play with every day or so. Toys that are out all the time soon become boring; try taking away some toys for a few weeks or months and your baby will be more likely to really play with them when he sees them again. At this age, toys are out of sight out of mind… unless it is a favourite comforter.

Poison alert
If your baby can get at it, he will put it in his mouth. That includes kitchen and bathroom cleaners, bleach, your makeup, cigarettes, medicines… There are many things around the house that would make your baby very ill if he ate them, so it’s up to you to make sure he can’t. Lock things away or put them well out of reach.

Bathtime safety
Even though your baby can now sit up, never be tempted to leave him alone in the bath. Children can drown in just a few centimetres of water. If you have to leave the bathroom, take your baby with you.

Babies this age

• may crawl or bottom shuffle
• pull themselves up to stand
• may not be able to sit back down again
• learn to cruise round furniture
• often understand ‘no’
• wave bye bye.

Feeding an 8-month-old

Foods your baby might love:

• melon fingers
• thick leek and potato soup
• pitta bread cut into small pieces
• mashed hard boiled egg yolk
• soft fish, chicken or meat.

Night feeds revisited
When your baby associates sleep time with a feed it’s hard to get her back to sleep without breast or bottle. If you want your baby to go to sleep without the inevitable feed, then you need to change what she associates with falling asleep.

Try not to let your baby fall asleep at the breast or on the bottle. If she does, gently rouse her and start using a different bedtime routine, like tucking her up with a favourite toy, singing a lullaby or turning on a musical toy. You might find it takes a little while for your baby to adjust but keep sending the same message and soon your baby will start to understand the change.

Fussy eater?
Giving your baby a wide variety of foods to try is one of the best ways of stopping fussiness before it sets in. Offer your baby foods of different colours, shapes and textures, If your baby spits something out, just take that food away and try it again another day, perhaps in combination with something you know your baby likes. And use these ways to encourage your baby to enjoy food, too:

• eat together if you can, so your baby can eat with the whole family
• share mealtimes with friends; babies are very interested in what another baby is eating!
• don’t rush; some babies like to eat slowly
• feed your baby at the table in the highchair so that she knows what to expect at mealtimes
• keep portions small, but offer seconds if she wants more
• encourage your baby to feed herself whenever possible, even though there may be more of a mess; she will enjoy it.

For the next You and your growing baby guide Chapter, It has to be you, Click here