Did You Know at 7–8 Months I Can

Language Development

• Babble short and long groups of sounds (t, p, and b)
• Mimic speech and other sounds that I hear
• Try to use speech to get attention
• Understand words for common items

Talk, sing, and read to me, so my language will continue to develop. Listen and respond to my babbles. Repeat my babbles and extend, so that I can learn new words. This will build language, communication, and literacy skills and helps me feel loved and valued.

Cognitive Development

• Begin to use objects for their correct use
• Begin to understand cause and effect
• Find partially hidden objects

Give me a box with different-sized holes so I can fit different objects inside to help teach me about sizes. To teach me the difference in colors, use bright-colored objects, like blocks or pictures, and tell me what each color is and encourage me to repeat you.

Teach me about different noises by allowing me to bang on pots and pans with a wooden spoon, or make a wind chime out of foil pie tins. Help me understand the different sounds I hear around me like a ringing telephone, a chirping bird, a barking dog, and a ticking clock.

You can teach me how to smell by sniffing flowers or spices deeply and allowing me to mimic you. Put a variety of flowers or spices in separate zipper-seal bags and allow me to sniff inside each bag. Talk to me about what I am smelling. What type of flower am I smelling? What spice am I smelling? Is it a sweet or sharp scent?

Physical Development

• Creep, crawl, and/or scoot
• Reach with one hand
• Use a raking grasp
• Pass objects from hand to hand
• Pull myself up into a standing position
• Sit
• Explore objects by banging, shaking,
  dropping, throwing, and placing one
  inside the other

To promote movement, give me plenty of opportunities to safely explore my environment. Help me learn to walk by holding my hands while I am standing. Play music and show me how to dance by bouncing me while the music is playing. Make an obstacle course using pillows for me to climb on to play and get my toys. To help my fine motor development, give me a cup or a sponge in the bathtub so I can scoop up water or squeeze water out of the sponge to strengthen my grasping skills.

Social/Emotional Development

• Point or give gestures to things that I want
• Show emotions like “blowing a kiss”
• Show strong attachment to you and other caregivers
• Be afraid of unfamiliar faces

Establish consistent daily routines for me and acknowledge my feelings. Place a mirror in front of me to help promote a sense of self. Teach me the different parts of my face. Teach me self-help skills by encouraging me to reach for toys that are placed in front of me. I can begin to learn how to feed myself with easily handled foods like dry cereal; cooked, chopped carrots; or small slices of fruits. These foods need to be larger than a cracker so I do not choke.

Since I am learning to talk, I love to be sung to. You can sing “It’s Raining, It’s Pouring” to me:

It’s raining, it’s pouring,

The old man is snoring.

He went to bed

And bumped his head,

And couldn’t get up in the morning.

Try this “Itsy Bitsy Spider” fingerplay with me!

The itsy bitsy spider went up the water spout (make a spider with fingers and move up)

Down came the rain (move fingers down like rain)

And washed the spider out (swipe hands to the sides)

Out came the sun (move hands up and out like a sun)

And dried up all the rain (move fingers down like rain again)

And the itsy bitsy spider went up the spout again (make a spider with fingers and move up)

Here are some books that I may enjoy:

Tails by Matthew Van Fleet

Toes, Ears, Nose by Marion Dane Bauer

Big Red Barn by Margaret Wise Brown

Go, Dog, Go! by P.D. Eastman

Time for Bed by Mem Fox

Try making this homemade “key ring” for me!

Materials

• ribbon
• large buttons

Instructions

1. Tie a knot at the end of the piece of ribbon.
2. String buttons onto the ribbon.
3. Tie the ribbon ends together to make a circle.
4. Now you have a fun toy for your child to play with.

Sleep helps me grow and develop. I should get 12–15 hours of sleep a day. To reduce the risk of sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS), place me on my back in an empty crib. An empty crib is important to prevent me from suffocating, so avoid having bumper pads or stuffed animals in my crib.

Safety note: Any toys or materials that can fit inside a paper towel roll can be choking hazards for infants and toddlers. According to the American Academy of Pediatrics, any object handled by young children should be at least 1.25 inches in diameter and 2.25 inches long.

Remember that each child develops at his or her own rate, and this handout is meant only as a guide of what to expect of your child’s development at this age.

For more information about parenting and developmental milestones, contact your county Extension office or visit extension.msstate.edu.

References

American Academy of Pediatrics. 2010. Policy statement—prevention of choking among children.

American Speech-Language-Hearing Association. Birth to one year: What should my child be able to do?

National Sleep Foundation. 2020. How much sleep do we really need?

Safe to Sleep. 2018. Babies need tummy time!

Raising Children. 2022. 7-8 months: Baby development.

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Publication 3909 (POD-08-24)

By Louise E. Davis, PhD, former Extension Professor; Elizabeth Thorne, PhD, Project Manager; and Mary Hannah Mills, MS, Project Manager, Human Sciences.