Baby’s Development at the age of Eight months
A delight to be around, your baby is now able to sit well without support. She may crawl with confidence by now. Even if she does not, you can distinctly notice certain endeavors that indicate towards crawling movement in the pipeline. Or your little baby may choose to move about by bottom shuffling, that is, scooting around on his posterior using a hand behind her and a front of her for propelling.
The eight months old apple of your eyes may have already begun showing interest in using her legs to walk. You can often spot her trying to pull herself into standing position using a stationery (furniture etc) support in sight. While the indications do ring doorbells to newer mobility options, they also forewarn a period of bumps and falls for your little one.
A welcome change by all means, it is time to be a bit extra vigilant, especially when your baby is on a platform above ground level, say on a bed or near staircase.
Falls and bumps are part and parcel of childhood that should be taken in a positive stride. Instead of giving in to your innate desire to protect your child, it is suggested to allow her to learn her lessons herself and grow whilst. Rather than worrying, the better strategy is to enjoy while she explores her surroundings and discovers her limits. Of course, it is prudent, as well as, essential to render your house child safe, by keeping all fragile and toxic objects out of her reach.
Apart from varying means to move about, your little one shows significant achievement in terms of use of hands and fingers. Not only she is able to pick up and drop objects at will, but also point at dropped objects using her index finger. She is also able to use her fingers to extract food with her fist closed.
Everyday, she is getting more sensitive to emotions, implied by her smiles and kisses thrown at parents, members of family and other familiar people. She tends to repeat the behavior upon encouragement in terms of clapping and cheering. She is gradually learning to assess and imitate moods of people around her. These shall prove to be the building blocks of her empathetic behavior later on, as she grows up.
At this age, it is quite typical of babies to experience separation anxiety, exhibited by their shyness or anxiousness when around strangers. The anxiety shows aggravate especially when the baby is tired or irritated and typically when you are not with him. As against the popular sentiment, that is, to keep your baby away from distress and upsetting feelings, it is suggested that your baby should be let experience the same, so as to help him develop a sense of trust, as well as, inculcate ability overtime to form attachments to people other than you. Before you leave your baby alone at home with another familiar person, shower her with kisses, hugs and reassurance that you will be back. Likewise, the nighttime separation anxiety may also be countered effectively with persistence and sensitivity.
Each child has her individual temperament and inclinations. So, any decision as regards the amount of reassurances and discipline required by her needs to be subjective to your child too. Further, it is important to remember that if you break down in front of your crying baby, you end up prolonging the period of agony for your baby inadvertently. The choice is yours!
As regards your babys vision, now your baby is able to see as good as an adult like you, except that her long-range sight is a bit inferior to her short-range sight. Thanks to her improved vision, she is able to recognize people and objects in the room very well. This also facilitates her exploration endeavors of her surroundings.
Eight month old babies go beyond tasting objects to explore. You may find her shaking, banging and throwing objects before she puts them into her mouth to culminate her own-devised exploration procedure. At this stage, your baby enjoys watching dropped things be picked up by you and then again thrown down by her. She has also developed understanding of smaller things fitting into bigger objects, rendering him better able to find hidden things.