In the ninth month of a child’s life, the baby’s intensive mental development picks up speed. He already knows how to concentrate his attention on objects: if something falls into a child’s hands, he carefully examines it, shakes, waves, knocks, feels and examines it, moves it from one hand to another, tastes it.
Then he does the same with other toys. If you approach the baby at this moment, he will be distracted, but then continue his activity. The capabilities of the child’s hands are improving, he can already perform more and more painstaking actions.
The baby’s growth rate usually slows down during this period, giving way to the development of the “psyche-motor” chain.
The child’s weight at eight months is 8.5-10 kg, and his height is 71-76 cm.
Baby development at 8 months
The development of a child at 8 months is based on active knowledge of the world around him, in which he is helped by mastered and consolidated skills, both previously acquired and completely new ones. The baby's horizons expand. He becomes even more sociable. Emotions become more “targeted,” that is, directed toward the child’s object of interest.
By the age of 8 months, a child’s height is usually about 70-74 centimeters, weight is approximately 8 kg 500 g.
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The baby sleeps 3-4 hours during the day, usually 2 times, and 10 hours at night. The diet depends to a large extent on the method of feeding and lifestyle of the parents.
What can a child do?
- the child reaches out his hands directly to the object, confidently grabs it, tries to snatch an object that does not give in;
- play with objects of different textures, listen to how objects make sounds, throw them with interest repeatedly and watch how the toy falls;
- understands simple requests - shows hands, waves (if you teach him this), takes and gives objects;
- can stand with support, sit, get up from a sitting position, easily roll over onto his stomach and back;
- drink from a cup that someone is holding;
- pronounces individual syllables, the first signs of conscious speech communication appear;
- many children actively crawl, including in the opposite direction;
- listens to the conversation, recognizes familiar songs and reacts;
- distinguishes between “friends” and “strangers”, seeks protection from “friends” if something makes him wary.
The list of skills does not provide parents with clear goals for achieving results. This is an approximate list, all children are different. However, parents play a key role in their child’s life during this period, and can significantly influence the circumstances surrounding the child’s development.
Nutrition of a child in the ninth month of life
By eight months, the baby already switches to five meals a day, often refuses night feedings and sleeps peacefully all night, unless, of course, teeth are cut. It is recommended to leave breastfeeding only in the morning and evening before bedtime.
The rest of the time, the baby can eat cottage cheese, vegetable, fruit, meat puree, and juices. Some parents have already introduced porridge into their child’s diet; you can also add an egg. Just remember, a new product is introduced a little at a time.
At eight months, it is enough for a child to eat half an egg at a time and it is advisable not to give both an egg and meat at the same time. Teach your baby to eat with a spoon; the food can be made a little thicker. The sooner a child begins to learn to chew, the better: this strengthens the baby’s gums and teeth.
Physical development of a child at 8 months
As a rule, physical development occurs “on its own” without active parental intervention. However, parents can promote or, conversely, hinder the development of new skills. For example, your child will move less than he could if he is wearing uncomfortable or too warm clothes. On the other hand, regular massage and dynamic gymnastics, conducted by mom or dad, will spur active physical development and balance. Exercises from the baby yoga complex will help diversify your baby’s world of physical activity.
It is important that on the way of a child exploring new spaces in your home, there are many supports that he can use, constantly changing position - sitting, standing, crawling from support to support.
Adviсe
It is all these skills that should be developed in a child. And it’s better to do this with the help of games, and not by order. All his new skills should arouse the child’s interest and desire to achieve the final result.
You should also not push your child too hard. You need to devote little time to educational games. 15 minutes is enough. Otherwise, the baby will get tired and may not like this type of game (learning).
It is not difficult to determine whether a child is tired or not. If he stops fulfilling requests or does it sluggishly, or begins to be capricious, then this means that it is time to stop classes. But if the child is active, laughs and is still enjoying the game, you can safely continue the lesson, even if more than 20 minutes have passed.
Often mothers are faced with this behavior of the baby: he begins to throw his toys around. And his parents scold him for this. Basically, with this behavior the child tries to invite his parents to play with him. Or it shows that he is dissatisfied with something.
Conducting classes with children from 8 months old is quite painstaking work. A mother needs to learn to fully understand her baby and learn to find an approach to him. It won’t hurt to read educational literature at this time.
Social development at 8 months
At this age, children know all family members and form their own ideas about relationships with them. The child begins to manipulate adults, pursuing some of his own goals. This behavior needs reasonable support; the baby begins to realize the cause-and-effect relationships of his communication with other people. He learns to ask, refuse, demand. These actions need positive reinforcement. Positive reinforcement will be a parental reaction that is not confusing, does not force one to look for “workarounds,” but establishes simple laws of human cooperation. If you want to take it, ask; if you can’t, then you can’t, even if you scream and spit; if something doesn’t work out, call an adult’s attention and he will help; and so on.
At this age, the child is already beginning to actively show character. Watch your baby. Children are very different - demanding leaders, talkative storytellers constantly babbling, persistent researchers. Now you are beginning to get to know your baby's personality, learning to accept his choices and the way he interacts with the environment.
Ten best toys for baby development
The general requirements for toys for children of any age are: safety, functionality, bright design.
Everything that the baby comes into contact with must be of high quality and good quality.
A child’s toys at 8 months old should not have small parts, sharp edges, or burrs on the surface. When purchasing them, you must take into account the need for regular hygienic treatment.
The following educational toys for 8-month-old children will be useful:
- books – cardboard or soft textile;
- cubes;
- matryoshka;
- machine;
- musical toy “piano”;
- a set of cups and molds;
- pyramid;
- rubber ball;
- sorter;
- knocker or squeaker hammer.
When choosing toys for an 8-month-old baby, give preference to multifunctional items. For example, a set of cups of different sizes can be used as an insert toy or a pyramid. You can take it to the sandbox or bath. When introducing a toy to a child, you need to show how to play. During the process, you should pronounce the name of the object as often as possible, pay attention to its color and shape, voice various requests (give, bring, show, throw). If these are animal figures, you need to focus on the sounds they make.
Bath toys deserve special mention. For a child who is already sitting well, splashing water alone is not enough. He needs rubber ducks, whales, octopuses, boats. By playing with them, he improves grasping movements and coordination. The little one can pour water from one mold to another for an infinitely long time, watching the flow of water. The flows released from a toy watering can or a magic tap and the movements of a water mill have a fascinating effect on him.
You can find a suitable toy for your baby not only in the store, but also in the kitchen. Children love to put objects in ordinary pots and bang wooden spoons. If you have a large box in your house, you can put toys there. Relying on it, the baby will get up and take out objects. From time to time such a box can serve as a “house”. Homemade toys can captivate the baby: plastic bottles partially filled with cereals or water, colored bags with beans, buckwheat, rice, shreds of different textures.
Child's emotional development
A baby’s emotions at 8 months are already a reaction to stimuli from the outside world. For a child, parents are a friendly extension of himself at this time, an intermediary between the whole world and the little person. You should not ignore the child’s emotional manifestations. Rejoice and be sad with him, demonstrating examples of empathy accepted among adults. If something worries a child, he needs to be reassured by demonstrating the ability to protect and, if possible, remove the source of frightening anxiety from the child’s sight.
Educational games and activities for an 8-month-old baby
Gymnastics classes with an 8 month old baby
The simplest activities aimed at developing physical fitness can be done starting from the very first weeks of the baby’s life. Gradually they become more complex. By the age of eight months, a whole set of exercises has already been acquired that contribute to the acquisition of new skills. Here are just a few of them:
- Boxer movements. If previously you had to take the baby’s hands in yours and make movements, now rings are used that the child holds independently.
- Rising from a lying position. The baby is lying on his back. You take his armpits and first help him sit down, then stand up. After this, repeat the steps in reverse order.
- Walking. The child cannot walk on his own yet, but he will do it if you hold his armpits.
- Raising straight legs. If earlier you did the exercise by pressing the baby’s legs bent at the knees to your chest, now lift them at a right angle to the body without bending.
Repeat each exercise 5–6 times.
Work with your baby regularly and choose a complex that best suits you, taking into account the characteristics of physical development. How to develop a baby at 8 months: provide fun activities, offer educational toys, positive communication and do gymnastics together
Ball games with 8 month old baby
The simplest game of ball with a baby has a positive effect on the development of physical fitness, motor skills, attentiveness, and hand-eye coordination. The whole family can play, which helps to establish a strong emotional connection. In addition, the child gains team behavior skills.
The essence of the game is very simple. You just need to roll the ball across the floor to each other. At least two people must play with the child. One of them sits behind the baby, holding him by the back and helping him catch and roll the ball. The other one is located opposite.
Pyramids, cubes and cups for an 8 month old baby
We continue to develop logic, tactile perception and motor skills. Cubes are great for this. It is best to acquire elements of different colors, sizes and materials. Cubes can be soft, wooden, cardboard, plastic. You can make them yourself or buy ready-made ones. Together with your child, build different structures, focusing on the differences in color, size and material.
Simple pyramids consisting of no more than 5 rings and colored cups of different sizes that need to be inserted into each other will also be useful at this age. Show your child how to act and let him try it himself. If he doesn’t succeed right away, gently help him figure it out.
Sorter box for 8 month old baby
A game called sorter will help develop thinking skills. You can buy it at any children's store or make it yourself. To do this you will need a box, cubes and balls. Just cut two holes in it - round and square, so that the prepared items fit into them easily. Then ask your child to put the blocks and balls into the box. Don't show him how to do it. It is important that he understands from his own experience that objects of different shapes fit only into certain holes. Only if the baby has any difficulties, help him figure it out. For the first time, only two types of holes will be enough. Add new forms as needed.
Bathtime games with an 8 month old baby
Let the time of water procedures not be wasted. In addition to swimming in a large bathtub, you can do other activities. An eight-month-old baby will find it very interesting and useful to stick different colored figures on a wet wall and remove them from it. You can buy them or cut them yourself from thin foam rubber, rubber, polyethylene, and other materials that easily stick to surfaces when wet. Let your child play with the sponge and show him how to squeeze it out. Place toys in the bath and teach your child to catch them using a mug or ladle.
At the age of 8 months, the baby can already do a lot and you have a huge selection of educational games. Choose from them those that suit your baby the most. Start gradually mastering drawing with pencils or crayons. In addition, be sure to develop your hearing and speech. Play music and audio stories for your child and talk to him. But remember that at this age he may already need some privacy. To ensure this, give your baby his favorite toys and leave him close to you so that you can observe his actions while going about your business.
Songs and correct speech
You can start learning songs with your child, but not with words, but with sounds (tra-ta-ta, la-la-la). Music should be without harsh sounds. You can buy musical toys, but again, so that the sounds do not frighten the baby.
When walking and playing, communicate with your baby as much as possible, but do not distort the words (“beep”, “woof-woof ran”). A child must learn to speak correctly from childhood. Of course, he will not be able to immediately say the word “train”. And you can, like a child, sometimes say “choo-choo passed.” But on a subconscious level he will have the impression that the correct word is “electric train”.
Tactile sensations
Although many mothers are afraid to let their child pick something up from the ground, it will only benefit him if he picks up a pebble to examine it or picks up a leaf. The main thing is to make sure that he doesn’t put it in his mouth. You need to have wet tissues with you (special for children).
Allow your child to play in the sandbox, try to make a snowball, or stomp in a puddle. This gives him so many positive emotions. And at the same time you can teach your child a lesson. Say: “the snow is cold”, “the pebble is small or large”, “the sand is waking up” and much more.
Active activities
To develop motor activity, it is necessary to prepare a platform for crawling or walking. If the baby crawls, then the floor should be covered with a blanket or any soft rug. Place toys at certain distances. The baby must crawl and collect them. You can place small obstacles in the child’s path; he must try to overcome them, choosing the most successful one to pave his way further.
And if a child moves in a walker, then you need to remove all interfering objects from his possible path of movement. You can ask him to walk to the sofa, armchair or to the kitchen. When completing a task, the child should be rewarded with a kiss and kind words of praise.
It is necessary to teach the child to gradually stand on his feet if he does not know how to do this. And help take the first steps with the help of objects, and then on your own. Learn to cross small obstacles, for example, raise a leg over a toy and step over it.
The floor should be soft. You shouldn’t constantly catch your baby; he should learn to fall correctly. And go down correctly.
Although there is an opinion that if a child is tired and falls asleep while crawling or in a walker, then he should not be disturbed and should be allowed to sleep like that, it is advisable to transfer the baby to a crib. The child should know that there is a specially designated place for sleeping.
How much time should you devote to studying?
On average, games and activities for an 8-month-old child should not last more than 10-15 minutes at a time. But when the baby is interested and he continues to study, the games should continue and should not be interrupted.
You can create a special atmosphere for classes. For example, turn on your favorite music, preferably rhythmic. Let your favorite toys be involved in the gameplay. You can use a special mat or lighting for this. Games and activities should be conducted in a cozy and comfortable environment.
Why does a child need games?
Each baby game for moms has its own purpose. For example, exercises on a fitball with an 8-month-old child help to form correct posture and develop almost all muscles, if everything is done correctly.
Games help:
- develop the child physically;
- study sounds, such as how animals speak;
- develop memory and attention;
- fulfill simple requests;
- maintain spiritual contact with parents (important for the child’s strong psyche).
