What Can a Six-Month-Old Baby Do?
Physical and Social-Emotional Development of Infant at Six Months
Oct 28, 2009
What milestones will a typical six-month-old baby hit? Attachment parenting is about growing the bonds between parents and child, and knowing how baby is growing at each stage of his or her life helps parents with this goal. Knowing what baby is able to do will also help parents interact in a way that helps baby develop his or her new skills. A secure attachment bond will also help baby feel confident to master new skills and encourage further development.
Six-Month-Old is Generally Good-Natured
At this stage of life, babies are in a pretty good, most of the time. They are interested in their world and are working on their sense of humour. Parents might hear their child laughing a big belly laugh about something he or she finds funny. Just like anybody, six-month-olds will get angry or frustrated when things don’t go as planned.
Baby Feels Like Part of the Family
Six-month-olds will feel comfortable with everyone in their family. They will also enjoy the daily routines of family, as the big people in their life hustle and bustle around. After six months of repetition, they will also be able to guess what should happen next. So if after dinner baby always gets a bath, he or she will be anticipating bath time after supper is over.
Six-Month-Old is Keeping an Eye on Things
If something drops from the table, baby will look down to see where it fell on the floor and if anything happened to it. If a parent is talking about something and points a finger at the object, baby will look to where the parent is pointing. The six-month-old is curious about his or her surroundings and is always keeping an eye out for something new to observe and learn from. They are starting to grasp the concept of cause-and-effect at this age.
Baby is Babbling
By now baby is a “well-versed” babbler and it will sound like he is having a conversation or making comments – all in babbles. His or her babbles will have the intonation and flow of speech. He or she will sometimes make “running commentary” as they play and he or she will also have a range of facial expressions as he or she figures out how things work. Baby will also understand the tone of a parent’s voice and pick up if a parent is upset or happy. He or she will also recognize when someone in the family calls his or her name.
Multi-tasking at Six Months of Age
Baby has mastered certain body movements and now he or she can do them at the same time. Don’t be surprised to see baby babble, smile, wiggle, roll and grab his or her feet all at the same time.
Who is that Baby in the Mirror?
Six-month-olds will be interested in and smile at “that other baby” in the mirror. They don’t yet know that they are actually looking at themselves yet.
Baby Likes to Bang on Things
Babies this age continue to reach out for toys and explore them with their mouth. They will also have figured out a noisy way to explore toys, by banging them around. Six-month-olds enjoy hearing the interesting sounds they can make and the feel of waving the object in the air and smacking it down.
Six-Month-Old Starting to Focus on Things
If baby is supported, he or she can sit for awhile and enjoy playing and exploring his or her toys. Parents might even notice baby doing a “serious inspection” of his playthings and he or she might soon be picking out favorites he or she likes to play or sleep with.
Baby is Gaining Physical Skills Like Scooting Around
At six-months of age, infants have mastered a number of skills. They will be able sit with support, roll from their back to their front and grab their feet and rock back and forth while on their back. They may also be beginning to scoot or pull themselves towards a toy or interesting object.
Build a strong attachment connection with a six-month-old by being aware of promoting his or her new skills such as being able to sit up longer with support and explore his or her toys, letting baby bang objects around, talking baby to a babbling baby and help baby learn the idea of cause and effect.
Also check out Activities for Four-Month-Olds and Activities for Two-Month-Olds.
References:
Newton, Ruth. The Attachment Connection: Parenting a Secure and Confident Child Using the Science of Attachment Theory. New Harbinger Publications Oakland, California, 2008.
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
