your baby's

development

You’ll be amazed as your newborn grows and develops over the coming months. Find out some of the key developments you may see between the ages of 6-9 months. During this time, babies experience rapid changes as they acquire new skills and develop. Your relationship with them develops, too, as their individual personality begins to evolve as you interact with each other. As his body changes, he'll also start to explore his surroundings. It might be a relatively short period, but it's when your little one will become more inquisitive and independent – and less little!

physical development

6 months to 7 months

At 6 months you should see your baby trying to sit up, they may need a little support from a cushion. This is when they see a whole different world. Some babies start crawling at seven months, some stay put until months later - and some never crawl at all, either preferring bottom-shuffling or pulling themselves straight up onto two feet. The best way to encourage crawling – or getting mobile by bottom shuffling – is to give your baby an incentive, put toys out so they can crawl or shuffle to them.

8 months

Once your baby starts crawling, there'll be no stopping him, because that amazing world out there will suddenly be within reach and ripe for exploring. So get set for a whole new era in bringing up baby. It's great fun watching them learn how to crawl.

First, babies need to be able to sit without support. The next tentative step is negotiating the move from sitting to hands and knees – harder than it sounds. Once in the hands-and-knees position, babies will rock forwards and backwards before finally working out that they need to use their knees to propel them. And that first move may well be backwards rather than forwards

9 months

Until around nine months old, your baby will be using his whole hand to pick up objects, whatever their size. But now he'll start trying to pick up much smaller things using his thumb and first finger in what's known as the 'pincer' grip. This new-found skill goes hand in hand with the fact that he's now using his hands more than his mouth to explore objects.

You can help your baby's development:

You can soften the blow by playing lots of fun peek-a-boo and hide-and-seek type games, so he learns to understand that just because he can't see you, you haven't completely disappeared.
You can also help build your baby's self confidence by giving him loads of attention, smiling and talking to him as much as possible.
Give him lots of room and freedom to explore, so he can test the limits of this new- found independence and gain confidence in it.
Offer encouragement if he tries something on his own, and make a big fuss when he comes back to you for reassurance.

Other things to note at this age:

Starts to hold and use a beaker with help
Manipulates toy with both hands
Starts to hold spoon 7-8 months

increased interaction

At around eight months, your baby will have acquired
skills that allow him to interact with you a lot more. His non-verbal language will include holding out his hands to gesture for things he wants, pushing away things he doesn't and waving goodbye to people when they leave. He will also begin to try more difficult language sounds, and he'll understand many more words than he'll be able to say.

As well as becoming more interactive, by nine months, your little one will also become more mobile. He will have moved on from simply moving short distances by himself to crawling around exploring every inch of his environment. And you'll also probably notice that he begins to hold things as he investigates ways to use his newly acquired 'pincer grip', meaning that he will use his mouth less and his hands more to explore objects. It's around this time that he realises that he is his own little person full of character and charm.

At the end of the day, all babies are different and it's perfectly normal for them to develop at different rates. Be patient, and don't worry if your baby prefers to take his time. However, if you do have any concerns, consult your health visitor or GP.