When the child turns 8 months old, parents notice a lot of changes - both physiological and psychological. Although each kid develops according to his individual schedule, there are some generalized parameters regarding the norms of growth and weight gain, skills and psycho-emotional manifestations.
8 months old baby - weight and height
Such important parameters as the height and weight of the child, at 8 months, are already increasing not so rapidly as in the first half of the year. For a month, infants at this age gain weight approximately 300-600 g, and body length increases by 1.5-2 cm. A small slowdown in changes in these indicators is due to the fact that at this stage the main task of the child's organism is the formation of physical skills, activity. Consider how much the child should weigh at 8 months, according to the World Health Organization:
- boys - about 8.6 kg (weight gain from birth of about 5.3 kg);
- girls - 8 kg (the increase from birth is 4.8 kg).
As for growth, but the average standards are as follows:
- for boys - 70.6 cm (gain from birth is about 20.7 cm);
- for girls - 68.8 cm (gain from birth - 19.6 cm).
Nutrition of the child in 8 months
Parents should correctly form the diet of the child at 8 months, since neither breast milk nor the adapted mixture is able to cover the needs of the child's body in obtaining important nutritional components. A child in 8 months should receive a variety of complementary foods , including one can already offer food with a more dense consistency, with small lumps, solid foods and multicomponent dishes. Breastfeeding with breast milk or its substitute continues.
It is recommended to feed the little girl at the table, sitting on a highchair. In his hands, he needs to give a spoon, which so far can play a symbolic role for the formation of self-service skills. Thus the adult should feed the child with another spoon. It should be taught to use the baby to drink a cup, which helps to support one of the parents.
Breastfeeding at 8 months
If the mother's lactation is okay, then the baby's diet at 8 months must include breast milk , because the longer the child's body will receive this valuable liquid, the better for health - physical and mental. Modern pediatricians advise, if possible, to continue breastfeeding for one to two years, including expressed milk, if the mother came to work.
Often, when 8 months old, leave two feeding with mother's milk - in the morning after waking up and in the evening before going to bed at night, and at other times the baby feeds on "adult" food. At the same time during the day and at night, babies can be applied to the breast on demand. If lactation has stopped, you need to discuss with your doctor the use of artificial mixture.
Feeding in 8 months
During this period of life it is recommended to carry out three complementary foods during the day with a periodicity of approximately 4 hours. Taking into account feeding by a breast or a mixture, five-time feeding is provided. The total amount of food eaten is about 1 liter. It is important now to accustom the baby to the usual for most options - breakfast, lunch, dinner, and for breakfast, traditionally give porridge, and for lunch - liquid dishes. In the future, thanks to this child will be easier to adapt to meals in kindergarten.
Let's enumerate what to feed the child in 8 months, what foods he should be given:
- porridge , cooked on water, milk or a mixture (buckwheat, oatmeal, rice, corn, barley, millet);
- vegetables (carrots, potatoes, cauliflower, broccoli, pumpkin, zucchini);
- fruit (apple, pear, banana, peach, apricot, plum);
- berries (raspberry, black currant);
- sour-milk products (cottage cheese, kefir, yoghurt );
- butter and vegetable oil;
- egg yolk;
- bakery products (wheat bread, crackers, biscuits, drying);
- meat (turkey, chicken, beef, rabbit meat);
- fish (marine and freshwater, necessarily low-fat);
- by-products (liver, tongue, heart).
Depending on the start date of the first complementary meal at this age, new products for babies can be:
- yolk;
- kefir;
- yogurt;
- by-products;
- a fish;
- meat.
Breastfeeding, who already have teeth, must necessarily begin to develop non-homogenized food and learn to chew. Products should be kneaded with a fork, grinded through a large sieve.
The 8-month-old baby's breast-feeding menu
Consider what dishes can include the day menu of the child in 8 months:
- The first breakfast is 06: 00-07: 00: breast milk.
- The second breakfast - 10: 00-11: 00: porridge, butter, fruit puree, sour-milk products, juice, compote, mors.
- Lunch -14: 00-15: 00: vegetable soup, vegetable puree, meat puree, fish, offal, yolk, bread, vegetable oil, compote.
- Dinner - 18: 00-19: 00: curd, yogurt, yoghurt, fruit puree, bread, biscuits, biscuits.
- Feeding before bedtime - 22: 00-23: 00: breast milk.
The 8-month-old baby menu on artificial feeding
It should be noted that lure at 8 months of breastfeeding does not differ from that with artificial feeding, so in the above menu for the day, you can simply replace the first and last feeding with a mixture. To make it easier for mother to orient herself than to feed her baby for breakfast, lunch, dinner for a week, we will give an approximate menu of the child in 8 months on artificial or natural feeding.
Day of the week | Breakfast | Dinner | Dinner |
Monday | oatmeal porridge with apple, carrot juice | potato-and-vegetable mashed potatoes with vegetable oil, turkey puree, fruit and berry compote | cottage cheese, mashed potatoes, croutons |
Tuesday | buckwheat porridge with butter, compote, cracker | vegetable soup, steamed fish cutlet, bread, berry juice | kefir, banana-apple sauce, biscuits |
| Wednesday | Corn porridge with butter, peach puree | puree from cauliflower and broccoli, ground boiled rabbit, compote | cottage cheese with raspberries, yoghurt, drying |
Thursday | rice porridge with pumpkin, apple juice | soup with potatoes, carrots and yolks, steam meatballs from chicken, pear juice | cottage cheese, plum puree, biscuits |
Friday | millet porridge with butter, baked apple, kefir | fish soup with vegetables, squash, carrot puree, berry compote | pear-apple sauce, rusks |
Saturday | cottage cheese with banana and peach, yoghurt, biscuits | soup with beef and potatoes, boiled cauliflower, berry juice | kefir, carrot-apple puree, drying |
Sunday | buckwheat porridge with butter, apple-pumpkin juice | mashed potatoes from a vegetable marrow, potatoes and broccoli with boiled peppered liver, compote | cottage cheese, biscuits, apricot-apple sauce |
Child's regime in 8 months
When the child turns 8 months old, his physical and social activity increases dramatically, so this period can be called a turning point for the baby and more troublesome for the parents. At the same time, with crumbs it becomes more and more interesting to communicate, and more time can be devoted to this, because the period of wakefulness increases. How much the child sleeps at 8 months is an individual indicator, but often children rest twice a day for 1.5-2 hours. The night sleep is strong, without awakening, is about 8 hours.
During periods of wakefulness, which make up 5-6 hours, with the baby you have to walk on the street, play development games, and communicate. In addition, at 8 months the child needs a daily morning gymnastics to strengthen the muscular body before the subsequent mastering of the walking skill with the support, for the development of coordination of movements and fine motor skills . Do not forget about the every evening bathing, hygienic procedures.
Child development in 8 months
What should a child be able to do in 8 months, what psychological and physical characteristics dominate at this age:
- confidently sitting without support, reaching for a toy from a sitting position;
- sits down from a prone position;
- rises on the legs, holding on to the support;
- actively crawls on all fours;
- takes toys, shifts from hand to hand, studies, studies for a long time;
- for 10-15 minutes independently plays with toys;
- clearly and meaningfully pronounces syllables, utters monosyllabic words;
- shows the objects that the adult calls;
- drinks from the mug, which is held by an adult, holding it with his handles;
- divides "his" and "strangers", shows affection for parents and closeness to outsiders;
- shows interest in other children;
- recognizes himself and loved ones in the photo.
The child does not sit at 8 months old
If a child does not stay alone at 8 months, this does not always indicate a delay in physical development and any pathologies. This can be a feature of the baby and it is quite possible that one of his parents also later started to sit, stand, walk. In this case, nevertheless, the pediatrician and neurologist should be shown who, if necessary, will prescribe a strengthening massage, special physical exercises, physiotherapy procedures.
The child does not crawl at 8 months old
Given that the child is able to 8 months in normal, the inability of a baby to crawl at this age is very frightening to parents. Perhaps, in fact, there is no cause for concern, but to make sure of this, you should contact a specialist. Some babies just skip this stage and immediately start walking closer to the year, premature babies often begin to crawl in 10-11 months.
How to develop a child in 8 months?
Parents should know how to develop a baby in 8 months to improve his skills, develop new ones, help to shape the personality. The child in 8 months is required to constantly give new information, which he takes with pleasure and absorbs. Remember that at this age, kids copy actions and words of parents, so you need to monitor everything that you say and do.
Toys for children in 8 months
Eight-month-old child with pleasure and benefit will play with such toys:
- rubber balls of different sizes;
- a hammer with a peepal;
- a small pyramid with rings;
- pyramid-cups;
- soft books;
- the simplest sorters with large holes;
- transparent plastic box, in which you can put different toys;
- tissue bags with different cereals.
- simple musical instruments - drums, flutes, keyboards, bells;
- talking toys;
- dolls and cars.
Classes for children 8 months
In addition to classes with developing toys, reading books, singing songs, these games with children are useful in 8 months:
- ladushki;
- hide-and-seek (for example, throwing on a baby, and then on yourself with a light handkerchief, diaper);
- "Unfold the toy" - wrapping some toy in foil, rustling paper, invite the baby to unfold it;
- "I'll catch up, catch up!" - crawl crawling creeping child, prompting him to move faster;
- "Show where" - asking the crumb, ask him to point out the parts of the face, objects in the room, toys, confirming the correctness of his actions with the word "true".