Your Baby’s Development: 6 months old

6 Months

At 6 months, your baby’s head control is now fully developed! Your baby can flex, extend, laterally flex, and rotate his/her head in multiple positions. His/her visual acuity is 20/25 and color vision is now similar to that of an adult. Your baby is continuing to refine his/her ability to move the eyes in coordination with his/her movements, enabling him/her to accurately reach and visually examine objects in the hands. Tummy time is a very functional position for your baby, as he/she is able to push up onto straight arms, reach for toys, and examine them while on the tummy. Your baby’s hand movements are also becoming much more refined from all of his/her play and practice!

Supine (On Baby’s Back)

Your 6-month-old can now lift his/her head from the surface while on his/her back. He/she continues to enjoy reaching for, playing with, and mouthing the feet, and should be able to play with two hands to one foot, an important skill for the development of the oblique abdominals and crossing midline skills. Your 6-month-old also continues to reach for and explore his/her body with hands and eyes. All of these skills indicate increased strength through your baby’s abdominals and flexor muscles. At 6 months old, your baby can now roll from their back to their tummy! He/she is able to accurately reach for toys, finger them, and bring them to their mouth for further exploration. Mouthing toys continues to be a fan favorite. He/she is beginning to be able to reach towards and across the midline of the body, indicating increasing communication between the two sides of the brain. Your 6-month-old uses a palmar grasp on toys and is developing more refined forearm and hand movements when manipulating objects (although this skill continues to be somewhat limited at this age). 

Prone (Tummy Time) 

Tummy time has become a very fun and functional position for your 6-month-old baby. He/she can push up onto extended arms, weight-shift, and reach for toys both close to and farther away from the body. He/she is beginning to pivot in a circle, a skill that continues to strengthen his/her lateral trunk flexors. He/she may be able to lift up onto all 4’s from his/her tummy, but cannot yet move in this position. Your baby wants to move forward, however doesn’t have the strength yet. This often leads to a “push up” position in which he/she pushes him/herself backwards. Your baby also continues to use the pivot prone position (“flying” or “swimming”). Weight-bearing through extended arms with open hands during tummy time provides a stretch and contributes to the development of the small hand muscles required for future fine motor skills. Your 6-month-old is also able to roll tummy to back with increasing control! 

Sitting

Your 6-month-old baby can sit independently without propping on his/her arms, primarily using the ring sitting position for stability. He/she, however, has not developed dynamic sitting balance and will likely fall sideways with a weight-shift in either direction. Your baby is beginning to reach for and hold toys while sitting, which challenges and builds his/her balance. He/she is able to demonstrate a forward protective reaction, in which he/she is able to “catch” him/herself with a loss of balance in the forward direction. When pulled to sit, a 6-month-old is able to tuck the chin and lift the head from the surface and actively participates by reaching up and flexing through the trunk.

Potential Red Flags in a 6-Month-Old

See below for some potential red flags for a 6-month-old. If your baby falls into one of these categories, consider reaching out for a Physical or Occupational Therapy evaluation with one of our infant development specialists. Early evaluation and treatment can often set up a baby for developmental success!

• Inability to bring hands to feet and feet to mouth

• Inability to roll back to belly or initiating a roll using the extensor muscles rather than the flexors

• Ongoing difficulty with tummy time: not pushing up onto extended arms, inability to reach or play with toys in tummy time

• Inability to maintain the sitting position (with or without propping on arms)

Contact Us to help determine if physical or occupational therapy could be beneficial for your child!