Your Baby’s Development: 7 months old
At age 7 months, your baby has mastered his/her tummy time skills! Your baby likely prefers to play in the tummy time position because it is such a functional position for him/her. He/she can push up onto extended arms; reach in all directions for toys both on forearms and with arms extended; pivot in both directions to successfully reach desired objects; and easily roll into and out of the position.
Around 6-8 months, your baby may begin to push up into quadruped (all fours) from the tummy time position. As he/she explores this new position, your baby will rock back and forth and side to side on hands and knees; this is providing important weight-shifting and strengthening opportunities in preparation for crawling and forward movement. Your baby may also begin to reach with one arm for a toy while maintaining the quadruped position, another important precursor to crawling.
By 6-7 months, your baby’s reaching skills are quite accurate! He/she is able to coordinate his/her motor and visual systems to reach directly from multiple positions (on his/her back, on his/her side, during tummy-time, and in sitting). Your 7-month-old can do this with both hands simultaneously or with one hand at a time, showing increased dissociation between the two sides of the body. Your baby can also reach across the midline, or the middle of the body, a skill which requires good communication between the two sides of the brain.
Your 7-month-old’s fine motor skills are also rapidly progressing! By 7 months, your baby is using a radial palmar grasp, which enables him/her to pick up objects by using the first two fingers of the hand and securing it against the thumb; your baby’s thumb cannot yet oppose the fingers. Your 7-month-old can also transfer objects between hands, passing objects back and forth, which is an early skill demonstrating the ability to coordinate the two sides of the body.
Furthermore, your baby is beginning to develop an understanding of object permanence, an appreciation that an object is still present even when they can no longer see it. Your baby may begin searching for hidden objects and is beginning to enjoy games such as “peek-a-boo”! He/she is fine tuning his/her visual tracking, visual motor, and visual perceptual skills through play. As your baby learns to crawl, they are provided with important opportunities to strengthen visual tracking skills and eye-hand coordination. Through experimentation with container play (putting objects into containers) and searching for hidden objects, your baby is learning about spatial awareness, concepts of “in” and “out”, “under” and “over”.
Tiny Transformations is equipped with therapists skilled at helping families support their baby’s early development. If you feel like your baby may benefit from some additional support, consider scheduling an evaluation. Early evaluation and treatment can often set up a baby for developmental success!