Baby development : 5 month old
5-month-old baby developments:
Before we start talking about the developments of a 5-month-old baby, we should mention that all babies are unique and meet these developments at their own pace. This article merely shows what your baby has the potential to accomplish and how you can help him/her do it better.
Vision
5-month-old baby can spot and follow smaller objects that move around him. If you show him part of his favorite toy, you will see he recognize it and want to have it which means he recognizes things by seeing part of it. This also shows that they start to realize when something is not within their sight it still exist. They are getting better at understanding the difference between two shades of the same color. But still they prefer their old color friends, the bright primary colors.
Hearing
It takes time for your baby to learn how language works so she will continue to watch intently your mouth and listen to your voice as you talk. She might react to her name when you call her (she is so smart, isn’t she?). She will make many sounds, and this is her attempt to imitate the sounds she hears from her environment.
Muscles and Motor skill
He can SIT now, with a little help. But still it counts as sitting right?
You may need to make her a CushionLand because she can fall time to time. They are pretty awesome with their hands. They have both hands synchronized with their eyes. They reach for a toy, grab it, pass between hands and then inspect it carefully (yes it means examining in their mouth).
Crawling is on the horizon! After he masters his rolling from back to front and vice versa, then he might start crawling. Crawling is actually a crucial skill for him to discover the world around him and it’s a major step for your baby to be able to walk someday.
Communication skill
Your baby is becoming much better at communicating with you. She will continue to make new sounds to get you attention and express their needs. This way she can practice her language skills. When she finds a new sound, she will repeat it many times to make sure she has learned it. She may also laugh at silly faces and funny noises you make.
She starts using her hands to show you her feelings. She will give you hugs and ask you to pick her up by holding her arms up (heart melting moment). You can now get a reaction from her when you call her name (pretty exciting, right?).
Social skill
For babies at this age, it’s normal to see some sort of stranger anxiety. He will make it clear that he is comfortable around people he knows. If you didn’t isolate yourself for the last couple of months from you family and friends then it’s less likely that he dramatically reacts to strangers’ presence.
Cognitive skill
Babies can understand they can change in their surroundings, but they can’t remember it. Recalling the actions-reactions phenomena might happen at this age, and that’s why your baby will repeat her action to see the same reaction from her surroundings. Not all of these repetitions or experiments are fun, for example, she may cry for no reason, waits for a second to see if anyone would come or not.
She may now understand that if she doesn’t see an object (a toy) that object still exists (object permanence).
Other development:
Teething
A full set of primary teeth will take 2.5 to 3 years to get complete. Between ages of 4 to 7 months, Lower central incisors will appear. When your baby’s first tooth shows up, you might be taken by surprise especially when they grab your finger and bite it!
Teething may come with fever and diarrhea. Diarrhea happens because he will drool crazy before and during teething. For fever, it’s always good to check it with your doctor.
Touching
Besides tasting, touching is you baby’s most important sense to detect and explore her world. She likes to be touched and get the massage and feel your warmth. She also loves to give you a hug.
Feeding:
If you think your baby wants to eat what you eat (look at his reactions during lunch or dinner) then make sure when you place something in his mouth he doesn’t push back hard with his tongue. He should be able to control his head and be able to chew and swallow. As we mentioned before up to age six months, your baby will get all nutrition he needs from your milk. So don’t rush and get advice from your pediatrician.
Sleeping:
By five months old you may find your baby is sleeping through the night (6-7 hours). During the day, your child will need two nap times (in the morning and after lunch).
.
.
How to help your child develop at this age
Vision
As we mentioned, your baby is discovering that objects exist even though she cannot see it, which is why she loves to play peekaboo (at the bottom of this page)
A mirror can be a great toy for her because as she moves the reflection in the mirror moves. It is fascinating for her even though she doesn’t know that’s her own reflection.
A crib mobile still is an excellent product to stimulate her vision, especially with bright and colorful hanging toys.
Hearing
5-month-old baby will clap his hands, smile and babble along with a song. He might like jazz or pop or classic. Children love music.
As we said, they like to hear new sounds so give him a set of keys (plastic ones) or install a wind chimes somewhere.
You can call his name very softly from behind and see if he can hear you and turn back.
Muscles and Motor skill
Your baby needs some help to sit for a short time. You can open her leg to make a “V” shape. This way it’s easier for her to balance herself. Don’t forget to make the cushion-land.
Still she needs Tummy-time to strengthen the muscles she needs to sit up and walk someday. Put a colorful toy in front of her to make her moves toward it by crawling.
Place a toy in one of your baby’s hands and then another. They will soon learn to pass the toy from one hand to the other all by themselves
When you pick her up, she will start kicking in the air. This is a good exercise for her leg.
Communication skill
When your little one makes noises, try to repeat it with her. This will encourage her to do it again and again, which will help her to learn to talk.
Make funny faces with different voices and sounds. Try to be a kid again.
Name her toys and as you give them to her repeat their names, to help teach your baby new words.
Social skill
It will be the best if you take him out for a walk or shopping. It’s a new and exciting place for your baby.all the people around making noises. Just make it short so it won’t become overstimulating for him.
By doing this, you will expose him to people, situations, and places. This builds baby’s confidence and helps him to feel more calm and comfortable in the presence of strangers.
Cognitive skill
Peek-a-boo! Put a toy under a blanket, and then whip off the blanket for the big reveal. It’s an excellent way for your baby to learn that things that disappear can magically reappear. There are also some peek-a-boo books that are very well made.
Other development:
Teething
As we mentioned it before for 4-month-old developments, One of the best ways to calm your baby is using your clean finger and rubs it on his sore gums. But this can’t be done all the time, you need more practical methods. Giving your little one’s cold washcloths or teething toys is one of the most effective ways to reduce the pain.
If these methods aren’t working, some doctors recommend giving a teething baby children’s pain reliever such as infants’ acetaminophen. Always ask your baby’s doctor for the correct dosage before giving acetaminophen to a child younger than two years old.
Touching
You can still use the same things you did for a four-month-old baby. So try to talk about different part of her body while you touch them. Singing or talking to her, stimulate not only her brain but also enhance your loving relationship. Regular massaging your baby will help her to recognize different parts of her body.
You can stimulate her sense of touch using different textures like fur, wood, glass, tissue, felt, velvet and towel. You can check for board books that introduce different texture and make touching a part of the reading experience.
Sleep
If you established a nighttime routine, then try to follow it every night. You can feed him, give him a bath, put him in pajamas, sing him a song and sway him, put him down in his crib, read a book with a soft voice and play some music (music box or crib mobiles). This routine gives your little one time to calm down and feel sleepy during the process.
Feeding:
If you discussed the solid food with your pediatrician, then remember it will be a new experiment. Your baby is not 100% sure, so she might not eat more than a tablespoon.
Oatmeal cereals are the least of the allergenic grains; you try this first for your baby. Anyway its texture has to be smooth
Remember:
- She can roll over, never leave her on the high surface alone.
- Baby-proof your house (crawling is coming)
- The American Dental Association suggests that you take your baby after the first tooth to a dentist and no later than the first birthday. So if your five-month-old has his first teeth, it’s the right time to see a pediatric dentist.
We hope you find this review informative and helpful. Now it’s easier to find appropriate toys and gears for kids. Please let us know if you have any question. We will try to answer it as soon as possible.
You can also check our other posts about 3-month-old and 5-month-old baby developments.
What a very comprehensive blog post! Thank you for pointing out up front that not all children develop at the same pace. We had four and I can attest to the fact they are all different and develop on different timetables. Of course there are some standards they are expected to hit and if they don’t then they are screened for problems. We found that sleeping was very important for all of us … sleep when the baby sleeps, as they say. Thanks again for sharing such an informative blog post.
Hi Michael,
I’m glad you find this post useful and thank you for sharing your experience on this subject with us. It is indeed important to know we are all different and don’t develop our skills at the same rate. As we said and you capture it beautifully, these reviews are just for parent/caregivers to know what expect and get in touch with the pediatrician to see how they can help their little ones.
Cheers
Hi great post. I just want to know I have a friend that has a kid that is 2 years, but doesn’t speak properly, basically her own baby language. Should be of concern? Or like you said every child is unique and develops differently.
Hi Uwais,
Thanks for the possitive feedback. I’m not sure what baby language can be referred to. Maybe if you give more detail on how s/he talks, I could help you more?
But for your information, it happens time to time that a two years old doesn’t talk at all. If they communicate with you by signs and gestures, then you don’t need to worry a lot and maybe try to get in contact with a speech therapist.
Hopefully, this information was helpfull.
Cheers
The fast development of babies is truly a fascinating and underestimated phenomenon. I had no idea you should take your baby to see a dentist when the first teeth pops up. What toys would you recommend for a teething baby?
Hi Matthew,
I’m glad you find this review interesting. Well the best toy I would say is your (clean) fingers, it does help your child to bond with you as a caregiver more and more. We also provided a list for you in this post: http://coolgiftforkids.com/infant-teething-toys
You can take a look.
Cheers
Great job! I like the content which is very thorough and informative. The presentation is quite attractive. Thanks a bunch!
Hi Andimax,
Thanks for the positive feedback. Hope to see you here more.
Cheers
What a fantastic post! I love that you not only give us what a typical baby at 5 months is doing but also things we can do to encourage and develop baby’s skill further. Very well written and you really seem to know babies!
Hi Heather,
I’m grateful for your heart warming comment. I will continue to provide you more and more information about babies and their needs.
Cheers
this is such a good informative article. Many people approach partnering with all the love in the world but not from an understanding of human development. and it kind of sucks because as you sate hear this is an incredible time of growth for human. So to understand how or what environment is best at that time.
Do you feel like most families don’t have a good idea of what will hurt there kids in the long run?
Hi Darren,
Thank you for the positive feedback. There must be a statistical study about the issue you mentioned but just from my experience, people are getting more involved with their kids developments and want to give them the opportunity to grow their abilities to the fullest. So as we try to help parents here to get the right information, hopefully, not only they won’t let their little ones get hurt but also will help them to develop better.
Cheers
I think it’s amazing that you’re trying to help guide those who want to care for their kids into a good source of information. Not only did I find the gift to give my nephew. but now I also know its benefits and I can tell my sister why I bought it. she will love this because it shows I really want the best for him and that is the whole point of the gift so thank you.
Hey Darren,
Wow, that was the best comment I got so far. Knowing that because of this website you give your nephew something that will help him develop to the fullest is amazing. Thanks for saying it so.
Hope he loves it.
Cheers
I often think about how memories work. the first ones are the most powerful. so the first time something happens to you your likely to remember. if it happens 100 times you much less likely to remember in one of the 100 times. but you’ll remember the first and maybe the last.
So at 5 months old these memories are forming the entire construct of a human’s life.
What do you think.?
Hi John,
I’m not sure what kind of memory you are referring to, but if you are talking about Long-lasting conscious memory, then it won’t develop before 1.5 to 2 years. Your baby can recognize other’s voice at birth (sort of memory), and he knows his parents faces by two months age (the more he sees, the better he remember). At five month age more he sees the more he can remember. At 5-month-old you baby will not remember after one experience, he needs to do one act and see the react to make a connection in his mind that there is a reaction to what he does.
I hope my explanation was clear. Let me know if you want to know more.
Cheers
your explanation was fantastic. and my description was greatly lacking but you cleared it up very eloquently. and you are very right about needing to take action before memory is associated. And it makes perfect sense why we don’t have any of those memories left. but what I’m wondering is what latent memories actually become something that does get installed even if you don’t have the recall ability to decode the information.
I guess it’s more of a philosophical quarry, But either way, you are very informative and I loved learning more about development. its surely a phenomenon.
Hi Darren,
I’m glad I got your question right. It’s great because from comments I get the idea for posts I need to provide for my viewers here. Thanks for sharing you thought I will post something about the development of different kinds of memories.
Cheers
Why do you have to bring them to the dentist at such a young age?
I am not speaking from experience so I’m very curious. Myself I do not believe the majority of dentistry is goof for you. but pediatric dentistry may be very different. I am not sure. but I am curious
Hi Jim,
There are many reasons to see a dentist at the early age. National (USA) studies (by the American Academy of Pediatric Dentistry) have shown more than one in four children in the United States has had at least one cavity by the age of four and many of them get cavities by the age of two. Even their teeth are not permanent teeth but still it will form their skulls and faces, and the effect can remain for the entire life.
The appointment should not be later that the first birthday.
There is no harm to go to the dentist since they show you how to take care of your child oral health. The pediatric dentist knows exactly how you feel about the situation so it might be that he will spend more time with you on the first appointment than spending time with your child.
Hope this was helpful,
Cheers
This is such a helpful post. I am 6 months pregnant and im looking to learn as much as I can. I’m getting a little nervous because I have no clue what to expect and reading your article actually makes me both a little scared and very excited for my upcoming journey,
Are there any tips you can give me?
Hi Sarra,
No worries Sarra; there were no books or any kind information you have access today, and you made it up to now as your mother did before you and your grandmom before her. These types of information are to make you better understand your child’s development and how you can help her to develop her skills.
You will do all the necessary things by instinct, and you will do just fine. Don’t get stressed (although it’s completely normal), just read articles about it whenever you have time and if you like it just make a bookmark and come back to it when you need it.
You will do just fine, I assure you.
Cheers
I don’t have any kids but I do have a dog and I cant help but notice there are a lot of similarities. Like when you say the speech can be guided by what you do and they’ll repeat. I think the connection is that both your dog and baby are intently focused on you and as such they will try to mirror what makes you happy or that you do. I am in no way saying raising a baby is the same an dog. only noting the similarities between the learning processes.
What is your opinion?
Hey Joe,
We are all animals, and there are some similarities between species. So you might not be so wrong about it. In the case of a dog, I would say they try to imitate or help you because you are the leader, and they accept that and try to be a good follower. Your kid won’t see it that way. She knows you will take care of her, and that’s why she will try to make a connection with you. She also tries to see how she can change her surrounding by laughing or crying. So it’s not always to make you happy. I hope this was helpful.
Cheers