All babies have their own timetable, but you can watch for certain developments in your 7-month-old. Celebrate with your baby as he reaches or nears these milestones.

Cognitive7th month baby milestone

  • Nearly mature eyesight (able to see people and objects in the distance quite clearly; able to track quickly moving objects) 
  • Improved hand-eye coordination; can reach to catch a ball rolling on the floor 
  • Learns more about object permanence (objects and people out of sight still exist)
  • May look for dropped objects
  • Curious about objects just out of reach and reaches for them
  • Associates mental images with words
  • Anticipates what comes next (running water means a bath, for instance)

Motor

  • Begins to use thumb and index finger to pick up objects (the pincer grasp)
  • Passes an object from one hand to the other
  • May hold a toy or object in each hand
  • Can bang objects on a table
  • Can sit with some support
  • May be able to sit unsupported
  • Rolls in both directions (front to back, back to front)
  • May move into a crawling position or even creep backward a bit
  • Puts weight on legs when held in a standing position

Communication

  • Can locate you by following your voice
  • Responds to own name by looking at person who spoke it
  • Looks for and reacts to sounds outside his line of vision
  • Babbles roughly echo the sounds of words heard, with vowels and consonants (“ba ba ba,” “da da”)
  • Takes turns in simulating conversation (you talk, baby babbles, you talk, baby babbles)

Social

  • Begins to discern emotions from tone of voice (soothing, angry)
  • Uses voice to express happiness or unhappiness
  • Begins to distinguish strangers from family
  • May show shyness or fear around strangers
  • Reacts with delight to peekaboo games
  • Personality becomes more apparent