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.
Cognitive
- 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