Month 6 - 9

There are two very distinct strands to your six-to-nine month old's personality. On one hand, she's an explorer, equipped with most of the skills she needs to investigate her surroundings. On the other, she's a timid soul who clings to the people she knows and loves, and often shies away from strangers.

With her better powers of memory she's getting to know the difference between things that are familiar and safe, and those that are new and un-tested. You can see just how much her memory is improving by watching her reaction to a toy that she has dropped. Up until now she would have forgotten it and moved on. By nine months, she looks in the right direction to see where the toy has gone.

Mover…

• At six months your baby will put her hands and feet into her mouth. She has learnt she can control her body
• At seven months she may sit unaided, using her arms to balance her
• At eight to nine months she can sit and play with a toy but may still lose balance if she turns around
• At seven to nine months she may start to crawl properly. At first, her arms tend to do most of the work as they're still stronger than her legs, so she may go backwards or in circles. She may also bottom shuffle.

… and shaker

• At seven to nine months your baby finally masters the art of grasping things with her thumb and forefinger
• At eight months she may show a left or right-hand preference
• At nine months she can hold a mug with both hands and may try to grasp a feeding spoon.

Questions and Answers

Q: Does my baby dream?
A: Yes. Like adults, babies experience REM (rapid eye movement) sleep, which only occurs when a human is dreaming. At six months, 50 per cent of your baby's sleep will be REM sleep: adults have 20 per cent REM sleep.

Q: Can my baby recognise her name?
A: Your baby will recognise her name from about eight or nine months and it may be among her first words.

Did you know?

A baby's performance in intelligence tests between three and 12 months bears little relation to her performance in tests at the age of five. Your baby health care centre will carry out regular checks on a baby in her first year, but these reveal next to nothing about intelligence as they are largely confined to practical skills and basic responsiveness.

It's amazing!

Psychologists have found a way of measuring brief changes in babies' expressions. They found babies start to show specific emotions at specific ages:

• Fear and anger between five and seven months.
• Shame and shyness between six and eight months.