What does your babe do at 7+ months?

[nukuspot]

I have been reading some of these threads and have been AMAZED that mamas with similar aged babes and younger have babes that are crawling, pulling up, and even taking steps! I have a 7mo+ old. She sits happily and rolls from tummy to back. She prefers either laying and playing on her back or playing from a sitting position. She is happy with everything and doesn't seem to have the urge to crawl or roll from back to tummy (though she can roll that way, I've seen her do it a few times if she really wanted to get something.) She has never tried to crawl, never tried to get on hands and knees, never did the "army crawl" thing on her tummy. If I put her on her tummy (tummy time) she just rolls to her back within a few seconds and looks at me like "what did you do that for?"

Just curious what other babes are doing developmentally (gross motor skill-wise) around this age. Not comparing, just curious!

[teachma]

My seven month old is a third child and has been, thus far, a much slower developer than either of his older sibs. When he plays on the floor, he eagerly rolls both ways. He also scoots in a very funny way, on his back, using his heels to push him along in a backwards fashion. Just last week, he started the "army crawl," which is easy on hardwood floors because he only has to use his arms, and his legs are effortlessly (it seems) dragged behind. He moves around pretty quickly and quite clearly has a plan when he moves- to go after a toy, to reach a forbidden wire, etc. This week, he is first able to support himself when I put him in a seated position. I think he may have been *able* to do it earlier, but until now, he only wanted to come to a stand when I tried... My other children, by this point, were really crawling and bringing themselves into a seated position. Still, I am not worried. I think the whole development thing is at least as much temperament/personality as muscular ability, and your little one sounds like a mellow child. Be thankful for that (my first two were INTENSE!) and enjoy this time before she starts tearing around the house!!

[veghead04]

Ani (7 1/2 mo) crawls, pulls up and would spend all day walking around holding my hand for some balance. I'm amazed at how good her balance is though.

I read awhile ago that walking is genetic. If you/DH walked young, so shall your LO. We both did.

[honeyhaze]

My son is eight months and he's fairly close to walking. He pulls himself to standing, cruises, crawls, stands on his own, squats, bends over to retrieve objects, and walks while holding our hands. He can take one step on his own, but quickly falls on his rump He can also, with some prompting, climb up one low step, but he isn't quite climbing yet. I think he might be walking by nine or ten months, possibly by Christmas..

Miscellaneous things he does: Pulls off his hat and jacket (but usually leaves his shoes/socks alone!), feeds himself with a spoon, holds a cup, drinks from a straw, opens cupboard doors, nests bowls (but doesn't stack), beats a drum, plays with a keyboard, dances to music, picks up tiny objects with his fingers, uses a potty, mimics some words (but not reliably yet), and laughs hysterically (mostly at dogs and cats).

Things he doesn't do yet: wave (he has a few times, but usually doesn't), clap hands or play patty cake (he'll slap our hands with prompting, but doesn't spontaneously), play peek-a-boo (doesn't seem to work with him).

Hope this helps!

[nukuspot]

Ummm...All I can say is WOW. My dd does not do any of the things that the above baby does except feeds self with spoon, and she does actually take off her shoes and socks

Should I be concerned?

[pranava]

Hi nukuspot! I don't think you should worry about it. 8 months is average for crawling and many babies don't crawl till much after that. My DS will be 8 months in a few days. If I give him a spoon, he shoves it all the way down his throat till he gags. He doesn't try to pull himself up to stand, doesn't cruise furniture. He showed no interest whatsoever in crawling until 2 days ago when I left him sitting in his room with toys and found him in the hallway 3 minutes later. I expect that's the way everything will be for him. I've been trying to make him crawl for 2 months and nothing. Then one day - boom, he gets it! Well army crawling, that is. Maybe your baby will be like that too. It will happen when it happens and it doesn't mean she will be any further behind the early crawlers a year from now.

[claras_mom]

dd2 is 8 months on 12/1. She sits well, crawls, rolls, pulls to standing, cruises. Earlier this evening, she excited us all by standing without support for probably 10 seconds.

[nukuspot]

Originally Posted by pranava

Hi nukuspot! I don't think you should worry about it. 8 months is average for crawling and many babies don't crawl till much after that. My DS will be 8 months in a few days. If I give him a spoon, he shoves it all the way down his throat till he gags. He doesn't try to pull himself up to stand, doesn't cruise furniture. He showed no interest whatsoever in crawling until 2 days ago when I left him sitting in his room with toys and found him in the hallway 3 minutes later. I expect that's the way everything will be for him. I've been trying to make him crawl for 2 months and nothing. Then one day - boom, he gets it! Well army crawling, that is. Maybe your baby will be like that too. It will happen when it happens and it doesn't mean she will be any further behind the early crawlers a year from now.

*Thank you!* I hope it will be like that...Just one day she does it! Dh and our friend are in the other room trying to get her to crawl using Dh's IPOD as bait. LOL. So far not happening...

[SamiPolizzi]

My 7.5 month old started crawling a couple weeks ago. Now he's crawling everywhere, pulling himself up on everything, and furniture walking a little bit. He even crawled all the way up the stairs the other day (with me following right behind, of course.) It's crazy. This all happened really fast. It was only a little over 3 weeks ago that all he could do was sit up and get up on his hands and knees and then plop back onto his tummy.

[sdbeachy]

There's such a variation in what babies do, and the "range of normal" is pretty wide. My nieces didn't crawl until they were over a year old, but were saying words by 6 months. (They can now all walk just fine and are social and articulate.) My son (almost 8 months) crawls, pulls to stand, goes up and down steps, picks things up and puts them on top of whatever he can pull up on. . . but has yet to make any consonent sounds or imitate any sounds.

I don't think you should be worried at all. I heard a good quote recently: "Earlier does not mean better." Just enjoy your daughter and what she can do--she'll do the rest when she's ready, and that's soon enough.

[dachshund mom]

Originally Posted by honeyhaze

My son is eight months and he's fairly close to walking. He pulls himself to standing, cruises, crawls, stands on his own, squats, bends over to retrieve objects, and walks while holding our hands. He can take one step on his own, but quickly falls on his rump He can also, with some prompting, climb up one low step, but he isn't quite climbing yet. I think he might be walking by nine or ten months, possibly by Christmas..

Miscellaneous things he does: Pulls off his hat and jacket (but usually leaves his shoes/socks alone!), feeds himself with a spoon, holds a cup, drinks from a straw, opens cupboard doors, nests bowls (but doesn't stack), beats a drum, plays with a keyboard, dances to music, picks up tiny objects with his fingers, uses a potty, mimics some words (but not reliably yet), and laughs hysterically (mostly at dogs and cats).

Things he doesn't do yet: wave (he has a few times, but usually doesn't), clap hands or play patty cake (he'll slap our hands with prompting, but doesn't spontaneously), play peek-a-boo (doesn't seem to work with him).

Hope this helps!

This is so funny! DD is eight months too and she doesn't do any of the things your DS does, but does all the things your DS doesn't do! She waves, claps, does "hands up" when you say it, plays peek-a-boo with blankets. She also always removes shoes and socks, but jackets are fine. She does have good pincher grasp and mimics though.

She's been army crawling for 6 weeks, dragging one leg behind her, and doesn't try to get her stomach off the ground. She can pull up but only if her legs are positioned just right. One cool thing I noticed is she'll look at the dog if you say dog or say their name, also daddy, but not mommy.