As your little one rounds the final corner and heads for his first birthday, you feel mixed emotions — both excitement at your baby reaching the big “1” and nostalgia that his first year is almost over. Still, your baby has many more milestones to reach between months 8 and 12.
Here’s what you can expect on the cognitive front during his 8-month-old development:
And read
our guide to developmental milestones for kids
.
Cognitive Milestone Roundup
Your baby’s curiosity is only growing as he becomes more alert and attentive to his surroundings every day. You can guarantee that any new object in sight will get poked, prodded, banged and probably tasted too, as he tries to make heads or tails of these interesting things in his environment. Everything is mysterious and new to a baby, so he has to explore his world in detail to understand it. Carola d’Emery, P.T., Ph.D., clinical educator for targeted evaluation teams at Sunny Days Early Childhood Developmental Services, explains, “Children use all their senses to learn: vision, taste, hearing, smell and touch, constantly collecting information to understand their environment.” When your baby picks up, shakes, drops or bangs objects, he’s learning what they sound like, what they feel like and how heavy they are.
At this age, your baby’s sense of object permanence is developing. Before, your child may have believed that an item hidden under a blanket disappeared — but now, when you hide it under the blanket while he’s watching, he knows it is simply out of view and will probably try to retrieve it. Dr. Thomas M. Seman, M.D., F.A.A.P., partner at North Shore Pediatrics, explains, “The brain is developing the ability to look at objects and understand their 3-D nature and object permanency.” This developmental stage also coincides with the appearance of stranger anxiety. According to Dr. Seman, “The child now recognizes that the mom can leave and is concerned that she is not coming back. Once object permanence is fairly well-established, a parent leaving is frightening to the child, as he is unsure if the parent will return.”
During his 8-month-old development, your child may surprise you with his knowledge of objects and maybe even the ability to identify some of them. D’Emery explains, “At this age, your baby will look at a correct picture when the image is named if it is something he already knows and exactly as presented in the picture.” Your child also begins to understand what certain objects are used for — mainly those you use with him every day. If handed a brush, cup or toy phone, he will probably try to brush his hair, take a drink or talk on the phone. He has learned these actions by playing with you and by watching you complete these tasks every day.
Meeting His Milestones
There are many activities that you can do to help facilitate your child’s cognitive development. According to Dr. Seman, “The best way for parents to help their baby through the development is to stimulate them with age-appropriate toys and tasks.” He recommends toys with levers and buttons, stationary sit-and-play areas, toys that talk and ones that make animal sounds. Additionally, reading and talking to your baby is extremely important to his language development and communication skills.
“Your baby can read your lips, so talking face-to-face with him will help develop communication skills,” says Dr. Seman. Actively engaging your child, teaching him how to use toys and objects and playing with him are also key to your child’s cognitive development. Remember, babies love to imitate you, and at this age, your little one will be a regular mime. Whether it’s waving bye-bye, blowing kisses or even using sign language for simple words, your baby is beginning to copy your moves in the most adorable way.
For more on baby developments, check out this Overview of Milestones From 8 to 12 Months.
Victoria Georgoff is a freelance writer and psychotherapist who enjoys writing about parenting, helping other parents, and of course, being a parent herself. Follow her on Twitter.
