Early Pregnancy
–
That’s it, your baby is now 8 months old! It’s a good time to review what’s happening with them right now: motor development, cognitive development, nutrition, sleep, and health.
8-month-old baby: May tells you everything.
Motor and Cognitive Development
At 8 months, your baby is going through a fascinating period of growth and learning. Let’s look at these new milestones.
Motor Development
Motor development in a baby refers to the acquisition of new physical skills that allow them to move and interact with their surroundings. At 8 months, your baby is already beginning to experience a first sense of autonomy and freedom of movement. They are starting to:
- Move around: they crawl or get around on all fours (think about adapting their environment – by removing knick-knacks and covering table corners, for example – so they can explore safely).
- Climb over small obstacles: like a cushion or a rug.
- Sit up: most children start to sit up between 7 and 10 months.
They are also becoming more flexible; now your baby can grab their feet with their hands, bend sideways while on their tummy, and so on. Hypertonia (when their limbs were stiff from birth) is finally fading: their limbs and hips are loosening up.
This allows them to be very mobile, to discover how to support themselves, and to explore their full abilities. Later, their legs will strengthen again to help them stand and eventually walk. Until then, we advise you not to try standing them up if they can’t do it on their own yet. Their back may not be ready for that position.
Cognitive Development
Their relationship with others is evolving and they seek the attention of those around them. They’re particularly drawn to other children (whom they can now clearly distinguish from adults) and will seek out contact with them.
Also, their attachment to familiar people is growing stronger and they begin to prioritize their attachment figures (primary, secondary, etc.), meaning the adults whose presence reassures them.
They also express their emotions more clearly. So, it’s completely normal if your baby cries when you drop them off at daycare in the morning or seems uncomfortable in unfamiliar settings (like on vacation): they are growing up!
When to Worry?
The development milestones mentioned above are just general guidelines for how a baby might progress. But every child develops at their own pace! So don’t worry if your baby progresses a bit more slowly or quickly than others.
However, if you notice a sudden halt in their development, don’t hesitate to contact your healthcare provider.
Want to learn more? Feel free to download the May app, where you’ll find plenty of resources to support and guide you throughout your journey as a new parent.
The 8-Month Anxiety: Myth or Reality?
Long known as the “8-month anxiety,” based on the early research of René Spitz, this period marks a crucial stage in a baby’s emotional development. In reality, the term is not entirely accurate because it’s not truly anxiety in the clinical sense, but rather a prioritization of attachment figures.
What happens: between 6 and 9 months, your baby begins to rank the people around them. The primary attachment figure—often the parent who spends the most time with them—becomes essential for their sense of security. This is why your baby may show distress (e.g., crying) when separated from their main attachment figure or when encountering unfamiliar people.
This behavior is completely normal and will eventually fade. Over time, they’ll learn to let go and open up to others, but this might take some adjustment. Again, every baby moves at their own pace! It’s also possible that your child is very curious about meeting new people and does not exhibit any separation anxiety, which is not a required step in development.
Language and Communication
Between 7 and 10 months, it’s babbling time! “Bababa, mamama”: your baby delights in repeating the same syllables over and over again, like vocal exercises. They’re training their voice in preparation for speaking their first words later.
Keep in mind that, just like separation anxiety, babbling is not a required milestone. Not all babies babble, and that doesn’t prevent them from speaking later. If you’re concerned, don’t hesitate to consult your healthcare provider.
At 8 months, your baby is already able to understand simple phrases like “it’s time to eat” or certain instructions when paired with a gesture like “come” or “give.”
As for vocabulary, they will first learn words from their everyday environment like “blankie” or “bottle” and later move on to more distant concepts like animals, fruits, and professions. To encourage vocabulary acquisition, here’s a tip: if they show interest in an object or action, don’t hesitate to name what they’re looking at or doing. For example, if your baby points to food, name it out loud.
Feeding and Nutrition
At 8 months, your baby’s diet is evolving and becoming more diverse with the introduction of new textures and flavors, which they’ve been exploring since the start of solid food introduction. To meet their nutritional needs, you can start offering varied foods in addition to purées and compotes, mashed or gently crushed with a fork.
Here’s a list of suitable foods:
- Fruits: applesauce, pear, or banana purées are ideal. You can also offer well-mashed pieces of ripe fruit to encourage chewing.
- Vegetables: carrot, zucchini, or sweet potato purées are great for introducing vegetables.
- Proteins: chicken, well-cooked fish, or lentils—served in small portions and thoroughly mashed.
- Cereals: cereals can be added to baby food or purées to boost nutritional intake.
You may have already introduced many of these foods during early stages of food diversification: that’s okay—at 8 months, discovery is more about texture.
Sleep at 8 Months
An 8-month-old baby’s sleep starts to resemble that of an adult, with more structured sleep cycles. At this age, your baby usually falls asleep during quiet sleep, followed by deep and REM sleep phases. One sleep cycle lasts about 70 minutes, and although they may still wake up during the night, they are often able to fall back asleep on their own. Daytime naps gradually decrease to one in the morning and another in the afternoon.
Common Sleep Issues
At 8 months, several factors can disrupt sleep:
- Night wakings are common and can be related to routine changes, illness, or learning new skills.
- Your baby may also have trouble falling asleep or linking sleep cycles.
Tips to Improve Sleep
To help your baby sleep better, here are some practical tips:
- Establish a bedtime routine: a calm, consistent routine—like reading a story or singing a lullaby—can help your baby feel secure and fall asleep more easily.
- Create a sleep-friendly environment: a quiet room with soft lighting and a comfortable temperature promotes restorative sleep.
- Encourage independence: help your baby rely on self-soothing tools like a nightlight so they can fall back asleep on their own.
- Be patient and consistent: your child’s sleep habits can take time to develop. Try to remain consistent in routines and in your responses to night wakings.
Health and Medical Care
In the early years, regular check-ups are important to monitor your baby’s healthy development. At 8 months, a check-up is generally scheduled to assess weight gain, motor and cognitive development, diet, and mandatory vaccinations.
Vaccinations This Month
At 8 months, there are no mandatory vaccinations scheduled, but feel free to discuss upcoming vaccines with your pediatrician during your next visit.
Vaccination plays a key role in protecting your baby from serious illnesses. It’s important to make sure all scheduled vaccines up to this age have been administered. These vaccines help prevent diseases like measles, mumps, and rubella, which can have serious consequences for infants.
Common Illnesses at 8 Months
Among the most common illnesses at 8 months is gastroenteritis. If your baby shows symptoms like vomiting or diarrhea, contact your healthcare provider promptly and monitor hydration, for example by using oral rehydration solutions (ORS).
Medical visits are also the perfect time to discuss your baby’s diet, especially if you have questions about food diversification. Feel free to bring up any feeding behavior changes, if your baby refuses the bottle, or if you’re unsure how much milk to give.
In conclusion, at 8 months, your baby is going through an exciting phase of motor and cognitive development, marked by the exploration of new foods and (almost) independent movement.
–
Photos: OlhaRomaniuk | Sandsun | innasap | SabrinaBracher | GalinkaZhi
This text was translated from French by an artificial intelligence. The information, advice, and sources it contains comply with French standards and may therefore not apply to your situation. Make sure to complement this reading by visiting the May US/UK app and consulting the healthcare professionals who are supporting you.
