Healthy Start, Grow Smart: Your Seven-Month-Old

• Exercise, or take a walk.
• Eat healthy food.
• Spend time resting in a quiet place, reading or listening to music. Do something creative that you enjoy.
• Spend time talking with adults you enjoy. These may be your family, friends or a community group.
• Get enough rest. Check with your doctor if you are always tired.
• Share your thoughts, hopes and beliefs with your spouse, family or friends. Listen to their thoughts, too. Different points of view may help you solve problems.

• I creep across the floor, and I may crawl.
• I may help you pull me up to a standing position by keeping my legs straight.
• When you hold me under my arms, I can stand and step in place. I like to look at my feet.
• When I’m lying on my back, I like to bring my feet to my mouth.
• I can hold an object in each hand. I like to bang things together.
• I can sit with a little support.
• I have very good eyesight.
• I am starting to feed myself with my hands.

• I like to imitate the sounds I hear.
• I like to say short sounds, like “ba,” “ma,” “mu,” or “di.” I say several sounds in a row.

• I listen to my own voice and the voices of other people.
• I may cry when my mommy or daddy leaves.
• I like to give hugs and kisses to people I know.
• I only want my favorite people to pick me up.

• I explore with my hands and feet.
• I struggle to get objects that are out of my reach.
• I can find objects that are partly hidden.
• When you bounce a ball in front of me more than once, I expect the next bounce.

Talking Together Helps Spouses Handle Stress

• Don’t blame each other. This will only make the tension between you worse. Avoid saying “you always” or “you never.”

• Take turns listening to each other. Listen, and then use your own words to repeat what your spouse says. “So you are saying that you feel left out when I spend so much time with the baby?” Don’t interrupt. You will have your turn next.

• When it is your turn to talk, use “I” messages, such as, “I feel like I have to do all of the work.” Avoid using “you.” Don’t say “You never do anything around here.”

• Don’t expect your spouse to read your mind or guess what you are feeling. Say how you feel.

• Be specific about what is troubling you. You can say “I get upset when you say you’ll clean the bathroom, but then you don’t do it.”

• Be sure to say what you like about what your spouse does. You can say “I like how you’re patient with the baby,” or “It’s good how you handle the shopping.”

• Roll a soft ball to him and let him pick it up.
• Play peek-a-boo.
• Play clapping games with him.
• Smile and clap when he does what he is trying to do.
• Hug and comfort him when he gets upset because he can’t do things.

• Sit your baby on the floor and put a large empty plastic container in front of him. Hold a small ball over the container and drop it in. Do it a few times and then give him the ball.

• Encourage him to drop it into the container.

• Put your baby on the floor. Give him several soft balls to play with.

• Put your baby on the floor. Place several toys around him. Pick each one up and name it. Hand it to your baby. You can use a cup, a toy telephone, a doll, a spoon, a ball, a block, a stuffed animal or other toys.

• While playing games and having fun, talk to him about the things you are doing.

• Squeeze one of your baby’s toys to make it squeak. Then hide it under a blanket while he is watching you. Let him try to find it.

• Bang two toys or objects together in front of your baby. Then let him try it, too.

• Give your baby one end of a towel or scarf and you take the other. Gently pull on your end.

• Cut out large, colorful pictures of objects from magazines. Paste the pictures on paper to make a book for your baby. Sit your baby on your lap and talk to him about each picture.

• Let your baby play with musical toys, such as bells. Make sure that none of the parts can come loose.

• Check the temperature of your baby’s bath water before you put him into the tub.
• If you can, set your hot water heater to 120 degrees or less. Hot water can burn your baby’s skin.
• Never leave your baby alone in the bath. Never leave him alone in water, even in a small amount of water. Never leave him alone near any water, not even a mop pail or a basin with water in it.
• Never shake or hit your baby.
• Never smoke around your baby.
• Never sip from a hot drink while holding your baby.
• Never cook at a hot stove while holding your baby.

• Crib mattresses should fit snugly. There should be no gaps between the mattress and the sides of the crib.
• The mattress should not be covered with plastic of any kind.
• The slats on the sides of the crib should be 2 3/8 inches apart, or even closer. Here is a 2 3/8–inch line:            _______________________

• Make sure the car seat is used properly.
• Buckle your baby in his car seat in the back seat of your car. The child seat should face the rear of the car.
• Babies should never ride in the front seat of a car.
• Never hold your baby in your lap while you are driving.
• Never leaver your baby in a car alone.

• Never leave your baby alone with a pet, even if the pet is gentle.

Playing together

• Set aside a time to be alone with your older children. Let them pick an activity they would like to do.

• Tell them stories about what you did with them when they were babies.

• When you are doing things with your baby, let your older children take part. For example, let them help pick out a book to read to their siblings and sit with you when you read to your baby.

• Teach your older children how to play some of the games described in this magazine with the baby under your supervision.

• After you put your baby to bed one night, have a pizza party or special meal with your older children.

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