Part 2 Building Your Child's Intellect from 5 to 7 months

Let your baby struggle...a little

At this age your 5 to 7 month old gets to learn to cope with gravity from the experience of falling from a sitting position.  Obviously this type of experience should only occur in carpeted or padded areas. When the five- to seven-month-old topples from a sitting position, wise parents will let him struggle briefly before coming to his assistance. Parents who rush too quickly to help often do a disservice to the infant by removing his opportunity to respond to and struggle through this situation successfully.  Allowing him to try to recover from a gentle fall will increase his physical balance and allow him to build muscular capacity.

Part 1 Building your 5 to 7 Month Old's Intellect

By the time a baby is five to seven months old (depending on each child’s individual abilities), he is becoming ego-centered and is demanding more attention. He prefers to be in the sitting position and struggles to be where he can see and interact with others. At this age, his sensory experiences will have increased greatly. He should have many objects to grasp and examine. He should be able to to shift objects from one hand to another. Help him practice this.


Increase your baby’s exposure to music and conversation during this time. Your infant now has more social awareness and will respond readily to things that happen around him. He should have an opportunity to grasp and bang toys or his fists on his high chair or feeding table. This and other similar experiences will stimulate him to make vocal sounds. Encourage his vocalization as much as possible in other experiences besides crying. Try to get him to make sounds and make a special effort to react to the sounds he makes.

Part 2 Playtime with your infant during the first 16 weeks

Delighting your Baby's Senses
Your little baby's senses are very keen, especially to sounds and touch.  That is why this playtime activity is so much fun.  First, position your baby so she is looking directly at you.  Then lightly caress her skin with your fingertips.  As you are doing this, speak softly and pleasingly to your baby.  Now try using a soft toy or fabric and lightly brush this across her arms, legs, face, and tummy.  Last, say things like "tickle, tickle, tickle!" And "oh it's so soft!"  With her keen sense of touch and sound, she will love the intellectual interaction and bond that she is having with you.  

Part 1 Playtime with your infant During the First 16 Weeks

Facinating Faces

Before playing with your infant make sure that he is ready: diaper, recently fed, recently had a nap.  Position him so that he is looking straight at you.  Your baby loves to look at you and is facinated by your face.  Try opening your mouth wide with a smile and making ooooooh and aaaaaaaah noises.  Stick out your tongue and move your eyebrows up and down.  Make silly faces.  Laugh.  This game will stimulate your infant's intellect and will also bond you with your baby.  You may even notice that your infant may be imitating you by sticking out his tongue or making noises.  This simple game may only last for only a minute or two, but will reward you and your baby again and again. 

Part 4 Learning During the First Few Weeks of Life

By the time a baby reaches 16 weeks of age, she will likely have begun to show interest in matters other than feeding, sleeping, and being kept dry and clean. She will want to be held and will enjoy being propped up. Objects that attract attention and stimulate curiosity on a broader scale should come into her experience at this time. She should have her feeding and sleeping routine fairly well established. Encourage her to follow moving objects with her eyes and to reach for things with her hands. Provide frequent opportunities for her to vocalize, touch, and reach for things.


The 16-week-old child should show some emotional response to outside stimuli. She should be cooing and trying to make initial sounds other than crying. She should be stimulated to smile, even laugh aloud, and to respond to all kinds of sound and motion.

Part 3 Learning During the First Few Weeks of Life

"Shhhhh!  The baby is sleeping."   This is a normal statement made by every parent.   However, while it is not uncommon for parents to demand absolute silence when the baby is taking her morning and afternoon naps, this will not help the baby become tolerant of normal household noises or make the home a natural, normally functioning place. Try teaching your baby to sleep with the usual sounds around the home. She will learn to live in a world with a fairly high noise level and be able to carry on her normal routine while adjusting to life’s circumstances.

Please let me know what you think about naps and household noises?  I think this topic deserves some discussion since we all want our babies to have good nap.

When talking about developoment stages, remember each child is unique

As we discuss learning activities and developmental stages, remember that each child is unique. Your child may not respond to certain activities or situations in precisely the same way as other children her age. She may develop at a different rate than what is outlined in this blog. She may master things more quickly, or may take a little more time. These differences are to be expected and should not cause you any degree of alarm. The parameters outlined in this blog are given as general guidelines; individual differences, exceptions and variations are to be welcomed and expected.

Part 2 Learning During the First Few Weeks of Life

Crib Toys

Be sure that the crib is an active, responsive place—a place your baby will enjoy. Inexpensive crib toys are commonly used to offer sensory experiences for the infant from about the age of four months to the time he is able to crawl. Such toys should be colorful so that they attract your child’s vision as he is learning to focus his eyes. They should, if possible, stimulate your child to want to reach, which provides practice in coordinating his arm and leg muscles. Some crib toys should make sounds to stimulate the sense of hearing; they should be responsive to the movement of hands and feet. They should excite and stimulate curiosity. Toys should be rotated frequently so that they do not lose their appeal. The more sound, color, and touch stimulation for your child, the greater will be his opportunity for growth during the early months of life.

Part 1: Learning During the First Few Weeks of Life

The First Few Weeks of Life
Your baby will gain feelings of security by having her physical needs met promptly and regularly in response to her cries. When your baby cries because she is hungry, feed her. If she is fussy because her diaper is wet, change her. If she seems to simply want to be held, hold her. These simple and repetitive acts of serving and comforting your child are the means by which your child learns who you are and that she can trust you. Do all you can to foster the bond that is now being forged with your child.

It is okay to let your child cry sometimes—especially after you have done everything you can to soothe and comfort her. But by and large, you should respond to your baby’s crying in whatever way seems most likely to comfort her. Some babies are quiet, demanding little attention. Busy parents can easily neglect such “low maintenance” babies and fail to provide a stimulating environment. Often the inactive, good-natured, non-crying baby is the baby who needs environmental stimulation the most. Make certain you are consistently comforting, holding, and talking to your baby.

The first 10 months your child’s life should be a time filled with joy and positive experiences as your child learns to know and trust you and gains confidence in herself. Do all you can to help your child have good feelings about interacting with you. Frequently give her your full attention. Smile at her, talk to her, sing to her, and hold her.

Along with nurturing feelings of security, a major purpose of initiating early interactions with your child is to nurture your child’s intelligence. There is overwhelming reason to believe that stimulation of mental activity at the earliest possible age is vital. You should consistently provide varied sensory experiences for your child.

During the first ten months of your child’s life, focus on systematically building her pre-vocabulary skills, encouraging vocalization, and increasing her visual, listening, and muscular skills. Allow your baby to sit or recline in many positions. She should be situated in different locations in the home where she can see a variety of items, shapes, and colors both inside and outside the crib.