Our baby continues to grow and has reached five months. Each time he gets more control of his movements and his body, and above all, he advances in his communication with us, filling us with joy and emotions. We, continuing with our Baby calendar we address now the five months.
His evolution advances and social skills are for him an inexhaustible source of pleasure and learning. He is still a very small baby, so his diet remains exclusively adequate breast or artificial milk. The control of his muscles is an effort motivated above all by his desire to discover the environment and the attraction that everything that surrounds him exerts on him.
Let's take a closer look at the specific characteristics of five-month-old babies, both physically and emotionally.
The feeding needs of a five month old baby
At five months babies should be fed exclusively with breast milk or artificial milk recommended by the pediatrician and not introduce complementary feeding prematurely.
Many babies go through a growth crisis in the third or fourth month in which their demand for food grows and can especially distress nursing mothers. At five months, breastfeeding is usually well established and demand-regulated production.
However, in many cases the baby still needs, if requested, nighttime breastfeeding to maintain proper nutrition. In addition, many moms have returned to work by then, so it may happen that you take them that you don't ask during the day at night. It is perfectly normal.
Babies who take a bottle also follow a pattern of regularization of their intakes and are still infants who must feed on adequate milk for them. In any case the bottle, except if there is an indication of the pediatrician in this regard, must be given on demand.
The growth of a five month baby
The baby continues to grow at a more or less regular rate, although we must not rule out changes in its percentile without these, in principle and unless directed by the doctor, are worrisome. Especially breastfed babies grow at a stretch, so a decrease in the rate of punctual growth is not an issue that indicates any pathology.
The average growth over the fifth month is a couple of centimeters for both boys and girls and about 500 grams for both boys and girls, as shown by the World Health Organization graphs .
However, it must be reiterated that the percentiles are an orientation and that any percentile is correct, without a child being healthier for being in a higher or lower percentile. The very sharp percentile changes and also accompanied by adverse symptoms are what could alert a problem, but not that our baby is one of those below 50 or 25.
The dream in a baby of five months
Five-month-old babies still have numerous completely healthy and normal night wakings for their age. For them it is very necessary to be treated in these awakenings and feel the company of their parents, especially letting them suck if they ask. Sleeping with the baby in the room or in the same bed makes nighttime rest much easier and provides more peace for the family.
Your ability to move
As I explained in the introduction the ability to move and control of our baby's muscles progresses rapidly. Now he manages his body faster and controls it better.
You can turn around, lift your head arching your back if you are facing down and lift your head and shoulders if you are facing up.
Control of your baby's muscles is more energetic, faster and more coordinated. You can turn from being face down to face without any help. If you lie on your stomach you probably already extend your arms and legs and arch your back, and if you lie on your back, raise your head and shoulders.
The window in which you will acquire other motor skills opens now and within normality there are many possible variations, as we can see in the WHO table that indicates the achievements that babies are getting. From now on, the progress towards the sitting position without help and crawling begins, which can be presented soon.
Coordinate grabbing things with your little hands and teaching safe toys is a way to help you exercise. And notice, they must be safe toys, because his way of exploring the characteristics of things is oral and tactile, and everything we give him is going to take him to his mouth, not being convenient to prevent it except if he has taken something dangerous.
Learning to speak
Yes, the baby is determined to learn to speak. He loves that we tell him things, that we sing to him, recite poems and sing children's sounds. He is very sensitive to shouting and any threatening or nervous tone that we use with him, and for him it is already a real suffering. Sweetness in treatment and words, joy and pampering are the best food for your intellectual growth.
Begin to babble repeating open vowels and the consonants eme, be and pe. He exercises a lot even when he is alone, trying to reproduce sounds with his developing sounding device. We can listen to his nice pedreretas and collaborate with him repeating them.
It may seem to us that he understands many things we say, and possibly it is true, we can even guess it by looking at many of his happy reactions.
He recognizes his name, the sounds and his direction and the voices of the people he loves, turning his head and rejoicing to hear them. Talking to him a lot and with a lot of love is the best way to communicate with him.
The emotions and sociability of the baby
The baby has advanced a lot in his ability to express himself and in parallel he does so in the complexity and richness of his emotional world and his social and emotional relationships.
He does not like being alone and demands attention and company, as they are very necessary. If we leave his field of vision for him, we have disappeared from his horizon of experience and it is common for that to trigger a heartbroken cry that we will do very well to attend.
His love is enormous for us and his ability to express it is inexhaustible, kisses, carantos, pampering, caresses we love and he is very happy with our affectionate manifestations. He laughs at the graces and candies we give them and that makes enjoying his company a gift that should not be missed.
Since he recognizes the voice and begins to be able to understand, our arrival home will be greeted with cheerful twitter and if we get out of his vision it is appropriate to inform him even if we are not sure he understands what we say. It is very possible that as much as our presence rejoices, he will be scared and disturbed by strangers, especially if they take him in his arms or stay with him without the presence of the father figures that give him security. Do not force them, because their reaction is very natural.
Conclusion
The great advances in the physical, cognitive and emotional development of our babies do not have to be the same at all or occur at the same time. There are some general guidelines but in case of any doubt you should always consult with the pediatrician, who will be the one who will assess whether everything goes according to normal.
But of course, our role as parents is to offer the child the right environment to favor their development, without stimulating it excessively or obsessing us with exercises, but simply enjoying, spending time, talking to him, playing with him and being present consciously and lovingly when he needs us .
