Milestones That 5 and 6 Month Olds Should Achieve
Continuing with our series on child development, today let’s talk about infant development between five and six months of age.
Five Month Milestones:
- At five months a baby should be able to hold his head steady. When you pull him up to sit his head will not lag behind. If you do see his head lagging behind when you sit him up, it’s very important for you to take him to the doctor to have him evaluated.
- A child of five months old will bring his hands to his mouth and will start transferring objects from one hand to the other.
- When he’s lying down on his belly he will push up on his elbows. If by five month’s of age your baby is not supporting himself on his elbows, that’s an indication that he needs to be checked by a pediatrician or a developmental specialist.
Six Month Milestones:
- At six months of age, a child should be able to sustain his sitting position. He won’t sit completely independently but will need only a little bit of support. He’ll have better sitting posture now, and he should be able to turn his head to both sides while sitting, to scan his environment.
- He will attempt to reach objects, bring them to the center of his body, transfer them from one hand to the other, and take them to his mouth.
- When he’s lying on his belly he should now have the ability to push up on his hands, so that his chest is all the way off the surface he’s on. If your child is not doing these motor skills, take your child to the pediatrician, because this is an indicator of a delay in development.
- By six months of age, the child should be consistently tracking objects from the center of his body to both sides, and he should be reaching for that object in different positions (reaching for it in the center or off to any side).
- He should be looking at you and responding to your verbal and nonverbal communications, like your facial expressions. He should be babbling and interacting with you. If your child doesn’t seem to be interested in his environment, please take him to the doctor. Nowadays there are studies that show a great correlation between a child who is not interested in his environment and features of the autism spectrum.
We will continue to give you more details about development as we progress in age, and we’ll give you potential red flags to look for in case the child is presenting characteristics of autism spectrum disorder. If you have specific questions about your child, please give us a call today.
