Your 24 Week Old Baby – Development, Milestones & Care

It’s time to celebrate, your baby is now 6 months old! There may be a lot of questions in your mind like whether your baby is left-handed or right-handed? Whether your baby is ready for solid foods or not? When will she be able to roll over? Here are all the answers:

A 24 Week-Old Baby’s Development

A 24 week-old baby’s weight and size varies depending on its growth and development. Along with those excited expressions, you will also notice that she can almost fully sit by herself, play with toys and also pass it on to others, already crawling around or getting herself ready to start! She is even ready for light foods apart from breast milk and formula. You might be wondering if your little one is left-handed or right-handed, but it is too early to tell at this stage. She needs to be at least 2 or 3 years old in order to be sure if she is right handed or left handed.

A 24 Week-Old Baby’s Milestones

• Physically she will now be almost twice her birth weight and size. Her skin and complexion will be much clearer by now as compared to the time she was born.
• She is developing mentally as well; you can now see that she recognises your touch, voice and feel. She will start making funny expressions, feel happy and excited, confused and angry at times. She will start recognising people around her especially if you have a joint family and relations staying with you.
• As her bones and muscles become strong, she will now be able to sit and roll around by herself! Some babies would have even started to crawl around. Do not worry if yours has not started she’s gearing up for it.
• As she is developing both mentally and physically, you might witness that she regularly wakes up at night. You need to support her by feeding and soothing her back to sleep. In the next 24 weeks, she will also start teething which will add on to her frequent waking up in the night.
• As her nervous system and brain are developing you will now notice that she brings her bare feet to her mouth and starts sucking and chewing on it. Be patient and let her enjoy this experience as she has started gaining control over her lower body movements.

Baby Feeding

As her body goes through major developments, it’s now time to introduce light and easy to digest food along with the breast milk or formula. Some of the good options are finger foods like rice puffs, boneless fish, fruits like apple, banana or mango, etc. Also, remember there are certain foods which you need to completely avoid till the time your baby reaches the correct age. In spite of the conflicting information, you will fumble across it is highly recommended that the transition to solid foods start by the 6^th month.

When you introduce a new food to your baby be ready for that million dollar expression on her face! She will get to use her tongue, lips, and gums in different ways while eating solid foods. Also have patience as it can be a little messy during the initial phase, as she starts to chew and swallow the food in her mouth for the first time. You can use a large size bib that also covers neck and hands as well, to avoid those beautiful dresses from getting stains. Use a high chair with a plastic mat beneath, as cleaning can be easier once you have finished feeding her. Use soft spoons which are easily available in the market if you are feeding foods like yoghurt, soup, etc.

Sleeping

A 24-week old baby’s sleep pattern depends on various factors that include:

• During these magical weeks, your baby is introduced to all new challenges one of them is eating solid foods. Due to this change in feeding your 24-week old baby might have disrupted sleep at night.
• Along with the solid foods, the brain developments, crawling, and teething will also add on to the misery. All these factors cause your 24 weeks old baby to get up frequently at night; you will need to feed and soothe her to sleep during this period.
• As the months pass by you might also notice frequent wailing at night when your baby turns 8-10 months old as this is the period when your baby will be super active and crawling around. As you cannot prevent her from waking up frequently, you can ease her discomfort and put her back to sleep.

A 24 Week-Old Baby’s Care Tips

• Caring for your baby can be really tiring and will totally absorb you, so take time and try to enjoy the moment with your growing baby. When she’s 24 weeks old, it is the perfect time to secure your baby in a pram and go around for a walk or visits.
• Try not to be overprotective and limit their exposure to a particular place or area. Let her explore around and positively deal with her inquisitiveness.
• Be very careful in what you choose to feed on your baby, speak to a nutritionist and get a balanced diet plan apt for her stage.
• Your baby still needs at least 3-daytime naps in the duration of 1-3 hours. So put her to sleep even if she is not very keen on sleeping off. You can do this by telling her bedtime stories.
• Try not to be too fanatical about cleanliness around your baby and don’t prevent her from sucking each every toy or other articles. Till the time its harmful to her you may let her explore.

Tests and Vaccinations

You need to keep a check on the dates for vaccination of your 24-week old baby. The vaccinations to be taken when your baby reaches 6 months include:

• Influenza flu vaccine is recommended for 6 months and above babies.
• The third dose of Rotavirus immunisation vaccine (also known as RV)
• The Pneumococcal conjugate vaccine (commonly known as a PCV)
• The third dose of Haemophilus influenzae type b vaccine (also known as Hib) immunizations is to be done.

Games and Activities

Your 24-week old baby is now full of energy and very active. She needs a lot of time on the floor to explore things around and also exercise her limb muscles for physical development. She will also start bringing her legs to her mouth to suck and chew! It will be a fun game for a few weeks, and this prepares her legs and hips for crawling. It will also help her to get to sitting position from lying down.

Your princess will also love games which involve rhymes, talking, sing, and any kind of sounds. You can make animal sounds and show her the photographs to make her laugh and teach at the same time. She might also start mimicking you with this fun game.

Finger puppets are another good option. Little kids really enjoy finger puppets, and you can find her active involvement in this game.

Spotting Development Delays

Every baby is unique and grows at its own pace. In many cases, the baby growth and development is slow but normal. So you need not worry in case your 24-week old baby has not achieved the general physical milestones.

If your baby was born prematurely before 37 weeks of pregnancy, then she might take a little longer time before she can do the same things other babies can do. Premature babies are given dual dates namely, a chronological age which is the birth date of the baby and Corrected age which means the baby’s actual due date. So you need to measure your baby’s development from her corrected age and not her chronological date.

When to Consult a Doctor

Consult a doctor if you encounter any kind of unusual behavioural changes like crying uncontrollably, high fever, lack of interest in playing and not active like before. She might experience diarrhoea owing to the changes in the diet; it is better to consult a doctor in such cases. These signs might or might not be related to teething or something which is perfectly normal, but it is better to have a proper discussion with the doctor.

This is the best time to develop a strong bonding with your little princess. So just enjoy the special moments with your family. Capture these precious moments which will serve as a treasure in the years to come. Happy parenting!!