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Can you believe your baby is growing so fast that he is almost eight months old now? By now your baby has probably started clapping his hands, crawling, and can even pick up small objects. Waking up less at night or taking more naps may be signs that your baby is channelling his energy into growing. Your baby will be enchanted and challenged by the world around him, and therefore, he will be needing you constantly and will not leave you for even a minute or two. His mobility means that as you go through your routine work, there will be a little shadow following you all around.
A 32 Week-Old Baby’s Development
In between six and nine months, babies also show some suspicion when something out of the ordinary happens. Babies have no filter through which they can hide their emotions (suffering, pain, sorrow, anger). In addition to that, they have limited experiences overall, so they face many novel situations in which they’ll display categorical fear. At those moments, your child will turn towards you for comfort and reassurance. Babies may also gain a lot of body fat as there is a developmental stage. With each day, he is learning new ways of discovering his environment. Starts to get perfect with skills. You might notice that he is more resistant when you pick him up, dress him, or change his clothes. Instead of playing randomly, now he wants to play with whatever and wherever his hand could reach, he focuses on interesting objects like pens, toys, shoes, kitchen utensils, mobile phones, etc. All these activities will help in building both large and fine motor skills of your baby.
A Thirty-Two Week-Old Baby’s Milestones
Here is a summary of skills that are developed in the 32 week grown babies – either now or in near future. Keep in mind that these milestones may differ within a range of few weeks which is again normal.
- Dropping and throwing: Your baby will be thrilled to discover that by now they have got much better control over their hands and fingers, so they can drop things for you to pick up and perhaps even throw things. This will not be a thrill for you!
- Speech: By now he may start saying “mamma”, “Papa”, and may also start waving his hand to say bye-bye.
- Emotional development: Your baby may get more anxious if they don’t find you around. They may also be able to differentiate between the familiar and unfamiliar people. They can now crawl hastily, grasp things with her thumb and finger and try to put them into the mouth.
- Teeth: By now two or more teeth may have appeared which may increase the tendency of chewing up things.
- Feeding: Baby may start holding things by himself, therefore may start loving biscuits, boiled vegetables etc.
- Gestures: Gestures will be a part of his regular vocabulary by now. Babies will start using their hands, shake his head, or push you if they want something.
Feeding
By now breastfeeding would have been comparatively less painful experience. Even the discomforts and fear due to the arrival of his new teeth will be pain-free because when he is actively taking the feed, his tongue will completely cover the teeth, which means, the sharp teeth will not hurt your nipple. Now that he has his first teeth, he may start exploring new adventure of biting! But don’t be afraid and be assured that feedings is not a painful experience. There are many ways which can help you to eliminate from being bitten by your little one.
Understand one thing, biting you is not at all done purposely to hurt you. While feeding you may experience his teeth piercing, or even slightly denting, on your tender skin. One of the reason can be all the feeds given in same position, due to which you might develop a sore spot from the repeated pressure by his teeth. Therefore, you can alternate the positions in which you give feeds. Another idea is to make him play with toys (plastic used for manufacturing toys should not be toxic) and make him eat chewable food which will reduce the edges of sharp teeth and relieve the pressure which is developed inside the teeth. Another way is to recognize his biting behaviour. This can be done by making note of the way he takes the feed and observing the change in a pattern of sucking and take him away promptly before he could bite you. In case you are being bitten by him, show your discontentment and put him away from you. To make him understand, you will need to do this many a times, as his memory is still on the developing stage, he might take time to understand the message.
Biting is again a sign of development; some babies bite reflexively to whatever comes in his mouth. Therefore,try introducing bottles, dummies, sippy cups, chilled carrot, cucumber or watermelon slice.
Sleeping
Now because he is able to use his newly developed physical motor skills, he will be rolling on bed or floor, crawling or may also try to stand on his own, they will keep practicing it for hours and hours. All of these activities can shorten, the happy hours’ sleep, or may have vanished totally! For 32 week old baby, sleep is an essential component for his growth physically and mentally, therefore, try to be consistent in his nap schedule for a proper routine of naps each day. Morning and afternoon naps are much needed, your baby should have a nap time of at least half an hour. In case he skips any of the naps make him sleep early at night. There should not be any compromise for your baby’s sleep, this is because, good sleep will help with good physical growth and mental development.
A 32 Week-Old Baby’s Care Tips
As he is growing, his motor skills get triggered and he starts exploring new things new places. Now that you know about all the sorts of mischief he may start, you may probably start worrying about his safety. You may try securing him from getting hurt by making your home a safe place. To make sure your home is safe, here are some tips:
- Make sure that corner and edge of your furniture are cushioned so that when your baby falls while he is learning to walk, he won’t get hurt when he hits his head on the table.
- The cabinets and drawers are always locked.
- Door of your toilet, rooms are always closed in a way that your baby cannot open it.
- Outlets of the plug should be covered so that your baby can’t get electrocuted.
Tests and Vaccinations
By now you must be aware of different vaccinations that are important and mandatory for the growing babies to fight against the harsh environment. Therefore, to remind you again, at eight months, your baby would need Hepatitis B and IPV booster.
Games and Activities
To help him in developing his motor skills and strengthen his muscles, you can introduce different activities. Teach him stacking objects using colourful plastic cups. Now that your baby has adapted to sit, use of toy cars or other wheeled toys will help him to enjoy and play around. Hide under the curtains and ask him to uncover you or hide objects under a towel and encourage him to uncover them, such activities will strengthen his concept of permanence.
When to Consult a Doctor
To watch your little angel grow is an enthralling experience but also analyzing the way he is developing will help you to overcome the persistent fear for his well-being. Always remember that spotting out the delay in development and growth of your baby will help in better diagnosis. Therefore, if your 32 weeks old baby is getting fussy, or you see signs like stiff muscles, does not laugh with squealing sound, does not exhibit any sign of affection, sensitive to light, doesn’t bear weight on legs or is unable to sit even with support, doesn’t respond to her own name, doesn’t play any games, doesn’t recognize familiar people, then consult a paediatrician for early intervention.
Every child is different but will behave in a somewhat similar manner, maybe sooner or later. Some children warm up quickly; others take a longer time. Be patient and enjoy this time with your baby as she is moving and getting acquainted with new people, new environments, and new conditions. Happy mommy’ing!
