Baby development at 5-6 months: what’s happening
At 5-6 months, your baby is learning about who she is. She’s also working out the difference between parents, caregivers, strangers, adults and children. At this age, she has made important attachments to her parents and other close family members or carers, and likes spending time with them.
Around this time, your baby might seem more aware or afraid of grown-ups he doesn’t know well – this is stranger anxiety. It’s a normal part of learning to feel safe in the world. If you give your child time, he’ll eventually get used to these new people.
Your baby can express emotions – laughing, squealing and smiling with happiness, joy and pleasure. At this age, she’ll smile when she wants to. But she’ll also grunt, frown and cry if she’s angry or sad.
When it comes to communicating, your baby might babble and make sounds like ‘baba’ or ‘gaga’. But he’ll also let you know what he wants using other noises, movements and smiling. For example, putting his arms up might mean ‘Lift me up’.
Around this age, your baby can move her head on her own and is starting to move her body more by reaching, wriggling and rolling.
Your baby is also much better at using his eyes to guide his hands. He can reach out for objects with one hand, grab things and put them in his mouth or move them from hand to hand. Touching and tasting is how he learns about things now.
Your baby’s appetite is growing, and she’s ready to experience how different foods taste and feel. This means it’s a good time to introduce solid foods.
At this age your baby might also:
- bang or shake toys to learn how they work
- sit up with some support and maybe use his hands to help him balance when he’s sitting
- stop what he’s doing when he hears you say ‘no’.
Source: http://raisingchildren.net.au/articles/baby_development_6_months.html
