8 month old baby

What an 8 month old baby is doing

Eight months is a month of independence in small ways. The HSE describes a baby who can get themselves into a sitting position without being placed there, and who can grasp a small object between their thumb and the side of their index finger — the first version of a pincer grip. When they drop something, they pick it up again.

Language starts to sound like language. Your baby may make more babbling sounds and string them together in a way that resembles adult speech, and may say "mama" or "dada" without yet knowing what those mean. Socially, peek-a-boo becomes a game they can play rather than just watch, which is a neat outward sign of the object permanence developing around now.

Not crawling at 8 months

This is one of the most searched worries of the whole first year, and the reassuring part is structural. The 2022 revision of the CDC's developmental surveillance checklists, carried out by an expert working group convened by the American Academy of Pediatrics, rebuilt the lists around milestones that at least 75% of children would be expected to achieve by a given age, specifically to discourage a wait-and-see approach. That revision cut about a quarter of the previous milestones and replaced around 40% of them, and crawling was not retained. Babies get moving in too many ways — bottom shuffling, commando crawling, straight from sitting to pulling up — for one style to work as a checklist item.

What the HSE does flag at eight months is sitting. Contact a GP or public health nurse if your baby is not sitting independently, if you are concerned about their development, or if they lose skills they had before. Sitting, not crawling, is the eight-month marker. Our guide to crawling, standing and first steps covers the wider range for moving about, and our milestones guide explains how surveillance checklists are meant to be used: they support a conversation at an appointment, and are not screening or diagnostic tools.

No teeth at 8 months

Also common, also usually fine. The NHS says most babies start teething at around six months, but some start before four months and some after twelve, and a few babies are born with teeth. Its rough order puts central incisors at around six months and lateral incisors at around eight, but that is described as a rough guide, not a timetable. A baby with no teeth at eight months is inside the stated range.

Where teeth are coming, expect a sore red gum, one flushed cheek, a rash on the face, ear rubbing, more dribbling than usual, a lot of gnawing and chewing, fretfulness and disturbed sleep. Teething can raise a temperature slightly but to less than 38C, and the NHS notes there is no evidence teething causes diarrhoea, despite the folklore.

What actually helps a teething baby

Teething rings give your baby something safe to chew and can be cooled in the fridge first, but never in the freezer, because a frozen ring can damage the gums, and never tied around the neck. If your baby is weaning, healthy things to chew such as raw fruit and vegetables can help, and soft fruit like melon soothes gums — watch them the whole time. Avoid rusks, because nearly all brands contain sugar. For pain, paracetamol can be given from two months and ibuprofen from three months; follow the instructions on the medicine. The NHS says there is a lack of evidence that teething gels are effective, and recommends trying rings or sugar-free painkillers first.

Sleep at 8 months

Eight months is the second of the widely described disruption points, and the same caveat applies as at four months: "sleep regression" is a parenting term, not a clinical one. What the NHS describes instead is the ordinary instability — sleep patterns change as your baby grows, and it can feel as though every settled routine gets rewritten.

Three things land near this age at once: new motor skills your baby wants to practise, which is why they sit up in the cot at 2am; teething; and growing wariness of unfamiliar people, which becomes clearer separation anxiety over the next couple of months. The published NHS figure for this band is that a baby may sleep for up to 12 hours at night by around six months, with teething pain and hunger disturbing it — a ceiling, not a promise. Nap counts are the other eight-month search, usually as "one nap a day", and no national health body publishes a nap schedule at all.

Food at 8 months

By now solids should be moving beyond smooth textures. The NHS advises progressing from puréed or blended food to mashed, lumpy and finger foods as soon as your baby can manage, and letting your baby feed themselves with their fingers as soon as they show interest. Let them touch and hold food; that is part of learning it. Keep offering rejected foods, since it can take ten tries or more, and keep distractions such as television and phones out of mealtimes.

No added salt, including stock cubes and gravy, and no added sugar. Avoid hard foods like whole nuts and raw carrot or apple, quarter small round foods such as grapes and cherry tomatoes, and stay with your baby whenever they are eating.

When to get urgent help

A temperature of 38C or more is not teething. Get urgent advice for a high temperature with other signs of illness, feeding much less than usual, far fewer wet nappies, a baby who is difficult to wake, or breathing that looks like hard work.