Month 7
Key points
- By seven months old, your baby is likely to be sitting, babbling and may be trying to crawl.
- Iron is a key nutrient from seven months onwards – learn how to add iron-rich foods to their diet.
- Solid foods offer important ways for your baby to explore different tastes and textures.
The past half-year has flown by and your little one is becoming more active, curious and expressive every day. At around seven months, babies often hit exciting new milestones – like sitting without support, experimenting with sounds and showing off their first teeth.
Feeding is also evolving – breast milk or infant formula remains vital, but solid foods are now on the menu. At seven months of age, iron is one of the most important nutrients for your baby because, at six months, the iron they received from their mum in the womb starts to run low. Now is a great time to focus on iron-rich foods to support your baby’s growing brain and body.
Nutrition at Seven Months
Breast milk or infant formula still makes up most of your baby’s nutrition until 12 months, so continue offering breast or formula feeds as usual and treat solids as an addition. Your baby might be putting their hands in their food or reaching for it, wanting to feed themselves. Giving them a soft spoon to hold as you feed them lets them practise their fine motor skills and coordination as they reach for the bowl.
Your baby explores their senses, learning about tastes, textures and smells through the food you offer them. When you introduce solids, your baby will eat pureed, almost liquid foods: you can add breast milk or formula to make foods thinner and easier to swallow. As your little ones grow, you can offer mashed foods with soft lumps and textures suitable to their stage of development.
Eating as a family and sharing your food, where appropriate, may help create a positive environment and encourage themto try new foods. Once your baby eats two or three tablespoons of pureed food at a time, you can look at increasing the number of meals offered each day.
Why Iron Matters Now
From around six months, your baby’s iron needs increase significantly – they need about 11mg of iron per day. Breast milk or infant formula remains the main source of nutrition, but they’ll need solids that contain iron too. Your little one’s iron needs are fairly stable from six months to one year old.Focusing on your iron intake too – including iron-rich foods like eggs, leafy greens and lean meat – is great for keeping your energy up.
Introduce a variety of iron-rich foods to your little one’s routine, including:
Pureed animal sources (haem iron, which is easily absorbed):
- Pureed red meat (beef, lamb)
- Chicken and turkey
- Liver (in small amounts, due to vitamin A content)
- Fish like salmon (also great for Omega-3s)
Plant sources (non-haem iron):
- Iron-fortified infant cereal
- Cooked and pureed lentils, beans and chickpeas
- Tofu and tempeh
- Mashed, cooked spinach or broccoli
Did you know? Eating vitamin C-rich foods with iron-rich foods helps increase iron absorption. Vitamin C-rich foods include citrus fruits (oranges and lemons), tomatoes, berries, kiwi fruit, melons, green leafy vegetables and capsicum.
Iron-Rich Meal Ideas For Baby
As your baby starts to eat larger quantities of food, you can combine foods and offer more variety. These iron-rich meal ideas may help inspire you. You can also find some nutritious recipe ideas here.
- Breakfast: Iron-fortified infant cereal with mixed berries
- Lunch: Pureed beef with sweet potato, tomato and a little mashed broccoli
- Snack: Hummus on soft steamed veggie sticks
- Dinner: Chicken and lentil puree with a splash of lemon juice
Weight and Height of Seven-Month-Old Baby
In the seventh month, the average weight of baby girls is around 7.6 kilos and the average height is about 67.3 centimetres. Baby boys weigh an average of 8.3 kilos and are around 69.2 centimetres tall. All babies are different and your baby’s height and weight at this age may be influenced by their birth weight as well as factors such as the stature and genetics of the parents.
Baby’s Visual Milestones at Seven Months
While the colour of your seven-month-old baby’s eyes might not be ‘final’ yet, they now have full colour vision and can see at longer distances.
At this age, you may notice that your baby:
- Can pick up a toy that is dropped
- Will turn their head to see an object
- Likes certain colours
- Will touch the image of self in the mirror
- Can stare at small objects
- Begins to have depth perception (responding to things that are further away)
- Plays peek-a-boo
Motor Development at Month Seven
By this age, most babies can roll over in both directions – even in their sleep. Some babies can also sit on their own, while others need a little support. You might notice your baby beginning to scoot on their bottom, rock back and forth on all fours or even crawl across the room. Some babies this age can pull themselves to a standing position. Soon, your baby might take some steps while holding the edge of the lounge or a low table.
Your seven-month-old baby may be able to:
- Sit without support
- Push up onto hands and knees from tummy time – and maybe rock back and forth, getting ready to crawl
- Transfer toys from one hand to the other
- Use a raking motion to pick up smaller objects
- Hold a soft spoon during feeding times
Tummy time is still a great way to support your little one’s development as it allows them to prepare for crawling. You may notice that, in this position, they reach for their favourite toy, pivot to look around or even shuffle backwards.
Social Development of Your Seven-Month-Old
Your baby’s social interactions are developing at a pace. Your baby may babble and make excited noises to show preferences for particular people, especially their parents and loved ones. They may also have found their voice, be able to recognise their name and be starting to become a chatterbox. Your little one may also experience separation anxiety and cry when you leave the room, as they start to realise that they are their own person.
They may also:
- Enjoy looking in the mirror and playing with you
- Smile and laugh often
- React to your facial expressions and tone of voice
- Babble with more variety
- Respond to their name
- Understand simple words like ‘No’ or ‘Bye-bye’
- Explore objects by shaking, banging and mouthing them
This is a lovely stage to establish comforting routines like singing together and playing peek-a-boo. Your baby may also be exploring cause and effect, like dropping toys to see if you’ll pick them up.
Don’t Forget!
It’s important to remember that every baby develops at their own rate. Regular checkups with your health nurse or GP will be able to ensure your baby is on track – but always get in touch with them sooner if you have any concerns. For extra resources, you can also head to Karitane or Tresillian online.
What’s Next?
At eight months old, babies are social little people who are getting stronger and more mobile. From crawling and sitting, to introducing new foods, and social development and language skills, find out what to expect.
We are here to support you on your journey
Making decisions around infant feeding can be challenging and we hope we can help you through this journey.
We want to make sure you are informed and supported.
Before and during breastfeeding, it is important to maintain a healthy and balanced diet and it is recommended to exclusively breastfeed for the first six months of age, as it provides ideal nutrition and promotes a healthy start in life.
We understand breastfeeding is not always possible, and when necessary, infant formula is the most suitable alternative to breastfeeding. Introducing partial bottle-feeding may interfere with breastfeeding your infant and it can be hard to reverse. Other considerations include the social and financial implications of feeding infant formula. We want to make sure your baby is as safe as possible, so please refer to the preparation and storage instructions for safe use of infant formula and be aware that any unnecessary or improper use of infant formula may cause health hazards for your baby.
Your choice, our support, always. With love.
If you require further information, consult your healthcare professional or learn more about the benefits of breast milk.
