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Publication #FAR0407

 

Six Months to One Year: Social Development1

Donna Davis2

Figure 1. 
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One of the great thrills in a baby's first year is hearing those first words… particularly when it's "mama" or "dada." By seven or eight months of age, babies begin trying out sounds and are becoming more social. They will watch and listen when they're spoken to and will babble in return.

While they're becoming more social at seven and eight months, they can also become more demanding! One of the sounds that can be more trying is the "demand cry," when babies begin to cry for attention. According to parenting experts, starting around the seventh month, it is possible to spoil a baby. By the eighth month, they can develop the habit of using the demand cry too often. There are many ways to keep a baby occupied so they will be less likely to overuse the demand cry.

As they are becoming more social and more mobile, babies will also begin exploring their environments and their limits. Experts suggest avoiding situations that constantly force you to say "no" or "don't touch." Now it's also time to babyproof the house, giving baby the freedom to explore safely. It's also not too soon to begin establishing expectations and setting limits. According to Millie Ferrer at the University of Florida, it's important to be kind, gentle, patient, and firm. Babies need to know they're loved and that they can't have everything their way.

Listening, learning, and living together: it's the science of life. "Family Album" is a co-production of University of Florida IFAS Extension, the Department of Family, Youth and Community Sciences, and of WUFT-FM. If you'd like to learn more, please visit our website at http://www.familyalbumradio.org.

To listen to the radio broadcast:

http://www.radiosource.net/radio_stories/social.mp3

http://www.radiosource.net/radio_stories/social.wav

Footnotes

1.

This document is FAR0407, one of a series of the Family Youth and Community Sciences Department, Florida Cooperative Extension Service, Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences, University of Florida. Broadcast as program 22 and published November 2007. Reviewed March 2012. In the interest of time and/or clarity, the broadcast version of this script may have been modified. Visit the EDIS website at http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu.

2.

Donna Davis, senior producer, Family Album Radio, Department of Family, Youth and Community Sciences, Cooperative Extension Service, Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL 32611. Reviewed by Millie Ferrer, Department of Family, Youth and Community Sciences, University of Florida.

The Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences (IFAS) is an Equal Opportunity Institution authorized to provide research, educational information and other services only to individuals and institutions that function with non-discrimination with respect to race, creed, color, religion, age, disability, sex, sexual orientation, marital status, national origin, political opinions or affiliations. For more information on obtaining other extension publications, contact your county Cooperative Extension service.

U.S. Department of Agriculture, Cooperative Extension Service, University of Florida, IFAS, Florida A. & M. University Cooperative Extension Program, and Boards of County Commissioners Cooperating. Nick T. Place, Dean.