From the moment of birth to one year, the baby grows and develops rapidly. At the 5th month of life, the child becomes more active, agile and inquisitive. Parents, having studied the natural biorhythm of their child, set the appropriate daily routine. An approximate daily regimen for children at 5 months should look like this:
- 7:00 - awakening, feeding, entertaining the baby.
- 9:00 - morning sleep.
- 11:00 - washing, washing, charging and massage, eating, talking with a child.
- 13:00 - outdoor recreation.
- 15:00 - feeding, entertainment.
- 17:00 - evening dream.
- 19:00 - food, walk (optional), swimming, games.
- 21:00 - a dream. One night feeding or several (at the request of the child).
This mode is very convenient for both children and their parents. It should not be observed exactly, time for rest and wakefulness can be reduced or increased depending on the needs of the baby.
Sleep
Baby sleep plays the most important role for healthy growth and development.
The daily routine of children at 5 months did not bring any special changes regarding rest. Sleep is as much as at the age of four months, but it is deeper at night and shorter during the day.
A 5-night night's sleep becomes stronger, longer and more continuous. If the child rises to feed, then how to eat, immediately falls asleep. If this does not happen, do not be nervous, shake the baby, gently stroke and sing a quiet lullaby.
Gradually reduced time of daytime dreams. The child was already well adapted to extraneous domestic noise during rest. And already sleeps calmly with the sounds of a working washing machine, TV and other things.
Do not forget to ventilate the nursery. And in the summer, provide a continuous stream of fresh air by opening a window for ventilation.
Baby food
The main and only nutrition in 5 months is mother's milk or a mixture. A healthy child should not be given anything else until 6 months of age.
It is necessary to apply to the breast as necessary, as close as possible to the formed regime of the day.
As a rule, the baby eats about a liter of milk or mixture during the day (for 5-6 feedings).
Feeding a child of five months can be introduced on the recommendation of a pediatrician in cases where the baby:
- not full-term;
- poorly gaining weight;
- not full of breast milk, constantly naughty;
- is on full artificial feeding.
Let's figure out how to feed at 5 months a child who is allowed to introduce additional products.
Let's consider two options.
- A baby on natural or mixed feeding is gaining weight poorly. In this case, complementary foods are recommended to start with dairy-free cereals, over time, dairy can also be included.
- Artificial feeding of a child of 5 months provides the possibility of introducing additional products.
If there are no problems with weight, additional food is recommended to start with vegetable puree (which includes zucchini, cauliflower or potatoes) or fruit (green apple, banana, peach).
The initial serving of complementary foods is up to a teaspoon per day. The volume should be gradually increased, replacing one feeding. The dish needs to be boiled or baked in the oven.
Feed your baby these foods until noon to monitor the body’s reaction. If you have allergies or digestion problems, remove this product from the diet. Do not give any food during the week.
Baby hygiene
A child of 5 months bathes with great pleasure and actively participates in water games, as it begins to take an upright position.
From this age, the baby can be bathed in a large bath with toys, gently plant it, holding the back. Use the swimming circle by putting it on the child’s neck. With the help of him, he will feel more confident and mobile, practicing basic swimming skills.
Full care for the delicate body also includes:
- ensuring the purity of the ears, nose and eye;
- cutting of nails;
- washing;
- bathing;
- moisturizing.
Start your morning routine with washing your face and washing it after removing the diaper or toilet. A stream of warm water is sufficient for these events. Use soap for washing no more than once a day.
Bathing your baby should be before a night's sleep. Warm water helps to relax all muscle groups, it gives a portion of pleasure, calms well and provides a good sleep. Use soap, gel or bath foam only once or twice a week. Clean the ears and nose as necessary. At the end of the procedure, wash the baby with clean water a degree below the temperature of the liquid in the bath.
The skin during these months remains as sensitive, prone to diaper rash, irritation and rashes. To prevent such problems, let the skin breathe - make air baths and moisturize the baby's body after bathing.
Remember that all hygiene products must be strictly childish. Since adults, due to various additives and fragrances, can cause irritation and allergies.
Walks in the open air
You need to be outdoors with a small child every day. The duration of walks (depending on weather conditions) should be from 40 minutes to several hours.
In cold or windy weather, reduce the time spent outdoors, providing warmth and comfort to the baby in the stroller. On warm summer days, walk as often and as long as possible.
Optimal are walks twice a day. For the health of the child, they are useful during sleep. Also, the kid will enjoy spending time outdoors when there are so many interesting things around: people, cars, nature, animals, birds.
How to keep your baby awake
A child at 5 months awake for half an hour or an hour more than before. At this time, he needs to pay maximum attention. Children who are deprived of this develop more slowly and may have mental disorders.
For several hours of wakefulness, you can take a walk with the baby, work out with physical activity, entertaining and developing games, listen to music, dance, sing songs, read books, tell poems and much more.
Baby massage
The daily routine for children 5 months and older provides for mandatory massage with an extension of the gymnastic exercises. Thanks to regular classes, your baby will develop faster, become more active and energetic. Massage improves blood circulation, metabolic processes. Gymnastic exercises aimed at the motor development of a child of 5-6 months, perfectly develop plastic, crawling, sitting, walking skills.
Sessions spend before feeding or after one and a half to two hours after it. The main thing for this procedure:
- good mood of mother and baby;
- warm room;
- nice music, classic is good;
- diaper and baby oil.
Perform simple massage and gymnastic movements, which include stroking, kneading, vibration and patting.
You need to start with the hands of the baby, then move on to the legs, stomach and back. Pay more attention to abdominal massage at this age. It calms the baby and improves the digestive process.
Physical development
Physiological changes in the development of a 5-month-old baby are evaluated according to the following criteria defined by WHO.
- Growth (from 62.1 to 63.9 cm). During this month, the child grows on average by 2 cm.
- Weight (from 6.4 to 7 kg). During the fifth month, the baby gains about 700 g.
- Head circumference (from 40.6 to 41.6 cm).
- Chest circumference (from 42.3 to 42.9 cm).
Here are the average indicators of physical development. The lower limit is the average for girls, and the upper limit is for boys. As you can see, the male half weighs 5 months more than the female.
The rates of physical development, as well as psychomotor development, are individual for each child and depend both on indicators at birth and on caring for the baby.
Psychomotor development
This is the formation of motor skills corresponding to the level of mental development of the child.
Children can develop both smoothly and spasmodically. No need to get upset and chase a friend whose child is doing something that your baby is not able to do for 5 months. Development is always individual. After a week or two, your baby will be able to catch up and overtake the skills of the "opponent".
At the age of five months, children are able to:
- To distinguish between faces, to recognize oneself in reflection, it is pleasant to respond to mom’s voice.
- Reach and grab a thing you like, take away a toy.
- Rattle a rattle, click on musical instruments, play with a squeaker, feel objects, study their shape and surface. The child's hearing and vision improve.
- Pull surrounding objects in your mouth, your arms and legs.
- Follow your favorite subject, turn your head in all directions.
- Turn over from back to side, then to tummy and back to back.
- Lie on your stomach, lean on your knees and head, trying to raise your torso and pelvis.
- Show the first attempts to sit.
- Grasp and hold your mother’s fingers firmly to raise and take upright position.
The more time you devote to your child, talking and playing with him, the faster he will develop.
Speech Formation
The development of fine motor skills and communication with mom are the main components for the early development of speech. Now the baby is babbling, making sounds, utters various sounds: aaaa, uhhh, uhhh. A girl 5 months earlier than a boy begins to publish new vowels (s, a) and consonants (b, p, m), laughs, growls, squeals, squeaks during games.
All these skills are a great achievement in the development of a five-month-old baby. Continue to engage with the baby, talk more, while pronouncing the words clearly and correctly. Read poems, tell nursery rhymes, let's touch objects of different shapes.
Educational toys
Kids at this age will be interested in bright, colorful toys with various sound effects, namely:
- soft toys with foil inserts, tweeters, solid objects;
- multi-colored rattles, a drum;
- nesting dolls;
- finger puppet theater;
- musical animals telling tales and singing songs;
- xylophone and other musical instruments.
Also use home objects (pots, spoons), view photos, book pictures. Knead your baby’s fingers under your favorite nursery rhymes, play hide and seek, covering your face with a handkerchief. Let the baby jump on your lap, fly by plane. Kiss in all parts of the body, naming each of them, hug. Give your love, which the baby so needs 5 months.
Development and parenting
Every day the child more actively learns the environment. He begins to understand the prohibitions and requests, such as “not allowed”, “give”, “on”, “come to me” and others. Able to distinguish intonation. When you address affectionately - he smiles, if you scold - he cries.
Right now, the baby needs to be educated correctly.
The development of a child of 5-6 months should be carried out in such areas.
- Cognition. Explore the world with toys and safe household items. Lay out toys of different color and shape at a distance of the outstretched hand of the baby so that he tries to reach them, crawl.
- Society Learn to communicate with people. In a playful way imitate voices and affectionately address the child.
- Speech development. Reading and playing with small objects will help here.
- Physical activity. Perform gymnastic exercises, lure to movement in a playful way.
How to calm a baby in 5 months
Until the child learns to speak, all his requests to satisfy his needs will be expressed in tears.
It is important to recognize the type of sobbing and eliminate the cause. The crying of a 5-month-old baby can be both physiological - hunger, increased fatigue, lack of attention and communication, and pathological - colic, teething, other pathologies and diseases.
Never ignore the frustration of the child, be patient, affectionate, try to stay calm. Even if the baby requires special attention, pay it. After all, love and care are never excessive.
If the baby is constantly crying, and you can’t calm him down, go to the neurologist.
A properly built day regimen for children of 5 months is the best prevention of diseases, disciplines the baby and allows him to develop well.