Week 22

Days 148 to 154 · 21 weeks 0 days to 21 weeks 6 days old · about 5 months This week many babies measure about 65 cm (25.6 in) and weigh about 7.2 kg (15.8 lb). Babies vary widely, and the line your baby follows on the growth chart matters more than any single number. Many are pushing up on straight arms, pivoting on their tummies, and rolling to get where they want to go. Your baby turns 5 months old this week. For you, a heavier baby means more strain on your back, wrists and thumbs, and planning for the next stage begins. This week clears up some myths about readiness for solids, helps you get ready for first foods without rushing, looks after your body, sets up a loose rhythm for the day, and looks ahead to the second half of the first year.

Day 148 · 21 weeks 0 days old

Some signs that do not mean your baby is ready for solids

Many parents feel sure their baby wants solid food because of a few common behaviours. Most of these are not real signs of readiness. Watching you eat, reaching for your plate or making chewing movements are part of your baby's fascination with everything around them. At 4 or 5 months, babies are just as interested in your keys, your phone and the dog. Chewing on fists and drooling are also normal at this age.

Waking more at night or wanting more feeds is usually a growth spurt, a developmental leap or the sleep changes you read about in week 14. Extra milk feeds for a few days usually settle it. Solids are lower in calories than milk in the first weeks, so they do not fill a baby up more.

A few practices are best avoided altogether. Do not put cereal or other food into a bottle: it can be a choking risk, makes it easy to overfeed, and skips the chance to learn to eat from a spoon. Wait to give water, juice or other drinks until solids begin, and even then offer only small sips of water from an open cup.

Try this: Next time someone suggests your baby is "starving for real food", reply with the three real signs of readiness from yesterday.

Day 149 · 21 weeks 1 day old

Getting ready for first foods without rushing

A few weeks of gentle preparation can make the start of solids feel calm rather than chaotic. There is no need to buy much.

You will need a safe place for your baby to sit upright at meals. You will read more about choosing and using a high chair in week 23. A few small, soft baby spoons, some bibs that are easy to wipe, a small open cup and a wipeable mat under the chair are useful. A blender or fork for mashing is plenty for making your own food.

Think too about how you might approach first foods. Some families start with smooth purées and move to lumpier textures, others offer soft finger foods from the start, and many mix both. Week 23 compares these approaches and covers which foods to begin with, including iron-rich foods and the common allergens.

Until then, keep milk as the main event. Feed on demand, or offer formula as you have been, and include your baby at family meals simply by sitting them close. Watching you eat, hearing the chatter and seeing the food are all part of learning that meals are social, pleasant times.

Try this: Check whether you already have, or can borrow, a high chair, and if not, put one on your list to look into before your baby turns 6 months.

Day 150 · 21 weeks 2 days old

Looking after your back, wrists and thumbs

Your baby is now roughly twice as heavy as at birth, and you lift them dozens of times a day, often while twisting, bending or reaching into a crib, a car seat or a bath. Aches in the lower back, shoulders, neck and wrists are very common.

One particular problem often turns up now: pain on the thumb side of the wrist, sometimes called mommy thumb or by its medical name, de Quervain tenosynovitis. It comes from scooping a baby up with the thumbs spread wide under the armpits, and it can affect any parent who does a lot of lifting. Small changes protect your body. When you lift your baby, bend your knees, keep your back straight and hold them close to your body before you stand. Scoop with your palms and forearms rather than your thumbs. Carry the car seat in front of you with both hands, or leave it in the car. Raise the change table to waist height, and feed with your back supported and your baby raised on a pillow, so you are not hunching down.

Call your care provider if pain lasts more than a couple of weeks, keeps you awake, or comes with numbness, tingling or weakness in your hands, or if back pain spreads down a leg.

Try this: Watch yourself lift your baby out of the crib or car seat today, and practise one lift with bent knees and your palms doing the work.

Day 151 · 21 weeks 3 days old

Pushing up and getting ready to move

Put your baby on their tummy and you may see real power now. Many babies around 5 months push up on straight arms, lifting their chest well off the floor. Some lift their arms and legs at the same time, rocking on their belly like a little aeroplane. Others start to pivot in a circle, or roll from one spot to another to reach a toy.

These movements build the strength in the neck, shoulders, back and hips that your baby will need to sit, crawl and stand later in the year. The play ideas you read about in week 16 still apply, now with a bit more challenge. Give your baby plenty of time on a safe, firm floor, and limit long spells in car seats, bouncers, swings and other seats when you are not travelling. Babies who spend much of their day propped or contained have fewer chances to practise.

Every baby takes their own route. Some love tummy time and will move early. Others prefer to watch the world from their back and catch up later. If your baby seems much stiffer or floppier than other babies, or uses one side of the body much more than the other, mention it at the next checkup. Try this: Lie on the floor facing your baby during tummy time, with a toy just ahead of them, and cheer on every push, pivot or wriggle.

Day 152 · 21 weeks 4 days old

A loose rhythm for the day

Newborn days have little shape. By 5 months, many babies fall into a more predictable rhythm, even if it shifts from day to day. A typical day might hold five to eight milk feeds, three or four naps adding up to about three to four hours, and a longer stretch of night sleep.

You do not need a strict schedule. What helps most babies is a pattern: waking at a similar time each morning, being awake for roughly one and a half to two and a half hours between naps, and following a familiar order of feed, play and sleep. Watch for tired signs such as rubbing eyes, looking away or getting fussy, rather than the clock alone.

A rhythm helps you too. It makes it easier to plan a walk, a shower, a visit or a call, and gives a partner or caregiver a clear picture of how the day usually goes. Writing it down is especially useful if your baby is starting daycare or being cared for by someone else.

Expect it to change often. Teething, illness, a growth spurt or a new skill can throw everything off for a few days.

For your partner: Spend a weekend day following the baby's rhythm from waking to bedtime, then write a simple one-page outline of it that any caregiver could pick up and use.

Day 153 · 21 weeks 5 days old

Five months old today

Your baby is about 5 months old. Look back at the newborn who could not hold up their head and slept most of the day, and see who is in front of you now: a baby who laughs, reaches, rolls, babbles and recognizes the people they love.

Many babies around this age can roll one way or both, reach for toys and pass them from hand to hand, push up on straight arms, laugh out loud, respond to their name or your voice, and make a growing range of sounds. Some are starting to sit with support for short spells. Remember that every skill has a wide range, and babies born early follow their corrected age. A few things are worth raising with your baby's doctor or nurse. These include a baby who does not reach for objects, does not respond to sounds or voices, does not smile or show pleasure with familiar people, has very stiff or very floppy muscles, cannot hold their head steady, or has lost skills they once had.

You have also done five months of nights, feeds and decisions, and learned more than you realize. That is worth noticing too.

Try this: Take a photo or short video of your baby doing their newest skill today, and add one line about what makes them laugh right now.

Day 154 · 21 weeks 6 days old

What the second half of the year will bring

You are nearly halfway through the first year. The coming months bring some of the most visible changes of all.

Food is first on the list. At around 6 months, your baby will start solids, moving over the following months from first tastes to lumpier textures, finger foods and a rhythm of family meals. Milk remains important throughout the year.

Movement takes off. Most babies learn to sit without support, many crawl or find their own way of getting around, and by the first birthday some are pulling up, cruising along furniture or even taking first steps. That means babyproofing your home in earnest, which you will read about in week 28. The mind grows just as fast. Your baby will start to understand that hidden things still exist, babble in long strings, point, wave and understand simple words. Separation anxiety and wariness of strangers are likely to appear too, a sign of strong attachment rather than a step backwards.

There will be checkups and vaccines along the way, more colds, and perhaps changes in sleep. For you, the second half may bring returning to work, new routines and more of your own life back.

Try this: Write down one hope you have for your baby and one for yourself for the next six months, and put the note somewhere you will find it on the first birthday.