Week 32

Days 218 to 224 · 31 weeks 0 days to 31 weeks 6 days old · about 7 months A typical baby this week is about 69 cm (27.2 in) long and weighs around 8.0 kg (17.7 lb). Babies vary widely, so the real measure is whether your baby keeps following their own curve on the growth chart. Many babies are now hauling themselves up on the sofa or the crib rails, while others are still busy crawling, scooting or sitting, and every one of those is fine. Meals may be settling into a pattern, and your baby is starting to use gestures to tell you things. If your baby has started childcare, you may also be meeting a steady stream of colds. This week covers dehydration, three meals a day, pulling to stand, reading together, pointing, daycare germs and looking after yourself when your baby is unwell.

Day 218 · 31 weeks 0 days old

Know the signs of dehydration

Babies lose fluid quickly with vomiting, diarrhea, a fever or a sore mouth that stops them drinking. Knowing the early signs helps you act in time. The simplest thing to watch is wet diapers. At this age, most babies have several wet diapers a day, often five or more. Fewer wet diapers than usual, or very dark, strong-smelling urine, is an early warning. Other signs include a dry mouth and lips, crying with few or no tears, less energy than usual, and a soft spot on the top of the head that looks sunken.

When you notice early signs, offer the breast or bottle more often, and ask your pharmacist or doctor about an oral rehydration solution given in small, frequent sips.

Call your baby's doctor if your baby has had no wet diaper for about 6 hours, has far fewer wet diapers than usual, is refusing all fluids, or you are worried they are not drinking enough.

Get help right away if your baby is very drowsy, floppy or hard to wake, has cold or mottled hands and feet, has a sunken soft spot or sunken eyes, breathes fast, or has had no wet diaper for 8 hours or more. Go to the nearest emergency department or call your local emergency number.

Try this: Note roughly how many wet diapers your baby has on an ordinary day, so you have a baseline to compare with when they are ill.

Day 219 · 31 weeks 1 day old

Moving toward three meals a day

When your baby first started solids, one small meal a day was plenty. Between about 7 and 9 months, most babies gradually move to two and then three meals a day, and some also have a small snack. There is no need to rush. Follow your baby's appetite and add a meal when the others are going well.

A simple rhythm helps. Many families offer solids at their own breakfast, lunch and dinner, which means your baby gets to watch you eat and join in family mealtimes. Try to include an iron-rich food at most meals, along with vegetables, fruit and starchy foods, and keep offering the allergens your baby already eats so they stay in the diet regularly.

Breast milk or formula is still a large part of your baby's nutrition at this age. Offer milk feeds as usual, either before or after meals, whichever suits your baby. If milk feeds drop off sharply soon after adding a third meal, you can space solids a little further from feeds.

Let your baby decide how much to eat. Some meals will be enormous and some will be three bites and a lot of throwing. Over several days, it usually evens out.

Try this: Write down the times of your baby's meals and milk feeds for one day, and see where a third meal might fit naturally.

Day 220 · 31 weeks 2 days old

Up on two feet, holding on

One day you look over and your baby is standing at the sofa, gripping the cushions and looking astonished at themselves. Pulling to stand often appears between about 8 and 10 months, though some babies do it at 6 or 7 months and others not until nearly a year. Babies born early often follow their corrected age.

At first your baby may haul themselves up mostly with their arms, then stand with stiff, wide legs. Getting down is a separate skill. Many babies stand proudly and then cry because they are stuck, or simply let go and land with a bump on their bottom. A padded diaper makes this less dramatic than it looks.

You can help your baby learn to get down by gently bending their knees and lowering them to sitting, over and over during the day. This is especially useful because babies love to practise standing in the crib at night. Standing brings new reach. Make sure the crib mattress is at its lowest setting, move anything tempting away from the edges of tables and shelves, and check that furniture your baby pulls on is heavy or anchored to the wall, as you read in the babyproofing weeks.

Try this: Sit on the floor next to a sturdy sofa and practise "standing up, sitting down" a few times, bending your baby's knees gently as they come down.

Day 221 · 31 weeks 3 days old

Reading together, even when they chew the book

Reading with a baby rarely looks like reading. Your baby may grab the pages, turn three at once, chew the corner and crawl away halfway through. That is perfectly fine. What matters is the time together, the sound of your voice, and the pictures you point to and name.

Books for this age are sturdy: board books, cloth books, bath books and books with flaps or textures to touch. Babies love clear pictures of faces, animals, everyday objects and other babies. Rhymes and repeated lines, like "Brown bear, brown bear", are especially good, because your baby starts to recognize the rhythm and anticipate what comes next.

You do not have to read the words on the page. You can talk about the pictures instead: "Look, a dog. The dog is running. Woof!" Follow your baby's lead. If they want the same page ten times, that is them learning. A few minutes at a time is plenty. Many families build a book into the bedtime routine, which gives reading a calm, predictable place in the day. Libraries often lend board books and run free baby rhyme times, which can also be a good way to meet other parents.

Try this: Choose one board book and read it at the same point in your baby's routine every day this week.

Day 222 · 31 weeks 4 days old

Gestures come before words

Your baby is already talking with their body. They stretch their arms up to be picked up, push away a spoon they do not want, and turn their head firmly when they are done. These gestures are real communication, and responding to them teaches your baby that their messages work.

Pointing is one of the most important gestures of all, and it usually arrives a little later, often between about 9 and 12 months. At first babies may reach with an open hand toward something they want. Later they extend the index finger, sometimes just to show you something interesting, like a bird or a light. That "look at this" kind of pointing shows your baby wants to share their attention with you, an important step toward language.

You can encourage it by pointing yourself, often. Point to what you are naming: "There's the cat." Follow your baby's gaze and name what they are looking at. When they reach or point, respond as if it were a word: "Oh, you want the ball? Here it is."

Most babies are pointing by their first birthday. If your baby is not pointing or using other gestures by about 12 months, it is worth mentioning at their checkup.

Try this: Point to three interesting things on a walk today, naming each one and pausing to see whether your baby looks.

Day 223 · 31 weeks 5 days old

Why babies in childcare catch so many colds

If your baby has started daycare or another group setting, you may feel they have had a runny nose ever since. You are not imagining it. Young children in group care often catch eight to ten or more colds a year, especially in the first year of attending, and many illnesses overlap so there seems to be no gap between them.

This happens because babies are meeting many viruses for the first time, and because they share toys, mouths and hands with great enthusiasm. Each infection helps build their immune system. Children who start group care early often get fewer illnesses later, when they start school, although the overall number over childhood is roughly similar.

Some things help reduce the spread. Wash your baby's hands and your own when you arrive home. Keep vaccines up to date, because they protect against several serious infections. Ask how the childcare setting cleans toys and handles sick children. Breast milk, if you are still breastfeeding, offers some extra protection too.

Most colds last about a week to ten days, and a cough can linger longer. The ways to tell when a cold needs a doctor were covered in the weeks on common illnesses, and this month's entries on breathing problems add more. Try this: Make handwashing the first thing you both do when you come home from daycare, singing the same short song each time.

Day 224 · 31 weeks 6 days old

When your baby is sick, look after yourself too

A sick baby is hard on everyone. They may want to be held all day, wake every hour at night and refuse food, and you may spend your time watching them, counting wet diapers and wondering whether to call the doctor. Two or three days of this can leave you exhausted and on edge.

Your own needs still matter. Eat something, even if it is toast over the sink. Drink water. Take turns with your partner or another adult so each of you gets a stretch of sleep. If your baby sleeps best on you during the day, set yourself up somewhere safe, like propped upright in bed while awake with your baby on your chest, with your phone and a drink in reach. Never doze off with your baby on a sofa or armchair, where the risk of suffocation is much higher.

Lower the bar for everything else. The laundry can wait. A frozen meal is fine. If you work, know that most workplaces expect parents of babies to need sick days, and it is reasonable to use them.

Trust your instincts. If something feels wrong, calling for advice is never a waste of anyone's time.

For your partner: On sick days, take the first night shift without being asked, and bring the other parent food and a drink before they realize they need them.