Week 33
Days 225 to 231 · 32 weeks 0 days to 32 weeks 6 days old · about 7 and a half months
This week a typical baby is about 69 cm (27.2 in) long and weighs around 8.1 kg (17.8 lb). Babies vary widely, and what matters is steady growth along your baby's own curve. Babies who are already standing may start shuffling sideways along the furniture, while others are perfecting their crawl. Your baby is also busy with cause and effect, dropping, filling and emptying anything they can reach. Because colds are so frequent at this age, much of this week is about breathing: bronchiolitis and RSV, croup, and the signs that breathing trouble is an emergency. You will also find simple baby signs, play with containers, and a word about the days that feel the same.
Day 225 · 32 weeks 0 days old
Cruising along the furniture
Once a baby can pull to stand, the next step is often cruising: shuffling sideways while holding on to the sofa, a low table or the edge of the crib. Many babies start cruising somewhere between about 8 and 11 months. Some cruise for months before walking, some barely cruise at all, and some crawlers keep crawling happily for a long time. All of these paths are normal.
Cruising builds balance, leg strength and the confidence to let go with one hand. Over time you may see your baby reach from one piece of furniture to the next, bridging the gap, and eventually stand for a moment with no hands at all.
You can set up a cruising route by arranging sturdy furniture with small gaps between pieces. Put a favourite toy at the far end to make the trip worth it. Check that anything your baby leans on will not tip or roll, and pad or move away from sharp table corners if your baby keeps bumping into them. Bumps and tumbles are part of learning to move. Stay close, keep the floor clear of clutter, and let your baby try things without rushing in every time they wobble.
Try this: Line up the sofa and a sturdy footstool with a short gap and put a toy at one end to invite your baby to cruise.
Day 226 · 32 weeks 1 day old
Bronchiolitis: a cold that settles in the chest
Bronchiolitis is a common chest infection in babies under 1 that starts like an ordinary cold. After two or three days, the virus can inflame the smallest airways in the lungs. Your baby may then cough more, breathe faster, wheeze, and find it harder to feed. Respiratory syncytial virus, or RSV, is the most common cause, especially in the colder months.
Most babies have a mild illness that gets better at home in about one to two weeks, though the cough can last longer. Offer smaller feeds more often if your baby tires during feeds. Saline drops and gentle suction can clear the nose before feeds and sleep. Cough and cold medicines are not recommended for babies.
In many places, babies can now be protected against severe RSV with a vaccine given during pregnancy or with an antibody injection given to the baby. Ask your baby's doctor or nurse what is offered locally.
Call your baby's doctor if your baby is feeding much less than usual, has fewer wet diapers, has a fever, or is breathing faster than usual. Get help right away if your baby is struggling to breathe, has pauses in their breathing, looks blue or grey around the lips, or is too breathless to feed. Call your local emergency number.
Try this: Keep saline drops and a nasal aspirator in the house so you are ready for the next cold.
Day 227 · 32 weeks 2 days old
The barking cough of croup
Croup often starts at night, after a day or two of cold symptoms, with a hoarse voice and a harsh cough that sounds like a seal barking. Some children also make a high-pitched, squeaky noise when they breathe in, called stridor. A virus makes the voice box and windpipe swell, most often between about 6 months and 3 years.
Most croup is mild and settles within a few days, often worst on the first two nights. Keep your baby as calm as you can, because crying makes breathing harder. Hold them upright, offer fluids and give fever or pain relief if needed, following the dose for your baby's weight on the package or your pharmacist's advice. Steam is no longer recommended, as it has not been shown to help and can cause burns.
A doctor can give a single dose of steroid medicine that reduces swelling and often makes a big difference.
Call your baby's doctor if your baby has a barking cough, stridor that comes only when they cry, or a fever.
Get help right away if your baby has stridor while calm and resting, is pulling in sharply between the ribs, is drooling or cannot swallow, looks pale or blue, or seems very tired or agitated. Call your local emergency number. Try this: Save your local health advice line and nearest emergency department in your phone, so you are not searching for them at 2 a.m.
Day 228 · 32 weeks 3 days old
Know when breathing trouble is an emergency
A stuffy nose can make a baby snort and snuffle in alarming ways, and most of it is harmless. It helps to know the signs that a baby is truly working hard to breathe, because those always need help straight away.
Undress your baby down to the diaper and watch their chest and belly for a minute. Look for:
breathing that is much faster than usual, or long pauses between breaths the skin pulling in under the ribs, between the ribs or at the base of the neck with each breath
- the nostrils flaring wide with every breath
- a grunting sound at the end of each breath out
- head bobbing with each breath
blue, grey or very pale colour around the lips or face being too breathless to feed, or too sleepy to respond Get help right away if you see any of these signs, or if your baby suddenly starts coughing, choking or wheezing after possibly breathing in a small object or food. Call your local emergency number. If your baby stops breathing, start infant CPR, as covered in the first aid entries in weeks 27 to 30, while someone else calls.
Trust what you see. You do not need to be certain before calling for help. Try this: Next time your baby is calm and well, watch their bare chest for a minute so you know what their normal breathing looks like.
Day 229 · 32 weeks 4 days old
Simple signs can help before words come
Some families teach their babies a few hand signs, often borrowed from a local sign language. Common first signs include "more", "milk", "all done" and "eat". Babies can often use a simple sign a few months before they can say the matching word, because hand control develops earlier than the fine muscle control needed for speech.
Signing will not make a baby a genius, and studies have not shown that it speeds up spoken language. It also does not delay talking. Its main benefit is practical: some babies seem less frustrated when they have a way to ask for things, and many parents enjoy discovering what their baby is thinking. If you would like to try, choose two or three signs that fit your daily routine. Always say the word as you sign it, so your baby hears speech and sees the sign together. Use them in the moment, every time: sign "more" when you offer another spoonful, "milk" before a feed. It may take weeks or even a couple of months before your baby signs back, often in their own approximate way.
Signing is optional. Talking, pointing and responding to your baby's gestures already give them everything they need.
Try this: Choose one sign, such as "more", and use it with the word at every meal this week.
Day 230 · 32 weeks 5 days old
Filling and emptying is serious work
Your baby takes everything out of the toy basket, piece by piece, and drops it on the floor. Then they look at you. Then they do it again. It might look like making a mess, but your baby is running experiments.
Babies at this age are fascinated by containers. They learn that things can go in and come out, that an object still exists inside a box even when they cannot see it, and that dropping a spoon from the high chair makes a satisfying clatter and brings you back every time. Each round teaches them something about space, size and how the world works.
Give this urge a safe outlet. A large plastic bowl with a few blocks to put in and take out. A muffin tin with balls to drop into the cups. An empty tissue box stuffed with scarves to pull out. Show your baby how to put things in, because taking out usually comes first and putting in comes later. The high chair dropping game can be tiring. It is fine to end it by saying "all done" and taking the spoon away calmly. Your baby is not testing you. They are testing gravity.
Try this: Give your baby a bowl and five large blocks and take turns putting them in and tipping them out.
Day 231 · 32 weeks 6 days old
It is fine to find some days dull
You love your baby. You may also find some days long and repetitive: the same meals to clean off the floor, the same songs, the same walk around the same block. Admitting that does not make you a bad parent. Caring for a baby is important work, but much of it is quiet and unglamorous, and adults need stimulation too.
Small changes can lift a day. Try a new park, a library rhyme time, a different route on your walk, or a visit to a friend. Listen to podcasts or audiobooks during feeds and chores. Plan one small thing to look forward to each day, even if it is just a good coffee or a phone call with someone who makes you laugh.
Talking about it helps. Many parents feel the same and are relieved to hear someone else say it. If the dullness turns into feeling flat, empty or hopeless most of the time, or you no longer enjoy things you used to, that may be depression rather than boredom. It can start or return at any point in the first year. Talk to your doctor or public health nurse, as you read in the weeks on postpartum mood.
For your partner: Give the parent who spends most days at home a few hours to do something entirely for themselves this weekend, and plan it with them so it really happens.