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Baby month 7 for dads: on the move and new textures

Month 7 is when many babies get moving. Crawling usually starts somewhere between 7 and 10 months, and some babies shuffle instead. Food should move from smooth to mashed and lumpy as soon as they can manage it. Your jobs: babyproof the floor and keep offering new foods.

How to read this

Month 7 means the baby is between 6 and 7 months old. Everything below is a typical range, not a test: babies get there at different times. If your baby was born early, ask your health visitor or pediatrician how to count. Anything that worries you goes to your GP, health visitor or pediatrician, or NHS 111 / 911 when it is urgent.

▸What is typical for the baby this month

Development: getting mobile

Babies usually start crawling at around 7 to 10 months, and not all babies crawl: some shuffle on their bottoms. If your baby shows no signs of moving by 12 months, the NHS suggests asking your health visitor. [NHS Best Start in Life]

By 9 months, most babies get to a sitting position by themselves and sit without support. Some get there sooner. [CDC]

Feeding: textures

Once solids have started, move on from purees to mashed, lumpy and finger foods as soon as your baby can manage them. It helps them learn to chew and swallow. [NHS]

It can take 10 tries or more before a baby accepts a new food or texture. Some days they eat more, some days less, and some days they refuse everything. That is normal. [NHS]

Sleep

Between 6 and 12 months, some babies no longer need night feeds, and some sleep around 15 hours a day, most of it at night. Teething or hunger can still wake them. [NHS]

▸Your jobs this month

  1. Babyproof at floor level before the first crawl: get on your knees and look for cables, small objects and anything that can be pulled down.
  2. Keep offering the foods that got rejected. Count the tries; ten is normal.
  3. Take over at least one meal start to finish, including the clean-up.
  4. Give her a full morning off, out of the house, with no baby admin to do.

▸Her recovery, your head, and the two of you

Mobility means more watching and less sitting down for whoever is home. Swap the active shift when you get in from work instead of handing over to her the minute she gets home.

Postnatal depression signs the NHS lists include low mood, finding it hard to enjoy anything, feeling hopeless or unable to cope, feeling guilty or like a bad parent, constant worry, irritability, trouble sleeping even when there is a chance to rest, trouble concentrating, difficulty bonding with the baby, and thoughts of suicide or of harming herself or the baby. Symptoms can start any time up to a year after the birth. [NHS]

It is not only her. NHS Best Start in Life says up to 1 in 5 women and 1 in 10 men develop a mental health problem such as depression or anxiety in pregnancy or the first year after the birth, and the NHS says fathers and partners can also get depression after a baby. [NHS Best Start in Life · NHS]

Where to get help

UK: talk to your GP, midwife or health visitor. In England, adults can also refer themselves to NHS talking therapies. PANDAS runs support groups, a text line and a callback service, and Samaritans answer on 116 123. In an emergency call 999. [NHS · PANDAS]

US: talk to her OB or your own doctor. The Postpartum Support International HelpLine is 1-800-944-4773 (call or text; it takes a message and a trained volunteer gets back to you), and PSI runs a support group for dads. For a crisis, call or text 988, any time. In an emergency call 911. [PSI · PSI · 988]

▸Money and paperwork around now

UK: for a Shared Parental Leave block in month 9, give at least 8 weeks of written notice this month. [GOV.UK]

US (New Jersey): Family Leave Insurance pays up to 12 weeks before the child's first birthday when taken as one continuous leave, and separate periods of bonding leave need 15 days of notice each. [New Jersey Department of Labor]

Get every first-year deadline as a date → · Vaccination schedule (UK and US) →

▸Common questions

When do babies start crawling?

Usually at around 7 to 10 months, according to NHS Best Start in Life, and some babies shuffle on their bottoms instead of crawling. If there is no sign of moving by 12 months, ask your health visitor or pediatrician.

My 7 month old refuses lumpy food. What do we do?

Keep offering it. The NHS says it can take 10 tries or more for a baby to accept a new food or texture, and to move on from purees as soon as they can manage it.

▸The whole first year

M1BABY WEEKS 1-4M2BABY WEEKS 5-8M3BABY WEEKS 9-12M4GUIDEM5GUIDEM6GUIDEM7YOU ARE HEREM8GUIDEM9GUIDEM10GUIDEM11GUIDEM12GUIDE
Not medical advice

This is general information for expectant fathers, not clinical guidance. Anything about symptoms, pain, or bleeding goes to your midwife, doctor, or emergency service, not to an app.

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Your first year, dated from the birthday.

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▸Sources

Checked against these pages. Where guidance differs by country, follow your own GP, health visitor or pediatrician.