A Journey Through Infant Development: The Fifth Month

This has been an amazing journey, and I thank all who have joined me in it! The feedback has been great, and I’m so glad to have you share this amazing adventure. This past month has proven to be a time of even more milestones in my infant son’s development. How is it that infants can grow so much in such little time?

• You continue to grow so quickly. The thing that amazes me most about your last month of development is your ability to notice everything around you, and then grab for any and everything! What once used to be an easy trip to a restaurant now proves to be much more of a challenge. Your ability to seek something out and then grab it in an instant is amazing! My beverage, plate of food etc. must be on the other side of the table, or you are diving forward to grab it.
• You are much more intrigued by things now, and are beginning to explore more. For instance, my earrings and grandma’s glasses are easily captured, and must be removed before holding on to you. If you do get a hold of them, they go instantly to your mouth.
• Rolling over has become much easier, and you’ve almost reached the goal of rolling from your back to your front. Several times now, I’ve seen you roll to the side to grab something. If it weren’t for your arm getting in the way, you would have found your way over to your stomach by now. It won’t be long!
• I thought that feeding you last month was difficult, but has it ever become more of a challenge now. Both your grandma and aunt made note of that as well when they were taking care of you and trying to give you a bottle. They both asked me, “How on earth do you feed this boy? He is so nosey!” I just simply agree, and say that I do the best I can. It’s quite a trick to hold the bottle and move it along with your constantly moving head.
• You are beginning to pick up on social routines now. When you are holding on to something, you like to put both hands up over your head. When you do that, we say “So big!” You then smile, and put your hands back down. Seconds later those little arms are stretching up high again. I haven’t yet seen you put your arms up because we say “So big,” but that should come soon as well. Another little game you like to play is “peek-a-boo.” We are at a very early stage of it, but you think you are hilarious. When you are under a blanket and I pull it off, you look around like “Here I am world” with a glowing face, making sure that everybody is watching.
• The mornings are much better now. When you wake up, you lay in bed and practice talking. This happens after your naps now, too. It’s so nice to be at the stage where you don’t need to eat the second you get up.
• You have eaten your first solids. That process is so amazing to me as well. The first spoonful that went into your mouth immediately came out, as you had no idea how to use your tongue for swallowing. You pulled the funniest face, and your sisters got a big kick out of that. Now you are able to get about half the food down while the rest goes all over your bib, which you like to pick up and smear all over your face. It’s quite a messy process. You have no idea how to drink from a sippy cup yet, but we occasionally put one in front of you just to keep trying.

I continue to look at the gains my little boy is making each month, and am blown away by how quickly this stuff really develops. As an RDI® consultant, I have come to understand and cherish each one of these foundational gains in his development. Has your baby missed any of these critical steps in development? Does your child with autism lack any of these abilities? RDI® is a development-based program that evaluates these early foundations in development, and fills any missed ones through age appropriate approaches. The gains we have seen children make have been fascinating. If you see these as gaps in the development of your child(ren), I hope you come to join us as we revisit this journey through remedial development with our RDI® families.