Your baby is now rolling over, starting to sit up, grabbing toys and other interesting objects, and possibly even crawling. While the majority of your infant's energy during this period is spent developing motor skills, your baby is also honing all five senses, understanding and anticipating more and more of what he or she sees, hears, and feels in the world.

Sight

As your baby's interaction with the environment increases, you should notice a corresponding rise in his or her visual awareness. By 6 or 7 months you may see your baby staring in concentration at a toy in his or her hands or intently studying his or her own face in a mirror. Your baby is still nearsighted, but can see much more than he or she could just a few months ago. Your baby can focus without going cross-eyed, and is able to distinguish colors at an adult level.

In keeping with your baby's ability to move around, he or she will be able to track even rapid motion with the eyes. Your baby can follow the course of a ball you roll past him or her and probably can focus on watching the quick movements of an older sibling playing nearby. Your baby also will be practicing newly acquired hand-eye coordination, so watch as your baby stares for a while at an object, then slowly reaches out to get it.

If your baby has been looking at the same toys or crib mobile for several months, now is a good time to change the scenery. Don't forget that babies older than 6 months will start to pull themselves up to a sitting position, so if you have a low-hanging mobile over the crib or wall hangings within reach, remove them so your baby doesn't get hurt.

Your 4- to 7-month-old will likely enjoy more complex designs now, and is capable of distinguishing colors. Try reading your infant books with large, brightly colored pictures - he or she will likely enjoy staring at the pages. Another way to stimulate your baby's vision is to take him or her out into the world. Walks in the neighborhood, a trip to the supermarket, even an outing to the local zoo all provide wonderful opportunities for your baby to see new things.

Hearing

Your baby's hearing is crucial to developing the ability to talk. While this has been true since birth, your baby is just now beginning to understand the fundamentals of communication through hearing and language. When your baby was younger, he or she understood your meaning through the tone of your voice: soothing tones made your infant stop crying, agitated tones told your baby something was wrong. Now, your child is beginning to pick out the components of your speech. Your baby can hear and understand the different sounds you make and the way words form sentences. He or she responds to "no" and is starting to notice new sounds, like the bark of a dog or the hum of a vacuum cleaner.

By the seventh month, your baby should recognize and respond to his or her own name. Your baby will also make more attempts to imitate sounds and spend more time babbling. Make no mistake, these are your baby's early attempts at speaking and should be encouraged as much as possible. Repeat sounds you hear your infant making. Introduce your baby to simple words that apply to everyday life. Have "conversations" with your baby, waiting for a pause in the babble to "answer" him or her. The give-and-take of these early discussions sets the stage for your baby's first real words in the months to come.

Taste and Smell

Your baby's doctor may suggest the addition of solid foods to his or her diet sometime during this period. If this is the case, you'll want to select foods carefully, introducing one new food at a time. Not only does this help you pinpoint any food allergies that may occur, but it also helps you discover which tastes your baby likes best.

While humans innately enjoy sweet tastes best of all, you'll want your baby to be open to vegetables and other not-so-sweet tastes. You might consider introducing vegetables like carrots or sweet potatoes right after those initial days of baby cereal. This way your baby won't protest that he or she would rather have the sweet-tasting bananas or applesauce. You may see your baby respond to the sight and smell of your own dinner. Perhaps you can provide your baby with similar foods, pureed to baby-food softness.

Touch

The opportunities for exercising your baby's sense of touch at this age are endless, even during the course of a regular day. Let your baby roll a while in the coarse grass of your yard. See if your baby prefers to touch the silky trim of the baby blanket, or feel the texture of a carpet with his or her hands. If you label the textures - "This is rough," "This is soft" - you will be helping your baby learn more about the world.

At the same time, don't forget how important the feel of a gentle caress or a tender kiss is, and hold your baby when you are able. This kind of touching will teach your baby that he or she is safe, secure, and loved.

Should I Be Concerned?

Between 4 and 7 months, you should see a noticeable increase in your baby's awareness of the sights and sounds around him or her. Your baby should be responding appropriately to more and more visual and audio stimuli.

Ask your baby's doctor to perform an eyesight assessment if your baby:

• doesn't seem to recognize you by sight or know you're in the room until he or she sees you
• doesn't seem to be interested in looking at any new books, toys, or pictures
• doesn't seem to have good control of eye motion (although some crossing or independent eye movement is still normal until 6 months)

An evaluation also may be necessary if you have any family history of serious eye diseases or abnormalities.

Since hearing is such a crucial component of language development, you'll also want to discuss with your child's doctor any concerns you have about your baby's hearing. If your baby doesn't seem to imitate simple sounds by the end of his or her seventh month, or shows no interest in babbling or having a "conversation" with you, you may want to talk with your baby's doctor about getting a hearing evaluation.

Here are some warning signs of vision or hearing problems to look for:

• one or both eyes turn in or out consistently
• fluid draining from one or both eyes or persistent tearing
• extreme sensitivity to light
• no response to sound (for example, doesn't turn in direction of loud noise)
• response to only some sounds, not all (some children can hear certain pitches, some hear in only one ear)
• does not laugh out loud by 6 months
• does not babble or make a variety of sounds by 8 months, or concentrates only on making vibrating sounds he or she can feel in the throat rather than imitating sounds he or she can hear

Caught early, many vision and hearing problems can be treated successfully, so be sure to report any concerns you have to your child's doctor immediately.

Reviewed by: Barbara P. Homeier, MD
Date reviewed: August 2005
Originally reviewed by: Steven Dowshen, MD