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Day 149 of 300 · Five months

What's next

Last reviewed · 4 min read · 16 sources · Plain-text version

What changed in 150 days, from two hours of crying to a baby who chuckles and grabs, and what the 6-month list and the 5-month guide hold next: rolling, sitting with support, first foods.

A Black father and a white mother kneel on a nursery floor blanket in soft morning light, their twenty-one-week-old on their back between them grabbing both feet, the father's phone raised.

Tomorrow is five months. Today, look back at what changed and ahead at what's coming, and take the photo that goes with the first one.

Heart

What changed. Across 28 diary studies of 8,690 babies, fussing and crying averaged about 2 hours a day for the first 6 weeks, then fell to about 1 hour a day by 10 to 12 weeks (Wolke et al., 2017). The baby who cried through those weeks now smiles on their own to get your attention, chuckles when you try to make them laugh, makes sounds back when you talk, and holds a toy you put in their hand (CDC). Hands that were fists bring objects easily to the mouth (AAP), and the voice has the rise and fall of your language in it (AAP).

Head

What's coming is on the 6-month list: laughing, taking turns making sounds, blowing raspberries, reaching for a toy they want, rolling from tummy to back, and pushing up on straight arms (CDC). Rocking, kicking, and "swimming" on the tummy usually appear at about 5 months and lead to rolling; passing toys hand to hand comes at 6 to 8 months (AAP). Food is next month's question, not this week's: CDC says babies can start solids at about 6 months, and starting before 4 months isn't recommended (CDC). The 5-month guide covers getting ready for solids, peanut and egg, supported sitting, naps, and home safety for a baby who moves.

Body

A few numbers you'll keep hearing. Many babies double their birth weight at about 4 months (AAP). Babies 4 to 12 months need 12 to 16 hours of sleep in 24 hours, naps included (Paruthi et al., 2016). Teething typically starts somewhere between 4 and 7 months, usually with the two front teeth, and the timing varies a lot (AAP). And if your baby was born early, every list ahead uses corrected age, age in weeks minus the weeks born early, until age 2 (AAP).

Try today

  1. The mother's hand in the frame beside the baby for scale as the father takes the photo from above, the baby mid-roll onto one hip on the floor blanket, laughing.

    Five-month photo and letter

    Time: 10 minutes, with the baby fed and awake

    1. Lay your baby on their back in the day-one spot, on the floor blanket or in the bare crib, never alone on a bed or changing table (AAP).

    2. Take the photo from the same angle as the first one, with your hand in the frame for scale.

    3. Write five lines to your baby: the sound they make most, the thing they grab first, what made them chuckle this month, and one worry that turned out fine.

    4. Date it and tuck it with the day-one, three-month, and four-month photos.

    Make it work:

    If they roll mid-shot, that's the photo. A keepsake proves nothing except that you were there.

Watch for

  • Normal

    a 6-month list with most of it unchecked; it describes 6 months, and milestones mean skills at least 75% of babies show by that age (Zubler et al., 2022).

    Don't wait

    if you're concerned: ask about developmental screening, or call your state's early intervention program for a free evaluation (CDC).

  • Normal

    rocking and pivoting on the tummy without a roll yet (AAP). The AAP suggests

    talking with your pediatrician

    if your baby doesn't roll in either direction by 5 months (AAP).

  • Normal

    eyes that follow a toy together.

    Tell your pediatrician

    if your baby's eyes still cross or wander; that should have been going away by 2 to 3 months (AAP).

For you

The mother on the nursery floor against the crib in a plain T-shirt, hair up, looking straight at the camera with a tired half-smile, the father's shadow across the blanket as he takes it.

The photo of you, at five months. Not posed. Hair however it is, shirt however it is, the face you have today. In a year you won't believe this was the hardest stretch, and the picture will remind you.

You're still postpartum, to every clinician you meet: the CDC's advice is to tell any provider you were pregnant within the last year, and the urgent warning signs list, from a headache that won't go away to overwhelming tiredness, applies for that whole year (CDC). The milestone that matters for you isn't on any list. It's that you can name one thing that got easier.

If you're the partner: take the picture, then hand over the phone and stand where she stood.

Sources

This guide is general education that summarizes published research and guidance from groups like the American Academy of Pediatrics, the CDC, and the WHO. It isn’t medical advice, and every child develops on their own timeline. Your pediatrician knows your child; if something feels wrong, call them. In an emergency, call 911.

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