The fifth month of your baby’s life will certainly be a fulfilling and eventful one for you, as by now he will be showing a lot of new skills that he was unable to so far. Let us take a look at the various developmental milestones met by your baby this month.

Physical Development

Growth Details	Boys	Girls
How much should a 5-month-old weight	13.5 to 20 pounds ^[3]	12.12 to 19.18 pounds ^[4]
What should the height of a 5-month-old be	24.3 to 27.5 inches ^[3]	23.5 to 26.8 inches ^[4]
How much should their head size be	15.86 to 17.63 inches ^[3]	15.35 to 17.28 inches^[4]
What is the respiratory rate of 5-month-old ^[14]	30 to 45 breaths per minute	30 to 45 breaths per minute
What is the heart rate of a 5-month old ^[14]	90 to 120 beats per minute	90 to 120 beats per minute

What should your baby be doing at 5 months

Motor skills

Your baby will be able to sit with support in an upright position for a longer time and may even sit unassisted for a few seconds ^[1]. Some of them will even be able to roll over to their stomach while lying on their back ^[1]. Developing strong grasping skills, he can hold objects in his palm and shift them conveniently from one hand to another ^[1,2].

Communicative development

Babies will show a marked improvement in their language skills apart from the regular babbling that they have been doing for quite some time. Most of them may be repeating a single syllable such as “ba”, “ga”,”da”. A few babies might even go a step ahead by combining a vowel and consonant together to make meaningful words such as “baba” and “mama”. However, they are unaware of the meaning of such words.^{[1, 5]}.

Cognitive development

Most babies may turn their head in response to their names being called or react to any order. They begin recognizing an object by seeing it partially ^[5] as well as acknowledging something amusing or funny by smiling and laughing ^[6].Infants go on to develop an attachment towards their family members, beginning to get conscious about strangers ^[2,28].

Sensory development

How clearly can a 5-month-old see

With an improved vision, your baby will be capable of spotting minute objects and things that are moving ^[5]. He can also see at varied distances without crossing. Having a sharpened color perception, he can differentiate between different shades belonging to the same color ^[1].

How well can the baby hear

His hearing skills are apparently getting better because of a developed brain-ear coordination. He, therefore, gets accustomed to noises he hears every day like the beeping noise of a microwave oven, the sound of a fan or that of a vacuum cleaner. By this age, he partially starts understanding certain new sounds he hears such as the barking of a dog or the noise emitted by a car’s engine while starting ^{[1, 5]}.

What is the feeding schedule of a 5-month-old baby

According to the American Academy of Pediatrics, solid foods may be introduced to a baby’s diet along with breast or formula milk between 4 and 6 months ^{[7, 8]}. Make sure that your baby can sit upright, and his tongue-thrust reflex is gone, so that he can chew and swallow with ease ^[8].

How much baby food should a 5-month-old eat

While starting solid foods, you might try giving 1 to 2 teaspoons of pureed food that includes sweet potatoes, bananas, and peaches. In case, you are giving iron-fortified cereals, mix it with breast milk or formula milk to bring it to a semi-liquid state. Do not give anything hard to your baby as he may still be in the process of cutting his first tooth, going through a lot of painful symptoms such as drooling, fussiness and disturbed sleeping ^[27]. However, it is safe to consult the doctor before making any changes to the baby’s diet pattern ^{[8, 9]}.

How much milk should a 5-month-old drink

Babies having solid food will show a decrease in their milk intake. Their daily requirement of milk may be approximately 210 ml per feed though the number varies with his body weight ^[10].

What is the sleep schedule for a 5-month-old

Most babies may sleep throughout the night for a stretch of eight to twelve hours ^[13] also taking about three naps in a day for maximum four hours ^[11]. However, some of them may still be irregular sleepers, waking up one to three times at night for a feed ^[12].

When to call a doctor

Breathing fast and making a grunting sound after every breath ^[15].
His body temperature being 101°F or above, also showing other symptoms like flushed red cheeks, severe cold, runny or congested nose, reduced appetite, restlessness and cough ^[17].
Being constipated, passing hard, dry stool or having lower than three bowel movements weekly ^[18].
Experiencing pain or distress during urination or presence of blood in urine ^[19].
Diarrhea persisting for over twenty-four hours including other symptoms like dehydration, vomiting, fever, restlessness, sunken soft spot, mucus or blood in stool ^{[20, 21]}and cold hands and feet ^[23].
Spitting or throwing up a lot after a feed because of reflux problems along with weight loss ^[22].
Vomiting sporadically after a feed (projectile vomiting) ^[22].
Quivering or shivering for more than twenty seconds, causing the baby to lose consciousness, with his eyes flickering and lips turning blue ^[24].
Baby having yellow skin and lessened appetite with increased fussiness as it may indicate jaundice ^[25].
Ear infection with yellowish-white discharge and fever ^[26].

There are no vaccinations scheduled for the fifth month. However, if your infant has missed any of the previous shots, contact your doctor about the same.

References +

5 Month Old Baby: Developmental Milestones