You’re probably seeing some big changes in your 21 week old baby at this stage.

There’s lots happening behind the scenes in your baby’s development and overall health – not only in her brain but in her body too.

Your 21 week old baby is setting up foundations for crawling and sitting in the next few months, which means lots of workouts on the floor. It’s normal for her to want plenty of extra fuel for all this growth; breast milk or infant formula will continue to meet all of her nutritional needs for several weeks yet.

Feeding your 21 week old baby

The typical feeding behavior of babies during their developmental stages is to be less focused during daytime feeds and more wakeful at night. Some babies, though, almost surrender to the demands of their bodies and feed and sleep more during the day.

If your 21 week old baby isn’t too distracted by what’s happening around her and most feeds happen in a calm, quiet environment, you could find she drifts easily from feeding into sleep. Unsettled babies who relax when worn in a baby sling or carrier can also go longer periods between feeds, as they sleep away the day and let their bodies get on with growing.

Related reading: Baby Wearing | 10 Benefits Of Wearing Your Baby.

As long as your 21 week old baby continues to show the reliable signs of getting enough milk – including gaining weight as expected and having plenty of wet nappies and regular bowel movements – you can be confident she is feeding often enough to meet her needs. It’s natural for your baby’s feeding pattern to change as she grows, and she will adapt to the changes in her body as she needs to.

To learn more about this, read BellyBelly’s article 3 Reliable Signs Baby Is Getting Enough Milk.

What should a 21 week old baby be eating?

There’s no need to rush into the introduction of solid food for your child. There are still some important milestones in development your little one will reach before then. The World Health Organization recommends that solid foods be introduced to infants at around 6 months of age, which is when they begin to show they are ready.

The signs of readiness

Look for these signs of readiness. You might notice that your baby:

Has a healthy curiosity; she is interested in what other people have on their plate and watches you intently as you bring food to your mouth
Is able to stay in a sitting position with good head control
Reaches out for foods and has the coordination to pick them up and bring them to her mouth
Has the ability to swallow foods, rather than spit them out.

For tips on starting your baby on solids, you can read our article: 6 Steps To Introducing Solids… The Simple Way!

Introducing Solids

Once you introduce solids to your child, at around 6 months, it’s important to continue offering milk before food until around 12 months. Milk – breast or formula – is a complete food source for your baby and provides all the nutrition and calories she needs.

As babies get older and parents begin to add new tastes to their diets, chances are they will be particularly keen on foods such as sweet potato, apple sauce and bananas. This is because at this point, a baby has more taste buds that detect sweetness than any other flavors. This will change over time but sweeter fruits and vegetables are often firm favourites to start with.

As you gradually introduce meat, vegetables, fruit, dairy and other foods into your baby’s diet, they will combine to create a complete diet but this transition occurs over a period of months.

One reason parents are advised to start babies on solids around six months is the need to boost their iron supply. But why does this happen and should you be worried?

Find out more in our article Iron Deficiency And The Exclusively Breastfed Baby.

Even in the second year, breastfed babies continue to get a large percentage of their daily intake from breast milk. Formula fed babies transition to cow’s milk, offered in a cup, at around 12 months.

Cow’s milk (or substitutes) become part of a toddler’s diet, rather than being the primary food source, in the second year.

Find out more about Milk In The Second Year Of Your Life – What You Need To Know.

Weaning can be an exciting time for you and your baby but there’s no need to rush to wean your little one. Milk from breast or bottle will continue to be the main part of your baby’s diet for many months to come.

For more information, read our article Toddler Formula – 7 Important Facts You Need To Know.

Nighttime feeds

Recent studies clearly show 78% of babies aged 6 to 12 months still regularly woke at least once in the night, and 61% had at least one milk feed during the night.

The first year is the time of the most rapid growth and development in life. The periods from 4 to 6 months and 8 to 10 months are particularly demanding on a baby’s growing body and increased night waking is typical in these age groups.

It is important to remember your baby is not waking because you haven’t fed her enough during the day. Your baby is waking because her body requires a regular intake of energy to fuel the massive amounts of growth and development her body is undertaking.

You cannot fill a baby up before bedtime in the hope she will sleep longer at night. Extra formula, cereal or rusks, rice cereal or pureed foods will simply overload your 21 week old baby’s digestive system and can actually lead to additional wakefulness and worse sleep patterns.

For more information, read our article 7 Things To Avoid Putting In Your Baby’s Bottle.

Sleep and settling

All the growth during this time means disturbed nights are still pretty regular, as your little one works around the clock to move towards her next milestones.

When your baby wakes in the night, a breastfeed will help settle her back to sleep quickly, regardless of why she has woken. Most causes of sleep disturbance in babies cannot be prevented and sleep training is not considered appropriate in babies under 12 months.

How much sleep should a 21 week old baby get?

There are many reasons why babies feed during the night; hunger and thirst are just two of them. Despite the common sleep myths, the majority of babies do not sleep through the night.

Researchers now define ‘through the night’ as an 8-hour period of not disturbing their parents. This is far different from the old scale of just five hours between midnight and 5am, which was used by researchers in the 1950s.

There’s no doubt that you’ll be exhausted from lack of sleep in these early months of your baby’s life. There are various theories about bedtime milestones and you might be considering sleep training as an option.

For more information, read our articles Sleep Training | 6 Risks To Consider First and Baby Sleep Myths | 4 Big Myths Busted.

Play and development

Have you noticed your 21 week old baby working on her core? Tiny baby-crunches are cute to watch, as your baby tries to lift her head while lying on her back. You might even see her lifting her head and legs at the same time.

What should a 21 week old baby be doing?

It’s time to get all those muscles toned and all this play is preparing your baby for crawling. You will also see her tummy time play become more active, as she now takes her upper body weight fully on her outstretched arms like a cute baby yoga cobra pose. She might even push so hard she slides backwards.

When we celebrate the milestones of mobility, we often overlook the weeks or months of effort babies put in to achieve the strength they need to roll, crawl, sit, stand and walk.

There’s a lot of hard work that goes in to it. The floor is your 21 week old baby’s gym and she should be spending most of her day playing freely, rather than being strapped into seats, strollers or high chairs.

You’ll notice your little one will start to become more interested in reaching out for toys nearby. At this stage playing helps babies to figure out the environment around them and is really important for their development.

Now that they are slightly more mobile, they can cover a fair amount of ground by rolling. This opens up a whole new world of ‘toys’ that surround them, so be sure to keep a close eye on them.

On the move: tips for keeping your house safe

Once your baby starts moving consistently, she’s will want to explore her environment. Now is the timer you to get down on the floor beside her and get a baby’s-eye view of your home. Get a sense of what could look attractive to curious explorers and little hand.

Notice any dangling cables or accessible items like games consoles, heavy books and other things she might pull down from low shelves. Spot any sharp corners, trailing blind cords or other low-level dangers that might not be visible from adult height.

Even before she crawls, a rolling baby can cover a lot of ground quickly. Bottom-shufflers can move to attractive shelves you thought were out of reach. Pre-crawlers can wriggle and squirm into another room while you think they are immobile.

Visit Kidsafe for more advice about making your home safe for your baby.