Object Permanence

[Arbre de la vie]

hi, i just wanted to find out from other mums when their babies started to search for things that were taken away or no longer in their sight?

Some of you may know that a babies ability to understand that something still exists, even when its not in sight is called object permanence. I did my diploma in early childhood a few years back and studied this, along with a million other developmental stages.. however my brain has since turned to mush and i fear i may have lost a lot of that knowlegde

from the books i still have, they all say that object permanence doesnt begin to show until the child is at least 8-9 months of age, but none say if its common for this development to occur much earlier.

so i just wanted to get a mothers opinion on when your own bubs were able to comprehend this as my son is only 5 months old, and already seems able to understand this concept.
- for example today i was changing his nappy on his change table which has a mobile hanging over one end. i finished changing him and stood him up to do up the button on his pants. the mobile was no longer in his sight but he wouldnt stay still and kept twisting his head and body back around to find and grab the mobile.. from what i can see he is no more advanced than the norm in any other area, so i guess im just curious to know when your bub understood object permanence.

thanks for the help

[mumsies]

Yeah my DS was around 4.5-5 months when this started happening with him. He was commando crawling at this point and we could never hide anything from him, becasue he knew it was still there. It's one of those things that is different for every kid. Wish it didn't happen so early though, I just had to buy a new mobile because he finds it and eats its! Haha!

[Arbre de la vie]

oh good to know. haha, sounds like fun! im so greatful DS hasnt figured out commando crawling yet. hes still very happy to stay put for now.. makes my life a lot easier :P

[AndrewTheEmu]

i dont know. i guess thier are so many different levels of bubs 'understanding'

i know when DD was that age she would 'look' for things aswell..

but just today (at 10months) i took the remote control off her, hid it under the lounge, and TEN MINUTeS later she was still whinging to get it back (trying to squeeze her hand under the lounge to get it)