Sixth Month Baby Milestones

pregnancy and baby care

 What To Expect?

Congratulations on the half-birthday of your little angel. It’s time to celebrate your parenthood and your baby’s development now. These six months have been very exciting and surprising for you and your baby. Your baby is independent now. He knows all the emotions and responds to you. He is still very curious to know everything going on around him. He loves to play with his parents, caregivers, and siblings. The most important milestone at this age is Starting SOLIDS. Yes, your baby’s digestive system is mature enough to try on a few easily digestible foods. This is a new experience for the baby and you.
Go shopping. Bring a feeding chair, wiping clothes, towels, sippy cups, bibs, baby cotton wipes, colorful bowls, spoons, etc to start a new journey of solids for your baby. Make the whole concept of solids wonderful. Enjoy this time with your baby. You will laugh when you see how your little one makes faces while trying different kinds of solid foods. Watch this to know how to introduce solid foods to your baby for the first time. Introducing food to your baby.

 

Some of the milestones which your baby hits now are:-
1. Motor Skills:- 
  • Can sit upright without any support for some time.
  • Can Roll back and front on their tummy very easily.
  • Tries to Scoot backward on their tummy.
  • Passes objects from one hand to another.
  • Tries to crawl forward and backward on their tummy.
  • Grabs objects and plays with them with both hands.
  • More active in the daytime.
  • Can hold his feeding bottle and drink milk while sleeping.
  • Suck fingers and toes to soothe themselves or when they are feeling hungry.
  • Some babies at this age may develop fear when they are with strangers.
2. Sleeping pattern:- your baby may sleep for 8 to 11 hours straight at night without waking up for feeds or waking up 2 to 3 times. Every baby is different so their sleeping and feeding schedules are also different. They may take 2 to 3 naps of 2 to 3 hours in the daytime. Never let your baby sleep with the feeding bottle or the pacifier in his mouth. It may cause tooth decay and infections.
3. Feeding Pattern:- It’s time to start solids now, so start with just one to two tablespoons of purees and a little bit of warm drinking water once a day. Breastmilk or formula milk is still an important nutrient for your baby. Your baby gets more of the vitamins and minerals from this milk. So don’t try to skip the milk feeding schedule. Since your baby has started solids the amount of milk intake will decrease a bit as his stomach will be full with solids. They still need 26 to 36 ounces of milk a day. Buy a feeding chair for your baby to start a new journey in the world of solids. A feeding chair is very comfortable for the baby to sit straight and for a mother to feed properly.



4. Vision:- Their vision is much like that of an adult now. They can see everything across their room. Baby’s eye color changes so many shades from birth to six months of age. The shade which they get at this age can be the permanent shade of their eye. They can be blue, black, brown, grey, etc.
5. Communication:- Babies babble a lot at this age with words like ma-ma, ba-ba, and da-da. they smile and laugh a lot often. They understand your emotions and smile when you smile, laugh when you laugh, and when you cry they stare at you. To help them understand words and sentences read him a story when he is active.
6. Height and Weight:- Your baby’s weight will be between 7.0 kg to 8.0 kg. It can be more or less depending on your baby’s personality. Their height will be around 25 to 27 inches. Remember that from six months your baby’s height and weight will not increase like before. During their first month of life, babies’ weight and height will grow 1 to 2 pounds a month. After 6 months their height and weight growth will decrease to 1 pound a month in terms of weight and half-inch a month in terms of height. Check here to know more about your baby’s height and weight chart from 0 to 2 years.

 

Important Notes:-

  • Never leave your baby alone on a bed, chair, or swing when he is awake. He may fall off and hurt himself.
  • Place his favorite toys at a distance and let him crawl and take that toy on his own.
  • Talk and play games with him.
  • Give Vaccinations on time.
  • Put tiny objects away from your to prevent choking.
  • Wash his toys regularly as he will keep them in his mouth.
  • If your baby is not sitting up, not making eye contact, not smiling, responding to sounds, not babbling, etc, call your pediatrician.
  • Check for Teething.

My Experience:-

  • My baby started teething at 6 months of age.
  • He was sitting without support only for some time.
  • He was rolling back and front when I placed him on his tummy.
  • He used to move forward and scoot backward to grab his favorite toy.
  • I started introducing solids to him. I started with rice cereal and fed him 3 to 4 tablespoons in the first feed. He liked it so much that he ate 3 spoons straight.
  • He slept at night for 8 hours straight and woke up 3 to 4 times in between for feeds.

 

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