I can’t believe 6 months went by so fast, I feel like I blinked and my baby was a half year old! Time to write about life with a baby: 6 month old update.
This is such an exciting month full of milestones! One of those milestones is that you get to introduce solids to your little one if you see they are ready to embark on this fabulous adventure.
Their 6-month check up is due so make sure to ask their pediatrician any questions you might have and update any vaccines that need to be updated. While you’re there, schedule his 9-month check up so you don’t have to worry about it later on.
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6 months old
Expecting Milestones
- Starts to eat solids!
- Rolling on both sides: Tummy to back and vice versa.
- First set of teeth start to come in!
- Start to reach for objects and bring them to his mouth.
- He sits up or “tripods” with little or no assistance.
- Recognizes his name.
- Might start teething.
- Once little teeth start to come out switch the finger brush for a soft bristle toothbrush.
- Passes objects from one hand to the other.
- “Rakes” objects with his hands to bring to his mouth.
- Start to associate words with objects.
- Spots and tracks moving objects from far away.
- Might start to rock back and forth on their hands and knees.
- Might start “Army” crawling,
Introducing solids
This is such a nerve wracking but exciting experience you get to share with your baby! I loved to see how excited Leo was to try everything I would put on his plate. He would let out little screeches and screams from excitement when he was exploring his food.
Related read: How and When to Introduce Solids to Your Baby
Some parents prefer to make purees and opt to spoon feed their baby, others opt for baby-led weaning which allows the baby to self-feed finger food that is soft and easy to chew with their gums. Some parents might even do a mixture of both. Whatever you choose, choose what you feel the most comfortable with and works for you and your family.
We chose to do a mixture of BLW and purees for whatever foods I didn’t feel comfortable giving Leo in its whole form. I would be on alert mode every time he put any of food in his mouth but I felt a little more at ease having this Rescue chocking device on hand in case anything did happen. Better to have it and not need it, than need it and not have it, right?
Here are some signs your baby is ready to start solids:
- Has good head and neck control
- Can sit upright unassisted
- Baby is interested in the food you eat.
- Some babies will stare at the food going from your plate to your mouth and some might even open their mouth and reach for your food.
- His tongue thrust reflex where they push out the food out instead of swallowing it is no longer there.
- This reflex usually goes away by 6 months old.
Start slow and pick a time during the day where you won’t be rushed and always listen to your baby’s cues when they are full to avoid food aversion or overfeeding.
Iron levels decrease around 6 months so make sure you continue to feed your baby breast milk or formula.
Sleeping schedule
At this age your baby still needs on average 12-16 hours of sleep but keep in mind that all babies are different and some might sleep more or less time than the average standard.
Your little one will have a sleep regression and night wakings will increase because your baby is going through big changes. They might start teething and the pain and discomfort will wake them up throughout the night. Your little one will probably have another growth spurt which usually happen overnight and this will make him more hungry and cause him to wake up. Whatever the reason is comfort your little one and hang in there!
During the day babies usually need about 3 to 4 hours of sleep divided between 2 to 3 naps. Many babies at this age start to drop one nap and will take 2 naps with the first nap being longer than the second nap.
Here is a sample of a sleeping schedule with 3 naps:
7 AM – Wake up & feed
8:30-9 AM– 1st nap
10-10:30 AM – Wake up & play
11:30-12 AM – 2nd nap
2-2:30 PM – Wake up & play
4-4:30 PM – 3rd nap/ Cat nap (~30-40 mins)
5:30 PM – Wake up
7 PM – Wind down for bedtime
7:30-8 PM – Asleep
Leo dropped his 3rd nap a week after he turned 6 months but he has always been a sleep warrior and will fight naps to not miss out on anything.
I highly encourage you to use the sleeping schedule as a reference but follow the lead of your little one. I used to spend 40-50 minutes just trying to get him to take a nap at 11:3o AM! I started to follow his lead and eventually he just dropped one nap and was way easier setting him down for a nap after that.
His first nap starts around 9:30 AM and it usually turns into a 2 hour nap while his evening nap is a quick 45 minutes to 1 hour nap which starts around 2:30 PM. We start winding down for bedtime around 6 PM so he could be asleep by 7 PM and wake up at 7 AM.
Leo was still not sleeping through the entire night but his night wakings definitely decreased after starting solids. He used to wake up multiple times at night but once he turned 6 months he was waking up once in the middle of the night ravenous. He did wake up 2 times at night when he started teething but would immediate fall back to sleep after feeding.
Activities you can do with your 6 month old baby!
- Call out the names of things and have him touch them when you guys go on walks or even at home.
- Grab two different color balls. Hold one in front of his face while the other ball is out of sight and say the color (“blue!”). Do the same with the second ball (“Red!”) and then bring both balls out and ask which ball is “blue.” If he touches the blue ball praise in excitement. If he touches the wrong ball just say “That’s the red ball.”
- If he doesn’t reach for the ball but looks at the right ball, praise them with excitement when they look at the right ball.
- Encourage “Army” crawling:
- Place an object they love a couple of feet in front of him while he is on his tummy and push one leg up gently bending his knee outward with the palm of your hand.
- Keep your hand on his foot so he can apply pressure when he’s ready and push himself forward.
- Do the same on the other leg.
- Eventually he’ll be pushing himself without your help and heading straight to the toy you place in front of him.
- Encourage sitting:
- Place toys within his reach when he’s in the sitting position.
- Place pots or Tupperware within reach so he can make some noise.
- Use an activity table such as an activity triangle or cube.
- Use a soccer ball or a soft ball big enough so your baby can hug and play with while he’s sitting.
- Continue reading to your little one!
- Bright colored books.
- Leo loves this mesmerizing book & this book about colors.
- Textured books.
- Leo interacts with this textured book the most.
- These are some of our favorite interactive books.
- Bright colored books.
- Play Peek-a-Boo with objects.
- Place an object in your hand where he can see it and tell him what it is. Cover the object with a colorful scarf and ask him where the object is and reveal it.
- Teething has already started or is just around the corner!
- Leo LOVED to bite on this teether toy which also served as a baby toothbrush.
- This textured crinkle teether toy was also a favorite.
Pets and crawling babies
If you have pets I HIGHLY encourage you to allow them to have a “safe” space completely away from your baby and advocate for your pet so your pet doesn’t feel unsafe and snaps out of fear or out of being annoyed at the new lack of space your baby is creating for them.
You have to keep in mind that babies’ motor skills are rough and they are clumsy humans who are learning about the effects of gravity. They don’t know how to be gentle so they mainly pull, tug, and fall on just about anything. It doesn’t matter how sweet your dog or cat is or has been with your baby prior to him starting to crawl, they will “correct” your baby if their space is being invaded and you’re not there to “correct” your child or they don’t have a safe space to run to when they’re feeling overwhelmed. “Correcting” might look like a growl, a bark, a bite, or even excessive licking to make your little one go away. Please be aware of your pet’s body language and warning signs to avoid your baby getting hurt.
Take out those baby gates and place them where your pets can have a secure space away from your baby.
ALWAYS supervise the interactions your baby has with your pet and NEVER leave them alone.
Leo's Journey at 6 months old
This was a big month for all of us including the dogs! Leo was “Army” crawling everywhere! He was constantly trying to get faster and his play pen was not cutting it any more. I started letting him roam freely around the house since it was baby proofed and he would pull himself up in his playpen and just stare at me while yelling and crying so I would open the gate. He’d get so excited every time I’d open the gate to his play pen and would immediately crawl right pass me.
We never bought a walker, a bouncer, or anything that used to keep him contained so I had to let him explore the house while I was right there in case he tried to get into anything he wasn’t supposed to get into. It paid off because by the end of the month it was hard to keep my eyes off for a second because he’d be down the hall before I could finish calling his name. It was exhausting but I loved to see how proud of himself he was for this new taste of independence.
We introduced Leo to Solids!
We hit one of the most scariest yet most exciting milestone. We introduced solids to Leo! We chose to introduce both purees and Baby Led Weaning (BLW) with more emphasis on BLW to expose Leo to all the different textures. As a first time Mom I was very excited to introduce him to all the delicious food we have to offer but I was on alert every time I served him food. It was mentally exhausting but definitely worth to see how much he enjoyed playing with and eating the food. He would lit up whenever he saw me coming towards him holding his plate.
We introduced an open cup and a cup with a straw right away. This process was extremely messy but Leo picked up on eating and drinking skills pretty quickly. This kid would stuff his mouth with food and give me extreme heart palpitations but he quickly learned to pace himself and introduce less food to avoid gagging.
This was the set up we had for Leo:
- High chair
- Bibs
- Long sleeve bibs to minimize your little one getting a bath every time you feed them.
- Silicone bibs are so easy to clean!
- Splat mat to protect your floors.
- Suction plates– I didn’t introduce the plate the first time I introduced him to solids. I allowed Leo to focus only on the piece of food he had in front of him. I Introduced the plate a week after I started serving more than one type of solid food.
- Spoons
- I introduced three kinds of spoons; short spoons, easy to grasp spoons, and loop handle spoons.
- Cups & sip cups with straws– I modeled how to drink from each cup and assisted him when holding the cups the first few times but once I saw he had a good grasp I let him have full control.
His first Christmas!
Leo enjoyed the Christmas tree so much I contemplated on keeping it up all January. He would not stop trying to reach the ornaments which was a great way for him to practice sitting unassisted and was even encouraged to try to stand to reach the ornaments that were higher up! 
I think his favorite part of our routine at night was turning on the Christmas lights all around the house. He used to stare at the Christmas tree for a good while just taking in all the little lights and he loved to read by that tree.
When Christmas came around he was not interested in ripping apart the paper from the gifts but he did enjoy taking the tissue paper from the gift bags. The hardest part was to try to take it away from his tiny fist before he put it in his mouth.
I wish time would slow down a bit but it looks like it’s time to embrace the mess and just go with the flow.