6 months

By the age of 6 months your baby will have doubled their birth weight!

By 6 months your baby will be eating solids, roll, teethe and so much more.

Most babies by 6 months will be ready or already started on solids (it is recommended to not start before 4 months but preferably wait till closer to the 6 month mark).

Milk is still the number one source of their nutrients but solids can supplement their food intake.

They are now able to bring their hands together over their chest and look at them.

Their hands have been a great source of enjoyment for them since their birth.

Now they are able to use them more and use toys and reach, grasp and hold them better.

They will start to dribble as they not only have the ability to now make more saliva but are beginning to teethe.

It is also during this age they are becoming more aware of their own body as they are now generally able to roll over, from back to tummy and visa versa. This allows a new perspective on the world for them and also allows them to have a sense of not only accomplishments but freedom.

The view of their world changes as they learn to new movements.

Tummy time at this age is vital as it will assist in strengthening their muscles for crawling and it is around this age that they will attempt to crawl.

Their sleep patterns will have changed as they may sleep less during the day (they will still have generally 3 day time sleeps  1-3 hours) and will sleep longer at night, sometimes up to 10 hours.

Sometimes when they are getting their teeth their sleep patterns may be disrupted as is at times the achievement of a new skill and an increase in their activity level.

This is a very oral stage and they will learn to blow their own raspberries.

This is also the age when babies can learn to sit by themselves if only for very short period and need close supervision as they do have a tendency to flop sideways or forwards as sitting independently doesn’t really happen till 8-9 months.

• Can lift head and grasp feet when on back.
• Can lift head and chest and take weight on hands when on belly.
• Roll from back to front and may or will attempt to roll from front to back.
• When held in a sitting position will hold head steady and reach for objects.
• Will pass an object from one hand to another.
• Smiles and shows excitement at familiar things.
• Smiles and babbles when sees self in mirror. About half of babies at this age will babble repeating one syllable over and over such as “ba” “ma” or “ga”
• Recognize familiar people.
• Babbles to self.
• Alert and watches happenings.
• Turns toward familiar peoples voices.
• Will search for a partially hidden object (object permanence).
• Can co-ordinate hearing, touching and seeing.
• They will start to mimic…if you laugh they laugh and so on.