The sixth month was all about growing. Growing Hair, teeth, growing number of miles baby crawled, growing crankiness… A lot of growth in one month, but also some other interesting changes. Things are surely heating up!

First crawling “steps”

Okay, we got used to rolling - she was mobile but in a slow, predictable manner. But then she leveled up and started to crawl. Tada! Imagine the smug smile on her face. It’s not an actual crawling yet, more dragging on her belly - army crawl as they call it. But she’s fast! And she has such an explorer spirit. We love that, we do. And we really want to support and nurture her curiosity. But that takes a lot of work! 

Only when you have a mobile child, you see how many dangerous objects you have inside your house. Instead of saying no, no, no - which we really struggled with - assess, contain and accept. Protect her from dangerous stuff such as electricity and sharp edges by covering them. Remove what you don’t want her to touch - valuable or fragile things. Accept that there will always be some dust and dirt. Yes, her licking that chair stool is not the most hygienic thing, but hey - it’s a valuable sensory experience. Plus, there is some immune system buildup there. So, it was stressful, but we learned to become more okay with her quest to explore every corner of the apartment. Some areas are still off the limits, but gradually, she’ll conquer everything.

Although she is big on the movement, she still can't sit without the support. We didn't put her in the sitting position at all to “practice”. There is some evidence that not only is this not helping, but it could also actually harm motor development. Same is true for walkers and other similar tools for ”teaching” motor skills. Babies don't need any teaching, just lots of practice on the floor. Of course, if there are any motor delays you should follow the advice of the specialist. Our baby had attempts at sitting up and occasionally she succeeds. She is still very unstable and prone to falling over. But all that is the part of the learning process.

The trouble with the food

Imagine opening a diaper and seeing small red dots in the poop. Panic! They say all variations of the poop are okay as long as it's not white, black or has blood in it. So the blood was definitely cause for the concern. Since she is exclusively breastfed and there were no other symptoms, the doctor suspected something in my diet. Common culprits are dairy, soy, eggs, and wheat in that order, so the advice was to cut out all the dairy and see how that goes. 

It takes at least 2 weeks that body cleans your those milk proteins, so we had to be patient. I stopped eating anything with milk in it and for now, the things seem better. For a week we noticed occasional red streak, but now there were two solid weeks with no signs of the blood. Soon, I’ll try to drink some milk to see will it trigger any reactions.

Another huge milestone is upon us - solids! It's advised to wait until the baby is around 6 months before introducing them. Baby should also show some signs of readiness: 

• loss of tongue thrust reflex 
• ability to hold her head well and
• sit with the support and interest in food.

Check, check and check! She is constantly staring at our plates when we are eating and even occasionally tries to grab the food. We decided to try with the breakfast. First meal was cooked millet with some expressed milk (mostly milk) and she ate it like a ravenous beast! She had it all over her face, clothing, even hair, not to mention sofa and the floor. It was quite a mess, but we all had fun and took some great pictures. Next day we were smarter and prepared better so it was a lot easier. We'll see how it goes, but hopefully, she won't be a too picky eater.

Sleeping patterns and nap time changed

So after the fifth-month sleeping irregularities, we noticed some patterns in the sixth month. Well, don’t get too happy just yet! It doesn’t mean that your baby is ready to sleep more, but probably it is ready to sleep more predictably.

If you were trying to use some sleeping schedule until now, you will probably see some success around this time. We talked already about sleep regression and establishing of sleeping patterns in the fourth month of baby’s life. And by now, those patterns should be pretty established.

Babies should be able to sleep through the night (night is defined as 6h stretch!) and fall asleep soon after putting them to the bed. And it’s true! If you put your little one to the bed at approximately same time every night, you’ll see she or he is falling asleep pretty fast.

But the downside is, if you’re used to long nap times through the day, you may see some changes. Those nap times will become shorter and shorter, and that is perfectly normal. Babies need less sleep as they grow older so expect them to spend more and more time awake. But still, it is recommended to have at least 4 hours of nap time through the day, in 2 or 3 chunks, depending on your child preferences.

But another strange thing (at first) we noticed is our baby suddenly waking in huge distress with tears in her eyes. Then she would cry for a minute or two and go back to sleep as nothing happened. That is actually normal and has a perfect explanation.

We all actually have a few waking minutes overnight between our sleeping cycles but we usually don’t recall them. Like grownups, babies also wake up between those cycles and some babies… well… they use that time to wake the parents too! Joking aside, it’s not clear why some babies cry between those cycles and some just lay in bed calmly before going back to sleep. Actually, that crying often signals that baby isn’t done with sleeping. Usually crying stops suddenly, just the way it comes, and baby continues sleeping. Leaving parents with big question marks over their head.

The theory is that it has something to do with child's temperament, so if your baby is crying between sleep cycles, lucky you when it is a teenager! And yes, if you experience that sudden crying, it is recommended to wait a minute or two before reacting. Most of the time, the child will just continue to sleep normally. But if that is not the case, the reason could be a teething pain or sleep associations. We also talk about that in the fourth month of child life so it is important to see what the reason could be and try to work on it.

Something new grew up!

Besides classical growth in size, that you are probably noticing by having to buy new clothes every few weeks, there were 2 new things growing on our little baby.

Her first 2 bottom teeth came out! You may already be finished with that phase, but for us, it happened in the sixth month. It can happen anywhere between fourth and eight months and is characterized by more than usual drooling and putting things in the mouth. Actually, we were thinking for the last 3 months that her teeth are coming because all the drooling and “mouth exploring”. But when the teeth are really ready to come out, you will notice another change in your baby - you can guess it already - above average crankiness. Hm… It feels like I’m mentioning above average crankiness in every article. I guess babies are really cranky!

For a week, she had trouble sleeping and it was noticeable something is happening. Although many parents will mention fever and diarrhea as the symptoms of the teething, the doctors warn that's not true. Those symptoms are actually signs of some infection which frequently happens at the same time. So don't just dismiss it as a normal part of the teething, consult your pediatrician.

Another thing we noticed is the hair growing. Now finally, she soon won’t have “grampa” haircut with boldness on front and long hair on the back of her head. Every day you can see that hair growing longer and longer, but it will take some time until her head is fully covered in hair. And you can experience another surprise here: the color of the hair doesn’t have to be the exact color she had at the birth. Our baby’s new hair is much lighter than the one she had before...

And those were some of the most interesting things we experienced in the sixth month of a child's life. Every month brings something new, except crankiness… That is getting old. If you are just preparing for the role of being a parent, we suggest you start this epic journey with the What to expect from a newborn in first month article. And stay tuned for the next adventure that is coming soon.

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Original article published at https://www.stemlittleexplorers.com/en/baby-in-the-sixth-month/