Congratulations! You're half-way towards your baby's first birthday and in the last 6 months you'll have been learning an incredible amount about parenting and about your own baby and his personality. The only person learning faster than you in fact is your baby.
Your baby
Your baby's language is improving all the time, and by six months he might well be practising vowel-consonant combinations, whether it's the time-honoured 'ma', 'da' or the frequent favourite ah-goo. You might notice a reaction from your baby when you sneeze as the ah-choo sound is similar to his own ah-goo. Try deliberately making a pretend sneeze ah-choo noise to your baby and see how he reacts. Soon he will be stringing these noises together in babbling mini-sentences.
Baby teeth will add to the variety of sounds your baby can produce and by now he may have started teething. If so your baby's gums might be quite sore, though some babies will hardly feel a thing, and it might be accompanied by a fever or nappy rash. Signs that your baby has started teething include lots of dribbling, chewing on toys or his own hands and fingers and crying, especially when feeding. The discomfort, if there is any, starts well before the first little white tooth breaks through. Don't worry if your baby isn't showing signs of teething, the timing varies greatly from baby to baby and can start as early as three months or as late as twelve months. There are plenty of aids to soothing teething pains, cooling the gums can help and many teething rings are designed to be cooled, there are also special teething gels, but for some babies it will be enough just to gnaw on a favoured toy.
He may be showing signs of wanting to feed himself and might be strong enough to do so if given a double-handled beaker. If you do him feed himself though, bear in mind that at this stage the beaker is likely to come crashing to the floor with a pleasing noise for baby.
By now he's probably rolling over in both directions quite happily and may be able to maintain a sitting position for as long as thirty seconds before steadying himself with his hands in front of him. His own limbs are his most convenient playthings and he's most likely already adept at putting his feet into his mouth. This can be very funny, unless you're trying to change him and his feet have managed to get themselves tangled up in the mess that is! A hand placed on his stomach while changing will obstruct the foot-mouth journey and some adept holding of ankles together while you clean him should avert disaster. If you're prepared for the possibility it shouldn't be a problem.
For the last couple of months your baby has been learning to grab hold of objects, weigh them in his hands, pass them hand-to-hand and investigate them with his mouth. Round about now he's learning that it can be just as much fun, if not more, to let go of objects as it is to hold them. Expect him to wave an object around in his hands for a few moments and then let it go flying to the floor. He'll be intrigued when you pick things up again: realising that when he does something like this you react in a certain way will be an enormous joke for him. Yes, he is doing it deliberately, but try to be patient, he's not doing it to tire you out or to annoy you, he's just exploring cause and effect and is delighted when his own actions have an effect.
What you can do
As your baby learns cause and effect he's beginning to realise that some things he does please you and some things he does don't please you, but both can get your attention. This is something you might feel the effects of for years to come, but you can weigh the scales in your favour by heaping particular praise and attention on him when he does something you like. He's still too young to be naughty though, and anything he does to provoke a reaction from you now is still just part of his learning curve.
Keep on talking back to your baby and mimicking his noises so that he feels that you are having a conversation. He still needs to hear plenty of varied tones and a wide vocabulary so reading books to him is a great idea.
He'll probably enjoy the company of other people and other babies now, particularly when he knows that you're around to fall back on. There's a lot he can learn from watching and listening to social exchanges, as well as meeting other babies, so getting out and having a social life is good for both of you.
If you're thinking of starting your baby on solids this month then start off slowly and try him first on either jarred baby foods or on freshly pureed food. Keep tastes simple to start with and giving him plenty of time to get used to the new sensation and learn how to push food around his mouth and swallow.
NB: All babies develop at their own pace and some will reach developmental landmarks more quickly than others. This timeline is meant only as an approximate guide for parents. Premature babies will develop more slowly than full-term babies and can be expected to develop in line with their age calculated from their due date. If you are worried about your child's health or progress consult your doctor.
Newborn |
1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 |
8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12
