The baby is 6 months old

A 6-month-old baby is new discoveries and new stages of development in the life of a growing baby. During this period, the little one is not just emotional and friendly, he learns to play both independently and with the help of his parents, he may have the first "adult" sign - the first tooth. The baby becomes more and more demanding, he needs more attention and affection from mom and dad, moreover, the child tries to observe the actions of his parents and even repeat them. A 6-month-old baby is a boundary between the newborn stage and the time of acquiring useful skills and abilities.

It is necessary to spend as much time as possible with the baby, because at this stage the consolidation of the basic mental functions of the small organism begins. Interest in exploring unfamiliar objects and toys should be encouraged in every possible way, you can also introduce some restrictions, pronounce the words "no", "it is impossible" so that the child gradually learns to understand certain boundaries. Studying shapes, colors and smells, getting acquainted with new tastes (complementary feeding is introduced), learning movements, sounds and syllables - this is far from a complete list of what is included in the life of a six-month-old child. The child can begin to learn to play with cubes, put together figures and pictures from them, roll a ball, string rings on the rod of a pyramid. It is okay if in the process of active activity the little explorer bends or breaks a toy, the main thing is his interest and desire to learn about the world around him. During this period, patience, participation and cooperation are required from parents, and prohibitions should only concern possible dangers, such as falls from the height of the bed, sharp corners of furniture, and so on. A six-month-old toddler begins to pronounce quite meaningful syllables, perhaps for the first time the happy mother will hear something similar to the word "mama" or "give". Voiceless consonants are difficult for the baby. His speech apparatus is not yet developed, so the father should not be offended that the child of 6 months does not pronounce the desired "dada" among the first words. Of course, it would be ridiculous to expect coherent speech from a child at six months, the baby still babbles, coos, but increasingly coherent syllables and a semblance of quite adult exclamations can be traced in his sounds. Parents need to remember that the child, as soon as he is born, begins to "mirror" everything he sees, hears and feels. This applies to the entire long period of upbringing, so rude expressions, loud swearing and other negative family manifestations in the presence of the baby are absolutely unacceptable.

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6 month old baby - height, weight and skills

During the sixth month of life, the little person grows by 1.5-2 centimeters and gains weight by 550-600 grams. These indicators are not universal, each child is individual and his growth may differ from the data provided. However, there are generally accepted frameworks by which one can navigate how quickly the child is developing, and whether there are any deviations in his nutrition, upbringing and health. It is generally accepted that a six-month-old child should weigh about 7-7.5 kilograms and reach a height of 65-70 centimeters. In pediatrics, there is a concept of a centile corridor, which denotes the statistical average indicators of body weight and height of a baby according to his age. If the measurement indicators of a six-month-old child do not fit into the centile corridor, this may indicate hidden problems in the state of the baby's body that need to be identified and eliminated.

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6 month old baby – sleep and feeding schedule

A six-month-old baby sleeps a lot and for a long time, in general, his sleep should last about 15 hours. During the day, he needs to be put to bed two or three times so that the baby sleeps for 1.5-2 hours, and at night, the child needs 11-12 hours of sleep. The feeding regimen can vary, but pediatric nutritionists advise leaving five meals a day every four hours. New food, complementary feeding, is gradually introduced into the baby's diet. Mother's milk, of course, remains the most valuable nutritious dish, but you should take care of new microelements that are not in it. The option of a dish that will be complementary feeding can be selected together with the attending pediatrician, most likely it will be fruit puree and juice. The baby is introduced to a new dish literally drop by drop, and this is how juice should be introduced. Puree can be given in a quarter of a teaspoon, so the child will get acquainted with a new way of eating - from a spoon, and also get acquainted with a new taste. It is better to introduce complementary foods during the day, over time it will replace breast milk or formula. If the child reacted normally to the new diet, you can add juice or puree to the norm described below. By the end of the sixth month, the baby can receive an addition not only in the form of fruits, but also vegetable puree. This is how a full lunch is made up, the weight of which can be from 150 to 200 grams. Each new dish or product should be introduced once a week, so you give the baby the opportunity to get used to complementary foods, in addition, the digestive tract gets used to unfamiliar food. Boiled carrots are great as a vegetable supplement, you can gradually introduce cereals - rice or buckwheat. It is mandatory to add a boiled egg yolk, which is ground in a small amount of breast milk or formula. If the baby does not suffer from allergies, the yolk is simply necessary for him, as it contains vitamins D, A, phosphorus, calcium and iron. A little later, the yolk can be ground together with vegetable puree, enriching its composition.

Sample menu and feeding schedule for a six-month-old baby:

Morning, 6.00	Breast milk or formula	200 ml
Morning, 10.00	Puree of boiled vegetables	200 g
	Egg yolk	one sixth, bring to half
Day, 14.00	Breast milk or formula	200 ml
	Puree of boiled, raw fruits	30 g
Evening, 18.00	Milk porridge - rice or buckwheat	200 ml
	Juice	30 ml
Evening, 22.00	Breast milk, formula milk	200 ml

If a child begins to gain weight excessively quickly, it is worth reviewing the diet and reducing the calorie content of foods, for example, replacing milk porridge with fruit or vegetable puree. If a 6-month-old child is slowly gaining weight, you can add a drop of refined vegetable oil to the menu, for example, in vegetables or cereal porridge, give more calorie juices with pulp. Each child's body is individual, as is the appetite, it is quite possible that insufficient weight gain is not a deviation from the norm for a particular child. Everything depends on the anthropometric indicators, which are recorded in a special diary or medical card, if their dynamics are steadily increasing, then the baby is developing normally. The main thing is that the baby is physiologically ready to accept more solid and rich food than mother's milk. This is evidenced by an increased interest in adult food, when the child tries to reach for the "adult" plate, and the eruption of the first two teeth.

A 6-month-old baby is a toddler who begins to show activity and curiosity. Perhaps this is the last relatively calm month, when babies sleep for a long time, covered with warm blankets, giving the opportunity for mom to rest. Readiness to explore the world around them, interest in everything that can be reached with hands, attempts to crawl independently from place to place - this is just the beginning of the child's active life. The six-month period is a wonderful time when positive changes in the baby's development are clearly visible, which brings great joy to happy parents.

6 month old baby – skills and abilities:

• The baby can play for more than half an hour with rattles, a ball, toys. He actively knocks them, throws them and happily gets them if he drops them nearby.
• The child can use both hands in the game and transfer the rattle from one hand to the other.
• The baby knows how to transfer toys from a larger container to a smaller one; for this, it is worth purchasing special nesting molds.
• The child continues to coo and babble, but actively tries to imitate the sounds and exclamations of adults, copying their intonations.
• A 6 month old child is able to listen to speech and music for quite a long time.
• The baby can find the indicated object with his eyes.
• The child begins to differentiate people according to the principle of “friends” and “strangers”.
• The child tries to explore the room by crawling and can crawl to an object that interests him.
• The baby makes attempts to get up, stand up, leaning on his hands, holding onto the handrails of the crib.

You can check how developed a 6 month old baby is by doing the following:

• Move the object, a bright toy and watch how the child moves his eyes following the bright spot. The distance from the baby's face should be 25-30 centimeters and the object should not be moved too far.
• The baby must distinguish a play object from a food item. You need to show the baby a toy and a bottle with a nipple at the same time. He will pull the nipple into his mouth and play with the toy. This is how the ability to distinguish objects by their purpose is formed.
• You can check how a 6-month-old child tries to get up with help. A bell or a bright toy, which you need to bring closer to the child's face, then move them away. You can offer the baby help in the form of your hand or finger, which he grabs with his hand to get up and sit down.
• You can test your baby's emotional reactions by reading nursery rhymes and books, changing your intonation and facial expressions.
• You can test the grasping reflex and the ability to "defend" your opinion and your objects this way: try to jokingly take a toy away from the baby. The child should hold the object tightly for at least two to three minutes, expressing dissatisfaction.
• A 6 month old child should respond to his name, you need to call him and watch his reaction - turning his head, smiling, babbling.
• Check how well the baby can roll over from back to tummy and vice versa. This can be done in a playful way.
• You can check the sound reaction by reading nursery rhymes, which assume endings in the form of syllables: "geese, geese - ga-ga-ga, are you hungry - da-da-da". The child should try to pronounce syllables that correspond, if not to the text, then to the rhythm of the nursery rhyme.
• The child should be gradually weaned off bottle feeding and start feeding with a spoon and drinking from a cup. The baby should show interest in new dishes, which should be purchased in advance, let it be bright and colorful.
• Check how the child recognizes himself in the mirror, bring and hide the mirror, ask who it is, help him speak, call the baby by name.

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