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Child 6 months

, medical expert
Last reviewed: 23.04.2024
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A child of 6 months is a new discovery and new stages of development in the life of a growing baby. During this period the karapuz is not only emotional and affable, he learns to play both independently and with the help of his parents, he may have the first "adult" sign - the first tooth. The kid becomes more and more demanding, he needs more attention and affection from the mother and father, moreover, the child tries to observe the actions of the parents and even repeat them. The child of 6 months is a boundary between a newborn stage and time of acquisition of useful skills.

With the baby it is necessary to spend as much time as possible, because at this stage the consolidation of the basic mental functions of a small organism begins. Interest in the study of unfamiliar objects and toys should be encouraged in every possible way, it is also possible to introduce certain restrictions, pronounce the words "no", "not", so that the child gradually learns to understand certain limits. Studying shapes, colors and smells, getting to know new tastes (lures), teaching movements, sounds and syllables is not a complete list of what goes into the life of a six-month-old child. The child can begin to learn how to play cubes, add figurines and pictures from them, roll the ball, string the rings on the stem of the pyramid. It's okay if in the process of active activity a small researcher bends or breaks a toy, the main thing is his interest and desire to know the world around him. Patience in this period requires patience, participation and cooperation, and prohibitions should only concern possible dangers such as falling from the height of the bed, sharp corners of furniture and so on. Six months old begins to pronounce fully meaningful syllables, perhaps for the first time the happy mother will hear something similar to the word "mother" or "give." Deaf consonants are poorly given to the baby. He still has not developed a speech device, so the pope should not be offended that a child of 6 months will not say the desired "dad" among the first words. Of course, it would be ridiculous to expect a coherent speech from a child in six months, the kid is still babbling, walking, but more often in his sounds one can trace connected syllables and the semblance of quite adult exclamations. Parents need to remember that the child, as soon as he comes into the world, begins to "mirror" everything that he sees, hears and feels. This applies to the entire long period of education, so gross expressions, loud abuse and other negative family manifestations in the presence of the baby are absolutely unacceptable.

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Child 6 months - height, weight and skill

During the sixth month of life, a small man grows by 1.5-2 centimeters and adds body weight by 550-600 grams. These indicators are not universal, each child is individual and its growth may differ from the data provided. However, there are generally accepted frameworks that can be used to determine how quickly the child develops, and whether there are any deviations in his nutrition, upbringing and health. It is generally believed that a six-month-old child should weigh about 7-7.5 kilograms and achieve growth of 65-70 centimeters. In pediatrics, there is the concept of the centile corridor, which denotes the statistical average of the body weight and height of the baby, according to its age. If the measurements of the 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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Child 6 months - sleep and diet

A six-month-old child sleeps a lot and for a long time, as a whole, his sleep should last about 15 hours. In the daytime it should be laid two or three times, so that the baby sleeps for 1.5-2 hours, and at night the child needs an 11-12 hour sleep. The diet can vary, but children's nutritionists are advised to leave five-time feeding every four hours. In the diet of the baby gradually introduced a new food, complementary foods. Mother's milk, of course, remains the most valuable nutritious dish, but you should take care of new trace elements, which it does not. The variant of the dish, which will be a lure, can be selected together with the treating pediatrician, sore all this will be a puree of fruit and juice. The baby is introduced to the new dish literally drop by drop, and juice should be introduced. Puree can be given on a quarter teaspoon, so the child will get acquainted with a new way of eating - from a spoon, as well as get acquainted with a new taste. Lure it better to enter in the afternoon, in time it will replace breast milk or mixture. If the child has responded normally to a new diet, you can add juice or puree to the rate described below. By the end of the sixth month the baby can receive an additive not only in the form of fruit, but also vegetable puree. So a full meal is made, the mass of which can be from 150 to 200 grams. Each new dish or product should be introduced once a week, so you will give the child the opportunity to get used to the lure, in addition, accustomed to unfamiliar food and digestive tract. As a vegetable supplement, boiled carrots are excellent, you can gradually introduce cereals - rice or buckwheat. It is mandatory to add the yolk of the boiled egg, which is ground in a small amount of breast milk or a mixture. If the baby does not suffer from allergies, the yolk is just needed, as it contains vitamins D, A, phosphorus, calcium and iron. A little later, the yolk can be grinded with vegetable puree, enriching its composition.

Sample menu and diet for a six-month-old baby:

Morning, 6.00 Mother's milk or milk formula 200 ml
Morning, 10.00 Puree from boiled vegetables 200 g
  Egg yolk one sixth, bring to half
Day, 2 pm Breast milk or milk formula 200 ml
  Puree from boiled, raw fruit 30 grams
Evening, 6 pm Milk porridge - rice or buckwheat 200 ml
  Juice 30 ml
Evening, 22.00 Maternal milk, milk formula 200 ml

If a child begins to add weight excessively quickly, it is worthwhile to revise the diet and reduce the caloric content of foods, for example, milk dough should be replaced with fruit or vegetable puree. If the child is slowly gaining weight for 6 months, you can add a drop of vegetable refined oil to the menu, for example, in vegetables or cereal cereals, and give more caloric juices with pulp. The organism of each child is individual, as well as the appetite, it is possible that an insufficient set of body weight is not a deviation from the norm for a particular baby. Everything depends on the anthropometric indicators, which are recorded in a special diary or medical record, if their dynamics are steadily growing, then the baby develops normally. The main thing is that the baby is ready physiologically to take a more solid and saturated diet than mother's milk. This is evidenced by a heightened interest in the eating of adults, when the child tries to pull back to the "adult" plate, and the eruption of the first two teeth.

A child of 6 months is a carapace, which begins to show activity and curiosity. Perhaps this is the last relatively quiet month, when the kids sleep for a long time, covered with warm blankets, giving the opportunity to rest and my mother. Willingness to explore the outside world, interest in everything, how handles can be reached, attempts to crawl from one place to another are just the beginning of a child's active life. A half-year period is a wonderful time, when the positive changes in the development of the baby are clearly visible, which gives a great joy to happy parents.

Child 6 months - Skills and abilities: 

  • The kid can play for more than half an hour with rattles, balls, toys. He actively knocks them, throws them and takes them with pleasure if he drops them near him. 
  • The child can use both hands in the game, shifts the rattle from one hand to the other. 
  • The kid knows how to shift toys from a larger capacity to a smaller one, for this it is worth to buy special embedding molds. 
  • The child continues to walk, babble, but actively tries to imitate the sounds and cries of adults, copies their intonations. 
  • A child of 6 months is able to listen to speech and music for a long time. 
  • The kid knows how to find the object with eyes.
  • The child begins to differentiate people according to the principle of "one's own" and "another's". 
  • The child tries to master the territory of the room with the help of crawling, can crawl to the object that interested him. 
  • The kid tries to get up, stand up, leaning on his hands, holding on to the cribs of the crib.

To check how much the child has developed for 6 months, you can do the following: 

  • Move the object, a bright toy and watch how the child moves the eyes after the bright spot. The distance from the toddler's face should be 25-30 centimeters and should not be taken too far. 
  • A kid should distinguish a game object from a food object. It is necessary to show the child a toy and at the same time a bottle with a pacifier. He will pull the nipple into his mouth, and play with the toy. Thus, the ability to distinguish objects according to their purpose is formed. 
  • To check up, as the child of 6 months tries to rise it is possible with the help. A bell or a bright toy, which you need, then bring it closer to the child's face, then separate them. You can offer the kid help in the form of his hand or finger, for which he grabs the handle to climb and sit down. 
  • To check emotional reactions of the kid it is possible by means of reading of nursery rhymes and books, changing an intonation and a facial expression of the person. 
  • Check the grasping reflex and the ability to "defend" your opinion and your subjects can be as follows: try to joke to take away a toy from a baby. The child should hold the object tightly for at least two to three minutes, expressing dissatisfaction. 
  • A child of 6 months should react to his name, he should be called and followed the reaction - a turn of the head, a smile, babble. 
  • Check how well the baby can turn from back to tummy and vice versa. You can do it in a game form. 
  • You can check the sound reaction by reading the rhymes, where the endings are supposed to be in the form of syllables: "geese, geese - ha-ha-ha, you want - yes-yes-yes". The child should try to pronounce syllables corresponding, if not to the text, to the rhythm of the nursery rhyme. 
  • The child should be gradually weaned from eating through a bottle with a pacifier, start feeding with a spoon and drink from a cup. The baby should show interest in a new dish, which should be purchased in advance, let it be bright, colorful. 
  • Check how the child recognizes himself in the mirror, lift and hide the mirror, ask who it is, help talk, call the baby by name.

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