6 Months Thread

[Anonymous]

I learned this trick from DCUM to deal with a baby who rolls over or runs away during diaper changes:
1) place changing mat on the floor. Place baby on the changing mat.
2) sit down next to the changing mat, put your leg that is closest to the baby's head across the baby to trap the baby. You don't need to pin their arms under your leg--they won't be able to reach across your leg to get at their poopy crotch. DS hates being held down like this, but it's better than him rolling around in poop. He became able to flip over even with the changing table strap holding him down, but hasn't been able to get out from under my leg (and he's 16 months now). Good luck!

We found it easier at some point to just let him sit up on the floor and put his clothes on him.

Hang in there!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Second time mom of five month old S here. She has shown a bit of interest in food...is it too early to try a puree? I can't remember this stuff from my first and don't have a ped appt. for another month. Any thoughts? She is EBF and has been growing/gaining like crazy.

Also a 2nd time mom here. DS#1 showed no interest in food, but DD#2 started getting obsessed with what we were eating at 5 months. I took this as a sign. She's not a good bottle feeder but as soon as I introduced solids at 5 months, she's become a voracious eater. Both our ped and ped GI said to go for it at 5 months. Start with mild foods: cereal, sweet potatoes, apples, bananas, carrots, etc.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This is 20:29, hereafter B's mom.

Let's talk changing table procedures for a second, because I'm about to bust out the duct tape. Rolling over has become the novelty du jour in our house, which is particularly tricky during diaper changes. Not so bad when we're just dealing with #1, but the other day we had a MAJOR doo and kid was rolling around so much it was like a s**t rotisserie. I've also been finding random items in her pajamas in the morning - I think because I'm in such a hurry to pin her down and get her clothed. Last night a paci got zipped up in her sleep sack and stayed there all night. Last week I actually found an entire tube of diaper cream in the back of her jammies (luckily caught that as soon as I picked her up off the table). Almost as bad as when I unswaddled her during week one and found a forkful of fried rice that had obviously fallen down when I was trying to choke down some dinner during a feeding. Mother of the Year award right here!! Any other stories of stellar parenting to make me feel better??

Can you try a really interesting toy to give her? Or, hang something above the table for her to swat at? Or maybe it's way beyond that!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is 20:29, hereafter B's mom.

Let's talk changing table procedures for a second, because I'm about to bust out the duct tape. Rolling over has become the novelty du jour in our house, which is particularly tricky during diaper changes. Not so bad when we're just dealing with #1, but the other day we had a MAJOR doo and kid was rolling around so much it was like a s**t rotisserie. I've also been finding random items in her pajamas in the morning - I think because I'm in such a hurry to pin her down and get her clothed. Last night a paci got zipped up in her sleep sack and stayed there all night. Last week I actually found an entire tube of diaper cream in the back of her jammies (luckily caught that as soon as I picked her up off the table). Almost as bad as when I unswaddled her during week one and found a forkful of fried rice that had obviously fallen down when I was trying to choke down some dinner during a feeding. Mother of the Year award right here!! Any other stories of stellar parenting to make me feel better??

Can you try a really interesting toy to give her? Or, hang something above the table for her to swat at? Or maybe it's way beyond that!

B's mom here. First, love the PP's leg-pinning recommendation - I'll give it a try! BTW how is it that these tiny creatures are even so strong? I feel like mine is channeling Hulk Hogan...

Second, to the PP whose child catapulted off the table, please don't feel bad. I've misjudged doorjambs more than once with baby in hand, and have had some seriously close calls trying to juggle her in an out of the Bjorn/Ergo. I'm debating getting a helmet for her as a precaution.

And the toy-as-distractor is definitely a favorite tactic of ours; it does work. My problem is that I lose track of the toy/item in the chaos, and that's when I find it the next morning lodged in kiddo's diaper or something Ah well...we live to fight another day. Love this thread, guys. Good idea OP!

[Anonymous]

OP here. Sorry I was MIA the last couple of days.

We started solids just shy of 6 months and my daughter LOVES food. This morning my husband looked at the bowl I made for her (BM, peaches, oatmeal) and said, "Is she going to eat all of that?!?!?" Yep. She's on the small side, so I have no idea where she puts it.

We definitely have to employ the toy distraction trick during diaper changes or it's nearly impossible to get her changed. I second PP who said she keeps her baby lying down for as short a time as possible. My daughter seems to have tons of clothes that button up the back these days. She loves being put on her tummy to get buttoned up, so I try to flip her immediately after the diaper change.

As far as sleeping, it's not where I expected to be at this point... My daughter is still waking up at least once a night, but usually twice. I know she *can* sleep all the way through, but it's never happened. I am actually okay with the 3:00/4:00 am feed because she seems really hungry and I like the snuggles, but we seem to have hit a regression. We Ferberized to get rid of the 11:00/midnight wake up a few weeks ago, but she is back at it. I saw my ped yesterday, and she said it's really normal for babies to regress - and that she really supports sleep training again and again if necessary. She also said most babies will flip themselves and actually sleep better on their sides or tummies at this age - and that's totally okay. Sleep training for that midnight feed starts again tonight. Wish me luck!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
As far as sleeping, it's not where I expected to be at this point... My daughter is still waking up at least once a night, but usually twice. I know she *can* sleep all the way through, but it's never happened. I am actually okay with the 3:00/4:00 am feed because she seems really hungry and I like the snuggles, but we seem to have hit a regression. We Ferberized to get rid of the 11:00/midnight wake up a few weeks ago, but she is back at it. I saw my ped yesterday, and she said it's really normal for babies to regress - and that she really supports sleep training again and again if necessary. She also said most babies will flip themselves and actually sleep better on their sides or tummies at this age - and that's totally okay. Sleep training for that midnight feed starts again tonight. Wish me luck!

Good luck! I thought I had managed to drop the midnight feed last week and she demanded it again last night after a day where she didn't eat well at daycare. sigh. On the upside, at about 2 am, my dog went apeshit for no particular reason. As soon as I got the dog calmed, I checked to see if she had woken baby. And I watched on the monitor as baby sat up, looked around, rubbed her eyes, laid back down and went to sleep. self-soothing! she does it! woo-hoo! but crazydog is going in the crate tonight.

[Anonymous]

My baby is only 3 months and you guys have depressed me.

[Anonymous]

Why?

[Anonymous]

What sorts of games do you play with your 6 month old to encourage development? I'm not sure I'm doing enough.

[Anonymous]

NMJ's mom here. He had his 6 month appointment today. 17lbs 11oz and 26.5 inches, so very average in terms of height and weight! The Ped and I spoke at length about his food issues and the types of reactions he'd had, and she referred us to an allergist at Children's (rather than going back to the Ped GI). She mentioned wanting to rule out something called Eosinophilic Esophagitus because of the severity of his responses, which I had never heard of but googled when I got home, and it's a little scary. Basically it's an immune response to food allergies that causes swelling of and damage to the esophagus, resulting in reflux-like symptoms including pain, vomiting, gagging, difficulty sleeping, etc. It often co-occurs with asthma and eczema. The diagnosis is made via esophogeal biopsy, so I'm REALLY hoping that the allergist doesn't think this is something N might have. I am still hopeful that we are just dealing with some food intollerances that he will grow out of.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:NMJ's mom here. He had his 6 month appointment today. 17lbs 11oz and 26.5 inches, so very average in terms of height and weight! The Ped and I spoke at length about his food issues and the types of reactions he'd had, and she referred us to an allergist at Children's (rather than going back to the Ped GI). She mentioned wanting to rule out something called Eosinophilic Esophagitus because of the severity of his responses, which I had never heard of but googled when I got home, and it's a little scary. Basically it's an immune response to food allergies that causes swelling of and damage to the esophagus, resulting in reflux-like symptoms including pain, vomiting, gagging, difficulty sleeping, etc. It often co-occurs with asthma and eczema. The diagnosis is made via esophogeal biopsy, so I'm REALLY hoping that the allergist doesn't think this is something N might have. I am still hopeful that we are just dealing with some food intollerances that he will grow out of.

Good luck! I hope you are able to find out what is wrong...

[Anonymous]

Solids question: When do you think our babies start needing less milk? My baby is just over 6 months and gets solids twice a day - vegetables or fruit in the morning and oatmeal + fruit in the evening. On this schedule, she seems to wanting to BF or have a bottle less often. The solids aren't quite replacing a milk "feed," but almost. I am worried about my supply, so wondering when this a problem v. just the natural course of weaning as we move towards 12 months...

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:What sorts of games do you play with your 6 month old to encourage development? I'm not sure I'm doing enough.

I read H a lot of board books - she likes to turn (and chew on) the pages. She has been making lots of effort to crawl; so I set up a padded runway of sorts with her sitting at one end and her toys at the other end. And watched her squirm her way down! She's almost 7 months and VERY eager to be mobile. So we practice sitting and standing and I put toys just out of her reach. That's all really. I talk and sing to her a lot. She likes looking in the mirror.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Solids question: When do you think our babies start needing less milk? My baby is just over 6 months and gets solids twice a day - vegetables or fruit in the morning and oatmeal + fruit in the evening. On this schedule, she seems to wanting to BF or have a bottle less often. The solids aren't quite replacing a milk "feed," but almost. I am worried about my supply, so wondering when this a problem v. just the natural course of weaning as we move towards 12 months...

It shouldn't be replacing milk. Our ped emphasized that our 6 month old is to get her solids only right after nursing/bottle, not before. Otherwise she'll nurse less and it will affect my supply.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Solids question: When do you think our babies start needing less milk? My baby is just over 6 months and gets solids twice a day - vegetables or fruit in the morning and oatmeal + fruit in the evening. On this schedule, she seems to wanting to BF or have a bottle less often. The solids aren't quite replacing a milk "feed," but almost. I am worried about my supply, so wondering when this a problem v. just the natural course of weaning as we move towards 12 months...

It shouldn't be replacing milk. Our ped emphasized that our 6 month old is to get her solids only right after nursing/bottle, not before. Otherwise she'll nurse less and it will affect my supply.

Thank you! This is exactly what I was looking for.