Here we are, half a year is behind us. Time really flies with a little one surprising you every day with something new. And don’t think surprises stop here, in the seventh month of the baby’s life. They are just starting to get interesting.
Six months is already behind us, and we have covered every month until now. You can check all the articles in the first year of a child’s life section, or if you want to go from the start, check the first month of newborn’s life. And now to business...
Hugs and kisses
There is no better feeling than when your little one shows you some affection. Finally, she knows who you are and she really likes you! Precious. We noticed Lea tries to pull our face and trying to do something with it, but what? Bite, lick, pull the hair? Once I dared to let her do her thing, she kissed me on the face! It was a drooly, wet type of the kiss, but I won’t complain - it was so sweet unexpected surprise. Lately, she also frequently hugs, or at least tries to. Mostly that turns into slapping, scratching or pulling my hair. But hey, it’s the thought that counts, right?
This month we really start to notice her emotional development. Her personality is becoming more prominent. She shrieks with the joy on her favorite songs and activities. When she doesn’t like something, she makes a grumpy face and stomps her little legs. She started to be wary of strangers and unfamiliar places. And clearly shows when she wants to be picked up. All these are clear signs of growing social and emotional skills.
Not so solid start with the solids
Last month our little girl had her first encounter with solid food and it went great. She really loved the millet! We hoped that trend will continue. Sadly, fruits and veggies did not fare so well. We started with standard apples and bananas, “baby’s favorite puree”. She gave it a lick and promptly spit it out. Okay. Let’s try something more exotic like avocado. Yucky! So, the baby doesn’t like fruits. Veggies? So so. Carrots and sweet potato are the only food she decided to swallow. I guess she likes the color.
I must admit I was becoming a little frustrated. After careful planning, cutting, steaming and blending, most of the food finished in the garbage. The thing that interests her most is the spoon, she really likes to chew on it. And when she grabs the food in her hand, it’s to squeeze it through her fingers and feel the texture.
Well, solids are mostly for experimentation at this point. I do remind myself that this is a period in life where it’s okay to play with the food. But there are better ways to do it. We plan to try baby led weaning approach (giving baby real, non-blended food appropriately sized) and we’ll see how that will go. Expect an update next month!
Since she is eating very little, I didn’t notice any changes in breastfeeding, at least in terms of the quantity. She still drinks a lot of milk, during both day and the night. And that’s good because solids are more of a bonus than replacement at this stage.
Baby still gets most of the nutrients from the breastfeeding or the formula. But, there are some qualitative changes. First, she recognizes the breast, knows where it is and can even find it all by herself while I’m sleeping. That’s convenient! Sometimes. The other thing is that breastfeeding is becoming a climbing exercise. She is such a little mover, there is no time to “just” eat, she must climb, wiggle, twist and turn at the same time. And she is so easily distracted, will eat for a minute, then see something interesting and go towards it, then remember she is still hungry in 10 minutes. Exhausting! The best way I found to deal with it is to breastfeed her in the calmer, less distractible environment of the bedroom. And of course, to accept that her growing curiosity and mobility are a good thing! Or are they?
How steps became missteps:
Last time, when we were talking about babies in the sixth month, we mentioned the “first steps” and how cute they are. Well, now that charm is replaced with fear and ever watchful eye on our little explorer.
It’s hard to imagine how fast that little baby can crawl. And climb. And how clumsy she is! It’s always, “Don’t go for that cable”, “Don’t get near that sharp edge”, “Don’t go on those cold tiles”... I guess you get the picture. The concept of danger is unknown to the babies and they are carried by their inborn curiosity. That is great but can also be dangerous.
We even had one serious situation when our little girl fell off the bed. It was a horror. She was left for less than a minute alone and sleeping. And the next thing you hear is “thump!” and loud cry. She crawled to the edge of the bed and down it, right on her head.
We were so afraid but thankfully, no serious damage was done. But it could have ended up badly. We felt so terrible, like parenting failures who let their little one gets hurt by carelessness. And It’s true, we could prevent it by not letting the eye of her, not for a second. But again, is that even possible? To always have the baby under watch? Every second? Probably not. But we learned our lesson: now we secure everything, especially if you know you won't be able to watch her for more than 5 seconds. We put her on the floor, remove dangerous objects and secure environment to minimize the risk.
Because it’s easy to blame yourself or your partner, but it’s pointless. Falls can happen (and will happen) when your child becomes mobile. And that doesn’t mean you are the bad parent. But what you can do is minimize the risk and secure your surroundings so your child can safely explore and taste every part of the furniture in your apartment.
Moving Vertically, not just Horizontally
And another danger comes in the form of climbing. That is how she fell: she climbed on the pillow we use as the barrier and straight to the floor she went! Little by little she started to use her hands to propel her little tushy in the air.
And that became one of her favorite activities! She really likes to grab things like chairs, tables boxes and pull herself up on her knees. That exposed many new possibilities; for example, now she can lick the wall behind the couch!
Now when she wants to be carried and you don’t react, she crawls to you and starts climbing on your leg. And what can you do… That girl really knows how to get what she wants.
So all that mountaineering is something you could see a lot in the seventh month of a child's life. And I think we can understand that. Imagine yourself lying horizontally for whole six months? It would feel good to stretch your back vertically a bit, right? And speaking of stretching, we come to the next achievement…
Tired of all that playing, I’ll just sit a bit
Joking. She never gets tired! But she did learn how to sit! After she learned how to climb, sitting followed a few days later. And that is great since it opens a lot more possibilities for you as a parent. For example, you can finally put the child in the chair, you can finally ditch the basket for your baby stroller and you can introduce new games that baby can enjoy from the sitting position.
You probably know already that it is not good to force a baby to sit before it is ready. Research showed that it could actually lead to slower motor development, just like when using baby walkers. That means waiting a bit longer for your child to sit up by itself. It will come soon enough. Be careful, sitting is still unstable and she swings like a stick on the wind. And is prone to fall… On her head… Sigh.
Falling is necessary because the baby needs to learn how to fall properly (on hands), but it is so hard to leave her playing on the floor when you know it’s just a matter of minutes when she will lose her balance and fall. We try to put something soft on the floor, like the blanket but the problem is she can't stay for long on that place, she needs to go and conquer every corner of the apartment.
But back to sitting. Sitting also means her both hands are free to manipulate objects (and more easily put them in her mouth) so you will notice longer play by herself when the child comes into possession of a new object.
Vaccination - round three
When the baby is six months old, it’s time for the third round of vaccinations against common infectious diseases (diphtheria, tetanus, pertussis or a whooping cough, polio, Haemophilus influenza type b, and hepatitis B).
By now you know the drill - lots of extra snuggling for a day or two. A cold compress on the place of injection as soon as you get home will help against redness and swelling. There is also the possibility of a fever and diarrhea. Consult your doctor for the proper cause of action, but usual recommendation is paracetamol based oral suspension. Thankfully, this time there were no side-effects.
At this checkup, our pediatrician also sent us to do some bloodwork. It’s standard procedure for a 6 month old, to screen for a potential iron deficiency. Baby is born with some iron reserves that start to diminish after 6 months of age. If she is not getting enough iron through the food, it’s necessary to take some supplements.
We were terrified with that - how will they draw blood to such a small baby? Lea was, of course, upset and cried. Many new faces, unfamiliar surroundings, we had to hold her and then some unpleasant sensation of blood slowly dripping from her finger. But it actually went better than we hoped, it was over fast.
Results came and everything was okay, including hemoglobin. Now there is no check up until she is one year old. Lea will be happy - she is really not a fan of her doctor. As soon as we enter the office, she starts to cry. If anyone even looks at her, that cry intensify. And you can imagine what it looks like when she is receiving a vaccine. I understand her - every time she went she had a painful experience. Even regular checkup is unpleasant, being only in her diaper, cold stethoscope on her skin, being picked up by unfamiliar person…
But I hope we’ll be able to prepare her better for future visits. There are many good ways to do that. From roleplay with plushies to books that cover that theme or getting your own doctor’s set to practice - just to name a few.
And that would be all for the month seven. Time really flies and so many things happen that it’s hard to recall everything. But I think we covered the important stuff. So see you next month, when we live through the eight month with a baby. See, now we are pretty confident we will live trough. Before, we weren't so sure.