6 month milestones! Time to eat!

We are nearing the end of 6 months on earth now and it's time for me to reflect back on this past month. It was been a whirlwind for sure! SOO much development and excitement this month! ​Baby should be rolling all around by this point and is starting to get into mischief if you look away for seemingly one second! 
If you have waited to start foods, this is the month that you typically begin!

​More to come on that topic too!

Going back to work full time has been a hard adjustment. I had a lot to say about feeling related to going back to work plus my fears of not pumping enough, missing first moments, are all laid out in my post. Check it out here! 

Lots of exciting firsts to come during this month!

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receptive language

1. Baby is usually able to recognize their own name at this point. This is noticeable with a head turn in the direction of the name.
2. Baby should be recognizing familiar people and turning their head in the direction of new sounds. 

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expressive language

1. Reduplicated babbling is just beginning! What is this? It's the official term for "baby-talk" (mama, dada, baba). This is due to the vocal tract maturing. They now have control of their ability to open and close the vocal tract ' on command' in the way we use it to make consonant and vowel combination sounds (CV) (like da). It will be awhile before baby is able to make CVC ( consonant vowel consonant ) sounds (like mom). 
2. How can I encourage this?
   1. ​Imitate baby when they do it! baby's are natural imitators and will watch your mouth closely. 
   2. You can help move their mouth up and down too! Just don't make it the main part of your routine, but every once and awhile, some tactile input to teach them what their mouth should be doing is helpful in my opinion. It's just like doing hand over hand! 

social

Baby already recognizes their caregiver, but now they start to recognize routines. For example, if playtime is in a certain spot, they might get excited as you get nearer to the door. 

1. Starting to understand the tone of voice associated with negative emotions, like when you say "no!" baby can tell a shift in tone and may respond.
2. Baby may interact with their image in a mirror .
3. Certain social situations will visibly make baby happy or upset. 
4. Baby should smile when spoken to and make eye contact frequently.
5. Baby should react to loud sounds as well as their name by turning towards the sound. As long as you know baby's hearing is intact, this should be automatic.
   1. How can I encourage this?
      1. ​If baby is not responding to sounds or making eye contact, you can try the following:
         1. Ensure baby is engaged with something else or looking in the other direction before you begin.
         2. Make sure you have something reinforcing to baby (a favorite toy, teething pop, etc.
         3. Hold the toy up by your face.
         4. Make a sound using a toy directly in line with baby's sight.
         5. When baby turns to look, reinforce verbally and by giving them the toy.
         6. Once baby is consistently looking, and make sure the toy is in line with your eye level, only release the toy when eye contact is achieved. At this point, they should know the 'game' and expect the toy to be released. 

oral motor 

It's time to eat! Check out my companion post on baby led weaning! 
Here is what you should be seeing to make sure your mealtimes are successful!

1. ​​Sitting without support
   1. You may say, wait, how is that related to oral motor abilities? In order to have good oral motor skills, you need truck support. This is why feeding chair selection is important. We choose the Stokke Tripp Trapp.
2. Open mouth in response to a spoon
   1. This is evident from 4 months on, but if you are starting solids at 6 months, now is when you will see this.
3. Gag reflex
   1. Babies are gaggers naturally to protect their airway from objects that are a choking hazard. This should decline as baby gets to be a better eater.
4. Tongue thrust is gone.
   1. They should not be protruding tongue during the mealtime and pushing the food out of the mouth.
5. Up and down munching
   1. If you are doing baby led weaning, you will see infants trying to gum the food where their molars would normally be.
6. Picking up food
   1. This is hard unless the food is appropriate sized. Think the size of a finger. This is of course only if you are doing baby-led weaning.

I kept it to food we were eating for the most part. I always made sure my food had a lot of different spices and flavors. Babies are exposed to flavors in utero as well as through breastmilk, but you want to continue to reinforce acceptance of different flavors early on. Some of the foods we tried this month were:

• Yogurt
• Sweet Potato
• Avocado
• Banana
• Bread (which I somewhat regret doing)

Why not breaD?

So what happened was we went out to eat and someone said, "Hey, can he try some bread?" And I thought sure, why not!? He did great with bread, loved it! It was easy for him to mouth and disintegrated nicely into mush. 

What I thought of afterwards though was that the bread was not organic, so the wheat was GMO wheat. Wheat alone with gluten can be difficult to digest. A lot of people have allergies to gluten that develop.  I personally think I have an intolerance.  That plus the GMO on top of it which can cause leaky gut in a little baby whose gut isn't fully developed made my stomach go into knots. One bread encounter wasn't going to kill him though, so I tried not to stress over it! We haven't done it since. I want to wait until his gut is a little bit more developed, but it will have to be fresh, organic bread!