6 Months Baby Update

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This 6 months baby update is a little late since we were traveling in Brazil and I just didn’t get the chance to do it before we left. Roark turned six as we were traveling and it seems like the past 2 months have been the ones he has developed the most so there is a lot to share. If you missed the previous update, you can find it here.

So let’s get to it.

Baby R’s Stats

At Birth:  6lbs 12oz, 19.5 inches tall, size newborn clothes and diapers.

2 weeks old: 7 lbs 3oz and measured 20.25 inches tall, size 0-3 months clothes and size 1 diapers.

2 months old: 11 lbs 11oz and measured 22.75 Inches tall, size 3-6 months clothes and size 2 diapers.

4 months old: 15 lbs 6 oz and measured 25.5 inches tall, size 9 months clothes and size 3 diapers.

5 months old: 16 lbs 14 oz and measured 25.75 inches tall, size 9 months clothes and size 3 diapers.

6 months old: 17 lbs 10 oz, 27.5 inches tall, size 12 months clothes and size 3 diapers during the day and 4 at night.

Feeding

We have corrected the issue he was having of only getting the fore milk by allowing him more time between feedings. Now I let him actually fuss when he is hungry instead of offering the breast at certain times. This way he feeds longer and correctly.

We also introduced Roark to his first solids at 5 and a half months. He’s been really curious about our food for a while and it was time. His first food was avocado and he really enjoyed it. We also had him try sweet potato, butternut squash, zucchini, carrot, pear, apple, mango, banana, strawberry, coconut milk and water, spinach, blueberries, etc… the list goes on and on.

Because we have introduced solids, he breastfeeds less. So lately I have started with breastfeeding and then offering solids rather than the other way around to avoid the same issue we had before. He still breastfeeds 5-6 times a day.

He is doing really well with the food, however there were a few things I learned during the process that I will share in another post.

Diapering

We have also corrected the rash situation we had last month with tons of Desitin, by cutting out on dining out and by introducing solids. I think that the solids have helped a lot. His waste has become more solid and he has not had the same issues with bile being passed in his stool.

I actually have a theory now on his dairy/soy intolerance. I think he is more intolerant of soy than dairy. I say this because in Brazil, during my brother’s wedding, I consumed a lot of dairy, but no soy. Roark was completely fine afterwards. However, when we came back to the US I ate out a couple times and he got sick again. As I mentioned in my last update, soybean oil is widely used now in the restaurant industry in the US, so it leads me to believe that soy may be the culprit, but we will have to see. Maybe I will have to reintroduce dairy to my diet slowly and only eat at home for a while to make sure I can clearly pinpoint the problem, It’s just too hard. We do enjoy going out to eat on the weekends or while traveling and we have a full schedule of travel for the next couple months.

Sleeping

Roark only takes 2 naps during the day now and they have become shorter – about 30-45 mins each. He is very active during the day. However, his bedtime routine is now pretty constant. At around 8 or 8:30pm he goes to sleep and he feeds a couple times at night for a short period and then wakes up around 7 am. He then has a long feed and goes back to sleep until 8:30am.

At about 11:30 and 1:30 he takes his naps and then is awake until bedtime.

I have started introducing solids mixed with oatmeal cereal before bed to try to cut out the night feedings. Maybe we can sleep through the night in the next month? One can only hope so!

Developmental – 6 months update

• Sits up pretty good unassisted
• Attempts at crawling
• Talks loudly, sometimes screams
• Says momma when he is frustrated- don’t know if it is intentional
• Blows raspberries
• Drools a lot and chews on everything but no sign of teeth
• Does everything with his feet – he grabs toys and tries to touch everything with his toes
• Puts his toes in his mouth- incredible flexibility
• Throws temper tantrums- his personality is coming out more
• Spends lots of time on his tummy- boat position. He’s a yogi baby!
• Grabs everything, we now have to be careful when he is near everything!
• Smiles more
• Laughs more
• Touches all textures with his hands

Roark also had his first swim lesson! He did great! He loves the water and kicking around it. Because he loves being on his belly in a “boat” position, he does really well on the water.

He also had started developing stranger anxiety- a normal developmental phase at this age. However after the trip to Brazil he is over it. He met so many new people in my family and also everyone approached us in the street in Brazil and touched him. So now, he’s all smiles at anyone.

Post-partum update

I thought at 6 months there would be nothing to talk about post partum, but as it turned out I have a few new developments.

• Hair loss – it has increased significantly. I have bald spots and receding hairline. It has started growing back, but it is pretty noticeable.
• Milk supply decrease – even before we introduced solids to Roark I noticed a significant decrease in my supply. He has started feeding less, but even if I try pumping in between feeds, I can’t get much out. It freaked me out at first, but Roark seems to be a lot better than my pump in getting the milk out, so I am glad.
• Pelvic and tail bone pain – during pregnancy, I had horrible pelvic pain and it improved a lot after delivery, but it has never gone back to normal. After delivery I started having tail bone pain which I thought it was bruising, so I gave it time to heal. However, I wanted to make sure nothing else was wrong before I start exercising again. I went to the doctor and found out that my muscles expanded during pregnancy, but didn’t go back all the way which is causing the lack of support on my pelvis and probably also causing the tail bone pain from my body’s misalignment. So I am going to physical therapy for a while to correct these issues.

Some Thoughts on Motherhood

I am starting to relax my grip on being a control freak. As much as I would like to control Roark’s environment – what he touches and puts into his mouth, the people that approach him, what he eats and etc… traveling to Brazil was eye-opening. I really think that having as much information we have today is giving us analysis paralysis. I mean, kids all over the world are exposed to many different things than we expose our kids to in the US and they do just fine.While we worry about introducing a food item at a time and keeping many food out of the menu, in Brazil, for example, a child is fed from what the parents are eating. The interesting thing is that children there thrive just as well. Even in the US, just think about how our parents were raised. If your parents are over 50 like mine, they didn’t have car seats. And they survived. All this information is great sometimes, but is also paralyzing. We get so bogged down about keeping our children “safe” that we are actually living in fear of parenting from common sense. So I am doing my best to fear less and trust my instincts more. Let’s see how it goes.

This is it for this 6 months baby update. If you would like to see Roark, watch the video here.

xoxo

Jana

This website contains affiliate links. As an Amazon Associate and participant in other programs, I may earn a small commission from qualifying purchases.