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Linden turned 6 months old at the beginning of February. A big milestone. I can’t believe its been 6 months already. Holy sh*t, where did the time go? It seems like just yesterday I was still pregnant, complaining about having gestational diabetes and all the other non-fun things that come with pregnancies. Anyways, here’s the breakdown of our son’s first 6 months.
1 Month
Newborns don’t do much. All they do is eat, sleep, pee everywhere (literally), poop lots, and then eat and sleep some more. They are really cute, especially when you’re holding them and they’re sleeping, but other than that, they really don’t do much. We thought parenting was awesome – it was like, “hey! anyone can do this!”. Our son had his fussy hours which were between 5:30pm and 8:30pm daily, like clockwork. No fail, he would cry, wouldn’t eat, wouldn’t sleep, didn’t know what to do with him, but by the time 8:30pm rolled around, he would just stop. It was like flicking a switch. Before our son turned one month old, he started making these weird animal sounds in his sleep, he sounded like a billy goat. We asked the doctor about it – apparently this is totally normal!
15 days after Linden was born, he finally hit his birth weight (7lbs 11oz)
Still in newborn size clothes
Newborn size diapers (Huggies Little Snugglers)
2 Months
He started to sleep a little less. He still ate a lot, but by this time, I had figured out that if he was crying, giving him the boob wasn’t the only solution. Sure, he would take it, but we didn’t wanna raise a fatty (not that there’s anything wrong with that), we just discovered that there were other things that would satisfy his crying than giving him the boob. His fussy time just stopped one day around the late 2 month stage, like between 2-3 months. He just outgrew it, I guess. Linden started to hold his head up pretty much right at 2 months. He was still kinda a bobble-head, but you could see improvement in his neck strength. Linden started to mimic facial expressions at this stage. He didn’t quite get the smile down yet, not till a little later on, but he would like pucker his lips together if he saw you doing it. He also started making sounds. Like this weird baby language. My husband and him have conversations all the time. Its kinda weird, but the bond they have together makes me glow.
Weight: 9lbs 10oz
Still in newborn size clothes
Still in newborn size diapers
3 Months
Linden at this point had very good neck strength and could hold his head up no problems. He started to use his legs a lot more – he was standing up (obviously with help, and support and having someone hold him up, but he liked to stand). We got him a jumperoo from Babies R Us, and a walker (the kinds with wheels) from Amazon since he liked to stand so much. He didn’t physically jump in the jumperoo, but he loved to stand in there and look at and play with all the sensory toys that are attached to it. Although he had not figured all of them out, he played with one or 2 of them and that occupied his time. He was also doing really well at tummy time at this point. At 3 months, he started to drool – not all the time though, it seemed to only happen when he was focussing on something (such a typical guy, can’t multi-task). We discovered his love for Elmo at this point. Elmo’s song seemed to be the only thing that could calm him down – and he went from a 10 to a 0 the instant it came on. To this day, I am still amazed by the impact it has on him. Apparently, screen time isn’t good for babies as it affects their ability to think in stages, like to think 2 steps ahead, but as long as you limit it to 15 minutes a day, its ok (according to our doctor). This is fine, since Elmo’s song is only 3 minutes long. For any parents at a loss of what to do with a screaming baby, I highly recommend trying this tactic. Its priceless. Close to the end of 3 months, he also started his fascination with sticking everything in his mouth. And I mean Everything.
Weight: 11lbs
Now in 3 month size clothes
Now in Size 1 diapers
4 months
Linden shows interest in crawling. He got his legs moving, all in the crawling position, but he wasn’t actual mobile at this point yet. You could see he was starting to figure it out, and we thought he would be crawling in the next couple of weeks. (It took longer than we expected). We also thought he would be able to sit up on his own soon since he was kind of getting the hang of it. This also took longer than we had thought. At 4 months, he is also starting to understand when he’s tired, that he can self soothe by sticking his thumb in his mouth, and sucking on it. He puts himself to sleep this way. Its really nice that he’s figured this out because we don’t have a screaming baby in the car nearly as often anymore.
Weight: 12 lbs 13oz
Still in size 3 month clothes
Still in size 1 diapers
5 Months
We have take off! Linden is officially on the move. He’s crawling all around his room. He crawls towards toys and anything that he can find to stick in his mouth. We also got the green light to start him on solids (well, puréed foods). We started with sweet potatoes because we figured he might like the taste of them considering they are naturally sweet. He seemed to like it. Then we gave him some rice cereal, mixed with breastmilk and he absolutely loves that. He loves to sit in his high chair thingie and grab the spoon and feed himself. Well, he thinks he’s feeding himself. Then he sucks on his thumb, and I think he legit thinks rice cereal is coming out of his thumb. Babies are so dumb, but its so insanely cute. Maybe he sucks his thumb because it helps him swallow the food because that’s really the only way he’s known how to eat – through sucking – who knows, but I like to think that he thinks food is coming out of his thumb. It’s cuter that way. On the day he turned 5 months, we started him in swimming lessons, and we go twice a week. He absolutely loves it. The second time he was in the pool, we were already dunking him fully under water. He has started to sit up on his own for more than a few seconds. Prior to this, he was sitting “gorilla style”, with his arms on the floor in front of or beside him, and he uses his arms/hands to balance himself. But the day before he turned 6 months old, he sat on his own for at least a minute before falling sideways and onto his tummy – where he’s most comfortable. I notice if you put a block or some sort of toy in front of him when he sits, he’s more likely to sit upright, but then he gets uninterested and literally folds in half on the floor. It looks so uncomfortable but I guess he’s ok with it. This is also the stage where I was finally able to pump (comfortably, without it hurting), and actually get a decent amount of milk – about 5oz double-pumping in a half hour. So I’ve been pumping every night so we have milk to mix into his solids.
Weight: 14lbs 12oz
Still in 3 month size clothes, or 0-3 month size
Now in size 2 diapers
6 Months
Well, this month just started for our little guy, but it looks like we all have quite the adventure ahead of us! He hasn’t cut any teeth yet, but he is apparently teething (whatever that means). He eats less frequently now, but absolutely loves oatmeal cereal. Its his favourite “solid” food. We also tried giving him an apple slice in one of those Munchkin mesh pacifier things, and he definitely did not like it. We will be continuing to try him with apples and other fruits, and try to mix more purées into his diet. He has said his first word(s) – “da da dad” – and has long conversations although he is just babbling. We have enrolled him in music class, sign language, and he still loves swimming!
Weight: 15lbs 6oz (he is double his birth weight!)
Still in 3 month size clothes, but getting him into the 6 month stuff as well. The 0-3 month still fits him.
Still in size 2 diapers
And there you have it – the first 6 months with a baby! Its very different than getting a puppy, for anyone who’s wondering…