Your six month is probably close to sitting and starting to use familiar sounds to get your attention. Now that your little explorer is one step away from crawling, it is important to discuss how to keep your home safe. We also reinforce our sleep strategy and discuss ways to spruce up the baby diet.
All babies develop at different rates. Please do not be discouraged or worried, if your child has not achieved the following milestones by 6 months.
At this age, your child should:
By six months many children can sit by themselves. Soon they will begin to crawl, cruise, and ultimately walk. Now is the time to prepare your home for your curious mobile child. Please consult Childproofing the Home for more information. This is a checklist from a local health department which is very thorough.
We suggest that infants begin taking some water from a sippy cup at 6 months of age. For breastfed babies, filtered tap water provides necessary fluoride supplementation. For all babies, this is a nice age to challenge babies to use a cup. For many babies, it may take a few months before they master this skill. Finally, if you live in New Jersey, ask your Premier provider about additional fluoride supplementation.
At this visit your child will receive the Pentacel vaccine (Dtap,polio and Hib), the Prevnar vaccine (pneumococcal) and an oral vaccine that protects against rotavirus. If the season is appropriate, your child may also receive the Influenza vaccine.