Six-Month Visit

Your six-month-old 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. Do not be discouraged or worried if your child has not achieved the following milestones by six months.

At this age, your child should:

  • Adore playing with rattles
  • Babble and squeal with single syllables
  • May recognize own name
  • Smile at other children
  • Intrigued by mirror images
  • Roll from front to back
  • Sit in high chair

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. Consult our Guidesheet on Childproofing the Home (pdf) for more information, including a thorough health department checklist.

We suggest infants take some water from a sippy cup at six months old. 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 Pediatrics 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.