Kate is 6 months old today. In my head, this milestone is a HUGE one! Half of year already? It’s amazing to see how much she has changed and grown over the last 6 months. We’ve officially doubled our birth weight (finally) and she’s sitting up like a little champ. We also recently started introducing solids and so far, she is a BIG fan. But more on that below.
As promised, I’m updating you guys on the baby products that I’ve used over the last few months that have been CRUCIAL to our survival (a little dramatic, but still)! We are still using some of the items from out 0-3 month list. Like our DockATot, sound machine, Owlet, and Uppababy Vista (You can read the full post here)! But there are some new must haves that have been amazing to have over the last 3 months.
1 | Fleece Sleep Sack. At about 3.5 months, we moved Kate into her own room. It was a pretty smooth transition, actually, at about 4.5 months, we transitioned her out of her Ollie Swaddle and into a regular sleep sack. I grabbed these from Carter’s one day and they’ve been FANTASTIC. I researched lot of other options like the Nested Bean and the Love to Dream but I decided to try the CHEAP stuff before I resorted to the expensive ones. And turns out, Kate was just fine with the fleece wearable blanket that cost me $10. but if you are having trouble transitioning out of the swaddle, those are GREAT options!
2 | Nose Frida. Sure. It’s kind of a gross idea, but I’ll be darned if it doesn’t work like a charm. I mean, come on, get over it! You’re a parent now, so if you want your kid to feel better, you’re going to have to do things that gross you out a little. Nothing actually gets anywhere near your mouth. (That was me motivating me to keep sucking! LOL!) It honestly works SO well. Kate came down with her first little cold a few weeks ago and this was a life saver. Kate absolutely hated it, but it was able to clear her nose SO well. Plus its actually less gross than the bulb syringe because you can clean it really well and not wonder what’s all hidden in that nasty germ trap.
3 | Skip Hop Explore. This was actually supposed to be Kate’s Christmas gift but we didn’t quite make it to Christmas. AKA. She got it at the beginning of November. Being a work from home mom has had some MAJOR challenges. Including how in the world to work with an active baby hanging around. But plop her in this things and maybe play some Little Baby Bum on youtube and I’ve got at least 20 minutes to knock some things off of my to-do list!
4 | Baby Led Weaning Book. If you follow along on instagram stories, you’ll know that we chose to go a different route with introducing solids. Instead of doing the usual puree’s and baby food, we basically give Kate whatever we are eating just in 2 inch ‘french fry’ shaped pieces. That way she learned to feed herself and manipulate food in her mouth BEFORE she actually NEEDs the food for sustenance. Food before One is just for Fun!
It make so much sense when you think about it! It allows them to be in control of their food which makes for a less picky, and better eater. And since she’s still Breastfeeding every three hours during the day, I know that she’s getting ALL of the calories needed to keep her healthy, so we can take our time learning to eat food.
So far, she’s LOVING IT! Last night we had some mashed sweet potatoes and shrimp. She was literally FRANTIC with delight trying to get it all into her mouth as quickly as possible. She’s really not actually swallowing much yet, but she loves to experiment with different tastes and textures and sucks on everything until it’s basically mush! All of the info about choking and what foods to introduce and how to introduce them and WHEN to introduce are in the book. I HIGHLY recommend this method and this book to get you started.
5 | NumNum Stage 1 Utensils. I’ve been eyeing these for a while and I finally picked them up a few weeks ago. These are AMAZING. Kate hasn’t quite figured out the scoop part of a spoon yet or how to get the food out of the scoop, but she understands how to get the spoon into her mouth. These utensils bridge that gap for her. I’m able to mash a bit of the food onto the spoon and she can suck it off!
The orange spoon is especially great for things like mashed potatoes and mashed avocado. Since they’re a little chunky, the chunks will stay in the open part of the spoon until she sucks them out. The blue is one we’ve used for soups and runnier foods! We’re still learning to ‘dip’ but she’s getting the hang of everything so fast! It’s only a matter of time before she’s doing it ALL her self!
6| Baby Bjorn Carrier One. We’ve gotten to a point where she wants to SEE everything so my tighter wraps haven’t been her favorite lately. She wants to face out and see people. So I got a new carrier and I LOVE IT! She loves it too, but more importantly, it’s super comfortable, really secure, and it adjusts for babies of all sizes. It’s pricey, but I know it will last for years and years and even through more babies.
7| Banana Teether. Boy is teething rough. All she wants to do all day is KNAW on my fingers. Well, guess what Kate. I need my fingers and you’re gums are HURTING ME! We have lots of different teething toys but this seems to be her favorite. It has these little bristle on the end that she can rub on her gums. Let’s just pray we get our first tooth soon so we can take a break from the craziness.
