Parent guides · 5 months
Your sixth month, day by day
Days 151 to 180: rolling both ways, tripod sitting, babble, the allergen plan, iron, teeth, a roller's sleep, the floor over containers, water and cord safety, and the 6-month checkup, with one new thing to try every day.
Every note draws on the 5-month guide and cites its sources. Babies don’t keep calendars: read each day as “around now”, and let your pediatrician’s read of your baby beat any note.
← Your fifth month, day by day (days 121 to 150)Your seventh month, day by day (days 181 to 210) →
Week 21: month six begins
Rolling both ways, tripod sitting, babble back, the name, shake-bang-drop, and the people book.
Day 151Month sixA new month: the 6-month list your baby is heading for (laughs, raspberries, rolling, pushing up on straight arms), corrected age if they came early, and the warning signs that are still about you.Try: Reach-and-roll tummy time
Day 152Rolling both waysRocking, kicking, and swimming lead to rolling, tummy to back first for most. What the range looks like, what rolling changes about sleep, and a toy placed just past the shoulder to tempt a roll.Try: The roll-back toy
Day 153Tripod sittingLeaning forward on both hands is how sitting starts. When babies stay upright on their own, why propping is practice rather than a shortcut, and your own back when you join them on the floor.Try: Supported sitting
Day 154Babble backBabble takes on the rhythm of your language, one favorite sound at a time. Why a reply that comes right after the babble matters, what strings like babababa mean, and why you need a reply today too.Try: Babble back
Day 155My nameBabies prefer the sound of their own name by about 4.5 months, but looking up when you call it is a 7-to-9-month skill. A game that sits in the gap, and a thought about hearing your own name.Try: The name-and-look game
Day 156Shake, bang, dropWave the rattle and it rattles; drop the spoon and you pick it up. Your baby is running experiments on cause and effect, and the endless game of fetch is the point, not the price.Try: Shake, bang, drop
Day 157Twenty-two weeks: mirrors and facesYour baby's brain is tuning in to the faces it sees most. What three lab studies found, why naming the people your baby meets is an easy habit, and a photo book of the faces that matter.Try: The people book
Week 22: the allergen plan
The eczema question, peanut and egg around six months, readiness, iron and vitamin D, first foods, and gear.
Day 158The eczema questionIf your baby has severe eczema or an egg allergy, the peanut question is for now, not for the 6-month visit. The LEAP numbers, the three NIAID groups, and one sentence to write down.Try: The allergen question, written down
Day 159Peanut and egg, around six monthsFor most babies, peanut and egg come around 6 months, at home, with no test first, and the later servings matter most. The baby-safe forms, the two-hour watch, and a plan on the calendar.Try: The first-tastes plan
Day 160Not before you're both readyReadiness for solids is four signs, not a date. What the AAP, WHO, and a Cochrane review say about six months, who should wait, and a way to watch for the signs at dinner tonight.Try: The readiness watch
Day 161Iron and vitamin DMilk is still the whole menu, and it carries almost everything. Two things it may not: iron, which runs low around now, and vitamin D. What the AAP says, and the one question to write down.Try: The vitamin check
Day 162First foods that carry ironThere's no required order for first foods, but the AAP wants iron in the first ones: pureed meat or iron-fortified cereal. Write the list today, buy nothing yet, and leave rice off the top of it.Try: The first-food shopping list
Day 163Gear, kept simpleA high chair with a harness you buckle every time, a soft spoon, a bib, and later a small cup. That's the whole kit. Today your baby takes a seat at the table, with nothing on the tray.Try: A seat at the table
Day 164Twenty-three weeks: teeth, honestlyFirst teeth usually come between 6 and 10 months, and teething gets blamed for far more than it does. A week of notes on paper shows you what it actually looks like in your baby.Try: The teething log
Week 23: teeth and sleep
Teeth honestly, gums, the first tooth, naps and nights, the swaddle off, floor over containers, and shy for now.
Day 165GumsWhat helps sore gums is cheap and already in your house: a clean finger, a firm rubber teether, a cold damp washcloth. What to skip is on the FDA's list, and some of it is sold as a gift.Try: Teething comfort, three ways
Day 166Clean gums, first toothWipe the gums after feeds, no bottles in bed, no shared spoons. When the first tooth shows, a rice-grain smear of fluoride toothpaste twice a day and a dentist by the first birthday.Try: The gum wipe
Day 167Naps and nights at five monthsTwelve to 16 hours a day, at least two naps, and a night that half of 5-month-olds sleep through and half don't. Write today's naps on paper and look for the pattern, not the exceptions.Try: The nap map
Day 168Swaddle off, pacifier looseA baby who tries to roll is a baby who's done with the swaddle, tonight. The pacifier stays, unclipped. Back to start every sleep, in your room, and leave them be once they roll both ways.Try: Arms free tonight
Day 169Floor over containersBaby walkers sent an estimated 230,676 US children to emergency rooms over 25 years, mostly down stairs, and they don't teach walking. The floor does the job for free, and the WHO wants plenty of it.Try: Free floor play
Day 170Twenty-four weeks: shy, for nowTemperament is getting clearer, and some babies are already wary of new faces. About 1 in 4 are quite fearful at 6 months, and half of those grow out of it. Let visitors warm up first.Try: The warm-up minute
Day 171Lap bounces and splashesTwo free games for strong legs and a body your baby is learning to feel: bouncing on your lap, and kicking the bath water with your hand on them the whole time.Try: Splash time
Week 24 and six months
Water, cords, grabbing hands, CPR, the car seat and sun, screens, the 6-month visit, and six months.
Day 172Water, one inchBabies can drown silently in an inch or two of water, and most bathtub drownings involve babies under 1. The setup that keeps your hand where it belongs for the whole bath.Try: The bath setup
Day 173Cords, blinds, necklacesAbout nine young children a year die in window-cord strangulations, in under a minute. A room-by-room walk for cords, the crib's spot, and anything around a neck.Try: The cord walk
Day 174Grabbing hands, hot drinks, small thingsThe three everyday hazards that arrive with a reaching, rolling baby: a fall from furniture, a mug within arm's reach, and anything small enough to swallow.Try: The toilet-roll test
Day 175Back blows, chest thrustsWhat choking looks like in a baby, the two moves that clear it, and why the class that teaches them is for everyone who ever holds your baby, booked today.Try: Book the infant CPR class
Day 176Car seat, sun, six monthsRear-facing to the seat's limits, a convertible seat when the infant seat runs out, and the sun rule that changes at six months. Read the label on the side of the seat today.Try: The seat-limit check
Day 177Screens: video chat onlyNo screens before 2, except video calls with people your baby loves. Why a running commentary while you cook beats any app, and how to make the one allowed screen count.Try: The video call with a face they know
Day 178Before the 6-month visitWhat the 6-month checkup covers, which shots join the routine, the question the pediatrician will ask you, and the five questions to walk in with on paper.Try: The six-month list
Day 179What six months changedThe 6-month list as a look back, not a test: what most babies do around now, what you did every day to get here, and the photo and letter for the box.Try: Six-month photo and letter
Day 180Six monthsHalf a year. What the next guide holds, first bites, gagging versus choking, the sleep-training research, and where the daily notes continue. Record the sit, then rest.Try: The sitting-up video