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Day 178 of 300 · Week 24

Before the 6-month visit

Last reviewed · 4 min read · 17 sources · Plain-text version

What 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.

A white mother sits alone at a kitchen table in morning light writing on a lined notepad, her twenty-four-week-old on their tummy on a play mat beside her chair, pushing up on straight arms.

The 6-month checkup is this month's destination. Today is what happens in the room, and the list that makes the ten minutes count.

Heart

There's no routine visit at 5 months; the next one on the AAP schedule is at 6 months (AAP). Expect growth checks, an exam, vaccines, a check on how you're feeling, and questions about solids, rolling, sitting, and teeth (AAP). It's where this month's two big questions get answered by the person who knows your baby's chart: when to start food, and what to do about peanut and egg. Bring both in writing. The allergen plan depends on your baby's eczema and allergy history (NIAID), and the iron question depends on how your baby is fed (AAP). Neither has a one-size answer; that's why you ask.

Head

Shots. At 6 months, the AAP adds flu and COVID-19 vaccines to the routine ones (AAP). If your baby is entering their first RSV season, the AAP recommends RSV immunization for babies under 8 months unless they're protected by a vaccine you got in pregnancy (AAP). And the honest note for 2026: the AAP and federal schedules have differed this year (AAP), so ask which one your pediatrician follows and why.

Body

The visit is also a place to say a worry out loud. If something about your baby's development is nagging at you, you don't need a referral to ask your state's early intervention program for a free evaluation (CDC). Milestones on the CDC lists are what at least 75% of babies do by that age, so a missed one is a reason to check in, not to wait and see (Zubler et al., 2022). Say it in the room; the 6-month checkup section is the short version of today.

Try today

  1. Close on the notepad with five numbered lines in handwriting, a pen across it, a vitamin D dropper bottle and a board book at the edge of the frame.

    The six-month list

    Time: 10 minutes with a pen · The 6-month checkup in the guide

    1. Write the solids question: "Is my baby ready to start, and what should the first foods be?" (AAP)

    2. Write the allergen question, with your baby's eczema history on the same line: "When should we start peanut and egg?" (NIAID)

    3. Write the iron and vitamin D question, with how your baby is fed (AAP).

    4. Write the vaccine question: "Which schedule do you follow, and is RSV on it for us?" (AAP)

    5. Write one about you. Fold the list into the diaper bag today, not the morning of.

    Make it work:

    Hand the card to the nurse at the start, so the doctor sees it before the baby starts crying.

Watch for

  • Normal

    a baby who leans on their hands to sit, then topples; the visit will ask about this, and it's a 6-month milestone in progress (CDC).

    Call your pediatrician

    if your baby doesn't reach for toys or try to bring things to their mouth (CDC).

  • Normal

    drool, gum-rubbing, and a slight temperature rise around a tooth; fever over 102°F did not cluster with teething in a daily-diary study of 125 babies (Macknin et al., 2000).

    Call your pediatrician within 24 hours

    for any fever of 100.4°F (38°C) or higher at this age, and don't blame it on teething (AAP).

  • Normal

    a worry you can't quite name.

    Bring it up

    at the visit if your baby doesn't babble or imitate any sounds by 7 months, since it can signal a hearing problem (AAP).

For you

The mother in a pediatric exam room holding the baby on her lap, looking straight at a nurse with a clipboard, her face tired and open, the folded list in her other hand.

The visit asks how you are. Answer honestly. The AAP recommends that pediatricians screen mothers for depression at the 1-, 2-, 4-, and 6-month visits (Earls et al., 2019). Low mood, anxiety, or emptiness that is severe or lasts more than 2 weeks may be postpartum depression, which usually doesn't improve on its own but does respond to treatment (NIMH). Six months in is not too late to say so. A sentence that works: "I'm fine with the baby, and I'm not fine with me."

You don't have to wait for the visit: call or text 1-833-TLC-MAMA (1-833-852-6262), or 988 (CDC).

If you're the partner: your name belongs on the fifth line too. Partners get depression around a birth, and in one meta-analysis the rate rose to about 26% at 3 to 6 months (Paulson & Bazemore, 2010). That window is this one.

Sources

This guide is general education that summarizes published research and guidance from groups like the American Academy of Pediatrics, the CDC, and the WHO. It isn’t medical advice, and every child develops on their own timeline. Your pediatrician knows your child; if something feels wrong, call them. In an emergency, call 911.

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