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-Are you getting tired of me saying that every phase is my new favorite? Hopefully not because it is so true. These 6 months are a blast!
-Embrace the mess…the food mess, the toy mess, all of it. Don’t stress too much about trying to keep it all too clean or you could literally drive yourself crazy.
-Starting solids is a learning curve for not just your baby but you too. It will get easier to start implementing solids into your daily routine.
-From 6-12 months your babe will have the biggest burst of development- they are working on so many big things!! It is so exciting but also emotional at times too.
-Get your running shoes on mama! If your babe isn’t mobile yet they are about to be and it’s crazy how exhausting it is at first! At least for me it was. He is the speediest little crawler. And maybe your little one will start walking during this time too!!
-Because of this big burst of development and milestones in these months I think it’s important to remind yourself again not to compare. Don’t get in the baby race! Every child is different and your child deserves more than being compared to other littles their age you will read about on Instagram and Facebook! I have more to share on this below.
-Teeth are coming for your babe if they haven’t already!! Easton started teething at 4.5 months but those first two were a breeze compared to the 4 more we got from months 6-9 that were a real doozy on us. Our experience has been that his top teeth coming in affect him more than bottom teeth.
-One word- independence. Now I know as these months continue Easton will only want to be more and more independent but this is really the start of babes kind of having their own sort of independence- sitting up, playing, grabbing the toys they want, feeding themselves, babbling with more intention, recognizing people and things, becoming mobile— it’s wild how quickly times go from a completely dependent little newborn to a somewhat independent babe!
-You’ll start to realize so many things in your home that are potential hazards and may need to babyproof. We didn’t hardcore baby proof though- I talk more about that below and what we did.
-The closer you get to the end of this stage, it will be time to start thinking about your little one’s first birthday!! Regardless of if you decide to celebrate big or small, this is such a huge milestone not just for your babe but for you and your hubby as parents too!
-This is when I started to feel a little more like me again. Which has been so fun as I started to realize and get to know this newer, stronger version of myself!
Originally I had this blog post separated into two- 6-9 months and 9-12 months- because SO MUCH happens in these 6 months for your little one. But once I got to writing there was a lot of crossover and redundancies, so I decided to make it one big post instead!
Every new stage has been my favorite and truly if I had to think of one word to describe these stages for Easton it would be FUN! His personality just exploded and he learned to do so many new things.
We lived up these months to the fullest in the summer and fall! He loves to take in the world around him. We went to baseball games, football games, and fairs. We swam, swung, picked pumpkins and spent as much time outside as we could. We celebrated some first holidays- Mother’s Day, Father’s Day, Fourth of July, and Mama’s birthday. We also finally felt comfortable both of us leaving Easton for a few hours at a time during these stages too!
Months 6-9 is when Easton began sitting up on his own, started solid foods, and got 4 more teeth. Months 9-12 is when Easton began crawling, babbling like crazy, becoming more independent and curious, and becoming so silly. Like I said, bursts of development!
If you’ve read any of the previous two posts from my little one’s first year of life I tried to make them as easy as possible to navigate with the first three sections being eating, playing, and sleeping, followed by other sections applicable to his stages of life, followed by a mom/parent life section!
I hope these posts serve as a way to encourage you and support you however you need!
This is when our solid food journey began!
We didn’t start with purées earlier on, because from what I have read breastfed babies don’t need that extra nourishment before 6 months the way that formula fed babies do. I don’t know if that’s true or not but it makes sense to me.
At his 4 month checkup our doctor discussed baby led weaning (BLW) with us and what that was all about and her experience with it, and at 6 months she said she felt like he was developmentally ready for solids whenever we were.
We started solids at about 6.5 months. I had to get over some anxiety and worry that I had initially with it all before I was ready to start- so if you’re feeling anxious about it too, you’re not alone! I joined a super helpful group on Facebook that after reading through many posts and advice given helped me be more at ease. I’ll link it here!
Because I had been anxious I wanted to start nice and slow with just one meal a day. I also struggled to figure out when in our day to make this happen because we had been used to doing the same things for so long that adding in food prep, eating, and cleanup did overwhelm me at times. Anxiety is weird and fun like that, haha.
What I learned though is that while starting slow made me feel better, what he needed was consistency. That’s what has helped him learn how to chew and swallow and enjoy a broader range of foods. I had to put aside my own worries in order to help him grow and thrive— a motherhood lesson at its finest!
So in a nutshell, consistency is where it’s at when it comes to starting your baby on solids. I will also add that when it comes to BLW there are a lot of ‘rules’ and we didn’t stay strict on those. Just like everything else with Easton we have done what feels right to us for him, and strayed from what doesn’t feel right. Hashtag mama instincts.
The biggest help in this food journey has been the Solid Starts app! Seriously, it is such a blessing and there was not a day when we initially started, or a week for a long time, that I would go without using it. It has this massive guide of all the foods you can imagine and how you should cut, prepare, and serve them to your little one based on their age. Incredibly helpful and easy to use!
I also have a first foods tracker on our refrigerator that’s not only cute but is fun and easy to use to track. I purchased the template from Etsy and printed at home.
Here are the things we used to start our food journey!
Like I mentioned in the takeaways there is a big learning curve with all of this for you and your babe, so patience is key! It also gets so much easier. I now have so much fun with meal planning, grocery shopping, and prepping his meals and snacks. Do I sometimes just grab something quick and easy? Absolutely- that’s life. But I enjoy working our way through all kinds of new foods and learning what he likes!
Along with starting foods, we also started cups with some water and also some breast milk. This is another learning curve because Easton has never taken a bottle. So learning to drink from any sippy cup, straw, or open cup has been a real challenge for us. I have purchased all the “best” and “most recommended” cups for learning and transitioning. I have watched many youtube videos of ways to help them learn to drink and swallow from a cup. And to be honest, we didn’t have any luck in this phase. It is a skill he will learn when he is ready and I was confident in that. In the meantime I helped him however I could. Down below I talk about the baby race a little bit and this is just one of those things that’s not worth stressing about. I knew he would eventually get it.
Along with starting solids, babies at this age still need breastmilk (or formula if that’s what you do) and it’s important that that comes first, at least that’s what I’ve read. I have never regularly pumped, but I do collect some milk using the Haakaa ladybug and these collector cups and that way I can use it to help make some of his food now, put it in a cup as he’s learning to use that, freeze for popsicles, and then just freeze some for future use. For me, there was an overwhelming learning curve with nursing and starting solids, but once we got the hang of a routine with nursing and eating, that timing stress dissipated.
And last thing I’ll add in to this eating section- just embrace the mess. There will be so much mess with your little one learning to eat and navigate food textures, there will be more dishes with food prep, more stains to get out of clothes, potentially more blowouts, and your floors will surely be a mess (even with a dog’s help cleaning up excess food). Just embrace the mess and know that it will get better eventually.
We LOVE toys!! Okay, I’m sure every babe at this age does, but I feel like Easton just really adores all of his toys and we are always packin’! Anywhere we go we have a full bag of toys packed for him. He spent a lot of these months 6-12 at baseball and football games sitting and playing. It’s wild how play develops as these littles get older. Once he could sit on his own he had so much more fun just playing independently, but always turning around to make sure we are right there with him.
I loved seeing the progression of toys and how he began to play with them differently. The ring stacker and the blocks have been the most interesting in terms of how his play has changed from just looking to picking up to dumping to putting back in and on, stacking, etc. I love watching his little mind work!
We also spent a lot of time playing in the water and swinging. Summer was good to us! The pool and his swing quickly became his happiest places to be. But really, they have so much fun with everything at this age!
I feel like the closer he got to a year old as each week and month went by, he started to play a little more independently. There started to be times when he wouldn’t even turn and look for me to be right there or hand me a toy, and I didn’t need to hand him every toy anymore either.
The bittersweet beauty of motherhood is loving seeing their minds work and learn skills and just how they take in their world around them, while simultaneously realizing they don’t need you as much anymore. Okay going to go cry now that I just typed that out! Ahhhhh
If you read either of my blog post Months 0-3: Newborn Life, New Normals, and Neverending Love or Months 3-6: Silliness, Sweetness, and Slowly Coming Out of the Blur then you know sleeping is not a strong skill that Easton possesses. I know he will get there developmentally eventually, but we weren’t there yet in this stage (and still aren’t) and that is okay. Whatever support he needs, he will get from us. That’s just how we are parenting.
Being home with him allows me to hold him for all of his naps and I swear every time he naps in my arms I get nervous that it will be the last time. I am so grateful for the snuggles, but I know how precious they are. I feel like these 6 months we are chatting about here absolutely flew by in a blink. I cling to those daytime nap snuggles.
Like I mentioned in my last blog post Months 3-6: Silliness, Sweetness, and Slowly Coming Out of the Blur we began bedsharing about halfway through the night around 5 months and that hasn’t changed. After our bedtime routine- which I shared below- he goes in his own sleep space in our room, and then eventually during the night when he needs to be fed and I’m too tired to sit up and nurse him, he comes to bed with us and we lay on our sides and nurse. The snuggles are the best. And so is the extra sleep! I am slightly less of a zombie now– yay!
At this time, we started the bedtime routine around7-7:30pm and it would take anywhere from 40-60 minutes.
We did hit a bit of a sleep regression/milestone progression around month 8-9 where he would only get 20-30 minute stretches at a time. I honestly did not think his sleep could get worse but then that happened. This lasted for probably 3 weeks and had me feeling like we were back in the newborn blur, but worse. Once those three weeks were up we got back to our usual 1-3 hour stretches.
The exhaustion can be so intense! But remembering that my job and worth as a mom does not come from how much my child sleeps is freeing. And remembering that he is thriving and happy shows us that he is getting exactly what he needs.
We truly have a society addicted to distraction and separation when it comes to motherhood and has everyone thinking and believing that their child should be sleeping on their own and in their own room at a super early age. Again, I’m trusting these God-given mama instincts, and that does not feel right to me. And as a Dad that doesn’t feel right to Wyatt either. Just because something is common doesn’t mean it’s normal— so don’t be afraid to go against what’s common. If it feels right to you for your child, there’s a reason for that.
Let’s chat about teething for a sec! So if you read Months 3-6: Silliness, Sweetness, and Slowly Coming Out of the Blur then you know Easton began cutting teeth at 4.5 months old- earlier than most. His bottom two came first and then right after he turned 6 months old his top two teeth rocked his world as they were starting to come in. Our poor babe ended up with an upper respiratory infection as those teeth began to work their way in. And there is seriously nothing harder than seeing your child in pain and not feeling good. This was the first time he had been sick in his little life and it was hard on all of us.
Thankfully it was only rough for 3-4 days and then he got over his infection and just had his regular teething fussyness. Here is what really helped us with teething.
Some things I read that helped other babes, but that he didn’t really care for were- teethers put in the refrigerator or freezer, breastmilk soaked rag/burp cloth, or just a cold cloth to suck on. We also used these for his tongue/lip tie pain but I know some use that for teething pain as well.
I think the hardest part of teething is that it just requires patience from everyone as they come in. Easton has gotten every tooth two at a time- we are overachieving in the teething area okay!
But once those teeth come through and you see your baby go from a gummy smile to having little chiclets, it’s the sweetest thing ever!
Also as far as nursing goes and teething, this was a concern I for sure had once I knew those teeth were coming. I have been bitten a decent amount, but it also became a pretty good tell of how close those teeth were to coming in. With every tooth there would always be one exceptionally ‘bitey’ day and then it seemed like within about a day that tooth would be cut through the gums. Once I realized that, it made the biting more bearable. Also, one suggestion people give is to tell your baby sternly ‘no’ when they bite. That didn’t really help anything with us, but every baby is different. I’m just glad the biting improved!
This is something you don’t have to think about and then all of a sudden you wish you had thought about it weeks before!
Once your baby becomes mobile you start to see all kinds of things that can become potential hazards. However, while that’s true we also tried to take a different approach to this. A more relaxed, exploratory approach I guess you could call it.
We obviously never wanted him to have access to anything that could hurt him, but we also wanted him to have the freedom to explore and learn and feel some independence in our home especially.
We also found that in doing things this way he would be curious, and if it was something we couldn’t allow him to do we would tell him no and he would definitely push the boundary a few times, but ultimately because we let him explore those boundaries in a safer way he now doesn’t really have any interest in those things.
It’s kind of like reverse psychology in a way. As adults when we are told we can’t have something that can make us want it all the more. Littles are no different. We covered the outlets, have a gate at the steps to our upstairs, and put a lock on the toilet– our boy loves water and once he discovered there was water in there he could not stay away. LOL
Beyond that though, he has access to all the cabinets and pretty much has freedom to explore. This means big messes when I’m cooking us meals, but he has a blast! I love how curious he is.
Side note- we do have a lock for our cabinet below the sink that has all our cleaning products in it, but he honestly has never seemed interested in that cabinet so we haven’t felt the need to put the lock on it yet.
It’s fairly well known that babies all achieve their own milestones in their own times, but sometimes as a parent it can be easy to get caught up in the comparison game and worry your child isn’t developing and achieving milestones the way others are, i.e. the baby race.
Isn’t it wild though, like as adults we can catch ourselves comparing everything, but from the very beginning at days and weeks old we all start out doing different things at different times! One more reason we should never compare ourselves to others or worry that others are in different chapters!
There are pretty general time frames for certain skills that most know, and the common one for sitting is 6 months and crawling is 9 months. Easton didn’t sit on his own until 7 months and didn’t crawl until 9.5 months. Some are walking by their first birthday and Easton was not. Some babies are much earlier and some are much later– and that is okay!!! Don’t put pressure on yourself or your child!
Social media can make this difficult because we all love to brag on our babies, and rightfully so– no one is going to think your child is more awesome than you do.
I have tried not to share too many of these developmental milestones on social media (where I know I’m a big oversharer) but this is one of those things that I see people comparing and I just don’t want to be part of that game. I have been the mom that sees the posts and felt worried I wasn’t doing enough or doing something wrong and I just don’t want to make any other mama feel that way! I share more about my experience with this in my Months 0-3: Newborn Life, New Normals, and Neverending Love where I ended up in tears after hearing about how great a baby younger than Easton was sleeping and that mom’s freezer stash full of breastmilk. Those were the early days when I was so intimidated by motherhood and questioning every move I made. My baby wasn’t sleeping and I had very little milk in the freezer. I felt like such a failure. So since then I have tried to keep most big developmental timelines off of social media.
And now when I see people sharing those milestones or fun life things I enjoy hearing about them and think about how excited I was when Easton did that or how excited I will be when he does. Instead of comparing, finding the joys in your babe’s development speed is so freeing!
Another thing that can be frustrating in terms of comparison is when people make comments about your child’s size. Just like no adult that is the same age the same size, neither are babies. People love to say ‘oh he is a big baby’ or ‘oh he is small’ and I think that neither of those things are helpful.
—The baby you just called small– that mama could have been fighting to keep her milk supply up since day one and even though he is following his growth curve that small comment could have sent her brain into a spiral. That baby you just called big- well that mama could have struggled with body image issues her whole life and is now worried that her child will have the same struggle. That child you just called, cute, perfect, happy, adorable, precious, beautiful, handsome– that mama is feeling so proud of the little angel she is raising and is so grateful that you noticed something so special about her child. —
Most people think that these size comments mean nothing because babies cannot comprehend, but us mamas do. I am not one to get easily offended which is hard to come by in 2024, but this is one thing that bothers me.
And also, for those that don’t know the meaning- I call my child a ham because he is so smiley when the camera comes out- that’s what being a ham means. I have had someone call him a ham meaning a chunk and I was very angry LOL. Can you tell I am a mama bear that can get fired up??
Run your own race as a mama and let your baby run their own race too!
This is the stage when I started to feel like myself again- and when i say myself i mean the new version of me. And it has been pretty cool navigating this feeling.
I’m not really sure what switch flipped or if it was more gradual, but one day I realized ‘oh, I feel like a person again’ not just in the trenches and not just going through the motions of trying to figure out everyday mom life. For me, I feel like it was around months seven or eight.
I’m not sure when this will happen for you. Maybe earlier or maybe later. And it may be a switch flip, a gradual change, or even an ebb and flow of finding yourself and falling back into the blur, but just know you are doing an amazing job and you are worthy of finding yourself whenever the time feels right.
I’ll be honest- I don’t like to be away from Easton at all and I’ve been blessed to not have to be away from him to go to work. The most I have ever been away from him is 3-4 hours. He is my little koala and I am very clingy to him too. Because of all of this and not liking to take any time away that definitely hinders any ‘me time’. Thankfully, Wyatt is pretty good about helping me get short bits of time for myself. Around the time when Easton turned 9 months old he even started doing ‘Daddy and Easton Saturday mornings’ where he and Easton go do something for a couple hours. That has been super helpful not only as a new mom but as a SAHM so I can kind of clear my head a bit and get some focused things done around the house or do something just for myself. I’m not sure who loves those Saturdays more!
He can’t really be away from me for more than 3-4 hours at most because he won’t take a cup or bottle for milk. But really that has been okay with me. It wasn’t until these months that Wyatt and I did both leave him together with his grandparents and honestly I’m so glad we waited until I felt totally ready. I wouldn’t have been before this time frame, but every parent and every child is different. If you don’t feel comfortable leaving your child, then don’t. Don’t let anyone pressure you or try to tell you what is right for your child.
Along with feeling a little more like myself, I also felt like being active again. We went on many many walks during this time- thank goodness he loves his stroller! And it was around this time too that I started to lose a little more of the baby weight. I didn’t change anything, but I think my hormones and body just started to balance out a little more. The only reason I share this is because adjusting to your new body postpartum is tricky and when you don’t have time, energy, or ability to workout or make dietary changes you can just feel stuck. So really I just share to give some perspective that your body may feel like yours again soon without having to make any drastic changes.
I feel like another part of me feeling a little more like myself again was Easton’s newfound independence. He loves to sit and play with his toys and while most of the time I’m in the floor playing with him, I also started to have the ability to fold a load of laundry while he played, or fix lunch, or clean up from lunch, or really just do something with both of my arms.
It was such a blessing to feel a little more me again, but I will say when he became mobile and started crawling and having to keep up with him definitely increased my exhaustion levels back to the early days!
While I loved those teeny-tiny snuggly newborn days that were blurry- I would never trade them or wish them away- this phase has been so incredible for both of us. Easton’s big personality has started to shine and I have found my groove and my confidence as a mother. Watch out world, Easton and his Mama are here to have some FUN!
Towards the end of this stage- the closer we got to the one year mark- things were tough for me emotionally leading up to his first birthday. I was a WRECK. And honestly after he turned one I was fine but the build-up to his birthday was admittedly very hard for me. I hope it isn’t the same for you!
Like i already said no matter how you celebrate, big or small, do something as a little family of 3 to celebrate the journey you have been on for the last year.
And just like that, we’ve summed up months 6-12 of Easton’s life! I hope you read something that encouraged you or helped you feel less alone in this crazy world of mamahood!
Lord, thank you for the incredible gift of motherhood. I pray for the mama reading this just entering this 6-12 month phase, in the heart of it, or just coming out of it. I pray that it has been a blessed six months full of fun, laughter, and memories. And Lord if it hasn’t been that way then I pray for the ability to overcome any challenges, heal any hurts, and guidance moving forward for joy and peace ahead. Please bless any babes and mamas in this phase looking for something more– I pray for the mama that knows something is missing and I hope they learn that that missing piece is You, Lord. Please forgive any mamas that know they can do better and give them patience moving forward. Please guide any mamas that are still lost in the blur of new motherhood just trying to find their way and give their minds peace and confidence in the abilities You gave them. Thank you for the gift of life in these sweet babies and the joys of watching them grow. Amen
All the love,
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If you have read any of the previous blog posts in this collection- I cannot…
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