What do you wish you had done with your 6 month old?

[Tinker3]

Im a new Mum and have a 6 month old... I adore my days at home with him, after a tricky first few months... But I wonder if there is something I should be doing? What did you / do you do with your 6 month olds? What do you wish you had differently? Any advice / ideas / experiences welcome!

I wish I had relaxed more and hadn't stressed so much about naps! I ended up staying in a lot purely to try and get her naps under control, and I nearly went mad, hit a real low point in fact. I wish I'd just chucked her in the pram and gone out and about, not minding if it didn't fit in with her 'routine'.

I agree. It's really hard for some reason to go with the flow and you can get tied in knots trying to get into a routine. I'd have gone to mums and tots and not given up when the first one I went to was a bit crap and I judged them all by that one. Agree about the naps too; one friend is was a bit uptight about naps and would not go somewhere if it was naptime, I know overtired children are a nightmare but if you can get them to sleep in the car/pram/middle of Starbucks then it makes it easier to get out and about.

Have just replied to your other thread Tinker 3!

Agree with other posters - I was obsessed with naps at the 6 month stage. I thought it would help with night time sleep but it never did really! I was really really knackered at that stage.

I am glad I got into a nice weekly routine with two baby groups plus tumble tots once she started crawling. I wish I'd done more swimming as she loves it now but I could have started earlier.

I have found 7 months onwards very enjoyable as they start to crawl, eat solids, interact more, play with toys nicely (we had lots of lovely times on the carpet rolling a ball back and forwards!)

I took a set of natural photos at 6 months. I just put a white sheet over the bed frame as a background. Im really pleased with the results and have them in a montage frame.

i wanted to take him on a waterbabies swimming course, and there's a baby sensory course that was really nice but not close enough. i just took him swimming myself which he loved, then did baby group a couple of times a week and a nice walk in the nearby wildlife trust park with other mums.

I would just encourage you to have a good time and not worry. I wish I would have taken more photographs as my daughter has grown so fast! Also written down little things like what her first word was etc I thought I would remember it all but I have forgotten so quickly. Nice to get into some baby groups to and swimming I love water babies :)

I'd have experimented with a nap 'routine' sooner - I was very anti-routine but couldn't read DS's tired signs so every day was a nightmare trying to work out when he needed to sleep. If he was overtired, he was a nightmare to get to sleep, and for us it did have a huge knock-on effect on the nights (he woke 6 or 7 times a night at 6 months). He wouldn't sleep in the car or sling, and only rarely in the pushchair. When we did start a flexible 'routine', life improved a lot for both of us. (He learnt how to sleep reliably in the pushchair at 11 months. )

I'd not worry about feeding to sleep as I did a bit, but I'd just enjoy that next time (still doing it at 17 months!)

I took LOADS of photos when he started solids (we did BLW) and I'd definitely do that again. Such fun!

6/7 months onwards is a lot of fun I think.

We did baby signing, at around 11 months in the end, but you can start from 6 months. I think it really helped when he started to want to tell me things but didn't yet have the language.

I wish I'd taken her to waterbabies, as she's 6yrs now and learning to swim is an uphill battle.

I wish I'd done baby led weaning, but didn't really know about it at the time.

I wish I'd filled in one of those baby books, you know - the ones that list first tooth, first crawled etc. I thought I'd never forget those moments, but you do.

I recommend signing, it was something we did do with DD from v. young. As it happens she had speech problems and the signing really helped her not to get frustrated.

I think just cuddle and play with them- nothing else is needed!

be as relaxed as possible about weaning and feeding. So many mums I know worry about baby "missing" a meal or how much puree they are eating etc and I really don't think it's important, better to focus on exciting colours and textures and tastes and let them explore food than make it a chore for you or them.